On the Airbands

The videos will certainly make long haul travel just that much more pleasant, with personal choice of programmes being available to passengers. The screens will be mounted in retractable arms housed in the central arm rest of each seat. Individual video cassette players will be mounted in each First Class seat, allowing passengers to select their own tapes from an extensive onboard library and play them as they wish. Business Class will have a 12 channel system offering movies, news, documentaries, and short programmes, on a continuous basis. First Class pax will also be able to access the Business Class system.

Qantas has also announced the introduction of a Cabin Management System, allowing passengers to send faxes and telexes to ground associates. It is effectively another onboard computer supporting ground-to-air communications via satellite, and gradually, passenger inflight phones will also be introduced to the system. Duty free shopping and video games will also be available utilising the in-seat videos.

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David Carroll from Bathurst NSW writes to me at least twice a week with interesting bits and pieces. I believe that I could fill this column exclusively with David’s contributions if I wished! David has found a new RAAF callsign which I haven’t personally come across . . . Pirates, which David monitored when he was at Cudal. No, I don’t know what the callsign belongs to David, or what Squadron it’s from. Maybe someone out there reading this can enlighten us.

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RAAF Townsville got very touchy lately after the July edition of this column, where I printed twenty Townsville stud frequencies. They weren’t so peeved about the unclassified stud channels themselves, more about the person who gave them to me!

As is my non-negotiable policy, I remained silent on the issue. But that in a sense was easy to do, as with military correspondents who wish to remain anonymous, I destroy their letters immediately after the column is put on computer. So anyone wondering whether it’s safe to write to me, please take note of all this.

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Les Bushell from Alice Springs in the NT has monitored a new callsign being used by the USAF’s C-141B Starlifters . . . Reach. This is also confirmed, by Mark Hale, regular correspondent from Cattai NSW.

Les Bushell first heard the new Reach callsign on Alice Tower frequency 118. 3 MHz. Les’ Tandy Realistic PRO-32 scanner radio is apparently on 24 hours a day, and he listens out particularly for the C-14l’s each Monday afternoon around 13:30 hours Central Standard Time.

Sounds like the situation with our radios at “On the Airbands” Sydney office Les, with the five receivers never being turned off!

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Jean Baker, our regular correspondent from Indianapolis USA states that Air Traffic Controllers at Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago O’Hare, John F Kennedy in New York, and San Francisco and Los Angeles International Airports are warning of problems being encountered with a new aircraft onboard radar system intended to prevent mid-air collisions.

The Controllers are concerned that the anticollision system is causing crucial data to totally disappear from radar screens, or to “wander” and return to the screens.

About 400/4 of the US commercial airline fleet is now equipped with TCAS . . . or Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is requiring 500/4 of US airliners to have it installed by the end of this year.

The problems within the system haven’t led to any reports of near collisions in the air, Controllers have stated, but they argue safety could be compromised under extreme conditions, such as bad weather, or when traffic is heayy . . . or both.

The symptoms: information blocks on radar screens carrying aircraft altitude and speed are drifting away from the paint of the aircraft which they relate to, or they are disappearing altogether. Controllers say that the congested skies are preventing them from spacing air traffic further apart as an extra precaution.

Some Controllers have stated they suspect the problem is being caused by the anti collision radar system working on the very same frequency or frequency band as Air Traffic Control radar.

In an aircraft equipped with TCAS, the pilot is alerted of a potential conflict with another aircraft, and told what action he should take if the aircraft comes within 1000ft. But recently, numerous false alarms caused by erring TCAS units have prompted some pilots to make potentially dangerous avoidance moves, veering suddenly from their flight paths.

Dallas/Fort Worth say they are experiencing three to four of these incidents per week. Nationally in the USA, there have been some 620 incidents reported since January 1991, nearly half of these causing deviations of more than 500ft.

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Barry Crocker (no relation to “the” BC) uses a Realistic PRO-34 handheld portable receiver, with an additional antenna which he does not describe in his letter. He nominates it as an “extension antenna”, but unfortunately does not indicate exactly what kind of aerial he is referring to.

Barry lives in Sydney at Neutral Bay, and has a couple of favourite intercepts he wants to share with us.

Air New Zealand 115 was on finals for RW 16 at Sydney, and operating on Tower frequency 120. 5 MHz.

SYDNEY TOWER: New Zealand 115, cleared to land RW 16. New Zealand 115 then makes a normal approach and landing and is on its landing roll with reverse thrust activated. TOWER: Err . . . New Zealand 115, are you able to take next taxiway right? ANZ 115: Yes . . . but it will cost you five bucks for our brakes! TOWER: Certainly Sir, how would you like it . . . in dollars or in South Pacific pesos?

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Early on a winter Sunday morning, a 737 was being radar vectored from the west for an approach to RW 07 at Sydney. The registration was most likely VH-TAV, and the frequency Sydney Approach on 124. 4 MHz.

VH-TAV: Approach,Tango Alpha Victor, could we have another heading please? The one we’re on is putting the sun straight in our eyes!

APPROACH: Sorry about that! We did ask our management to do something about the sun some months ago, but you do know how slow the CAA can be!

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Barry Crocker relates another tale he heard on Sydney Approach 124. 4 involving VH-ANA, a 727, which was on downwind to RW 25. The aircraft was approximately five miles to the north of Sydney harbour.

APPROACH: Alpha November Alpha, do you have a 737 sighted approximately five miles in your one o’clock? VH-ANA: Affirmative Sir, traffic sighted.

APPROACH: Right . . . miss that aircraft, make visual approach, and contact Tower on 120. 5. VH-ANA: We’ll do our very best!

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Finally from Barry a most incongruous exchange between Speedbird 11 and Qantas Control on company frequency.

BA 11: Qantas Sydney, Speedbird one one. QANTAS SYDNEY: Go ahead, Speedbird one one.

BA 11: A request. One of our passengers has just told a Flight Attendant that she thinks she has left her iron on. If we give you the phone number, could you give her next door neighbour a ring and ask her to go turn it off?

Qantas Control readily agreed, and the details were duly transmitted. What struck Barry was the fact that no one seemed to think it unusual that this request was generated from an airliner travelling at 470kts at 35,000ft! That’s because Qantas have seen and heard it all Barry.

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• Peter Finlay, a resident of Mowbray in Tasmania, and a regular airband listener using Realistic PRO-2121 and PRO-36 radios submits a couple of on air stories for our enjoyment. Launceston Control, 118. 7 MHz was speaking with VH-AUS, a Tiger Moth, enroute from Devonport to Swansea at 1500ft. Alpha Uniform Sierra was to cross a piece of controlled airspace, and appeared to be having difficulty establishing a visual position.

LAUNCESTON TOWER: Alpha Uniform Sierra, Launy Tower, do you have Terminal Charts? VH-AUS: Affirmative . . . err . . . yair, I have ’em, but if I get ’em all out they might blow away! And probably not regulation, but we found this amusing: LAUNCESTON TOWER: Tango Alpha Golf, do you prefer a visual approach? VH-TAG: You bet your sweet bippee we do! Thanks to Peter Finlay for the contributions.

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The now defunct PRO-SCAN company which used to sell conversion kits for PRO-2004 scanners to turn them into PRO-2005’s with an extra 100 channels (400 instead of 300!), 30 channels per second upgraded scan rate, and 30 kHz channel spacing on some 800 MHz bands still may be of some interest to readers of this column.

I have been given the instruction sheet by the former PROSCAN management for the conversions, which when used in conjunction with a few cents worth of electronic components, will allow you to modify your old PRO-2004.

The current model, the Realistic PRO-2006 also has hyperscan, but your upgraded PRO-2004 will only lack that one attribute!

Components necessary are 2 x IN914 resistors, 1 x 100K resistor, and the tools required for the job – a low watt soldering iron, small Philips head screwdriver, a small pair of side cutters, and naturally . . . some solder. If you would like a copy of the old PRO-SCAN instruction sheet, send a stamped self addressed envelope to “On the Airbands”, PO Box 16 Georges Hall 2198. I will photocopy it for you and supply it free of charge.

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I was interested to read a fascinating article in a column in Aviation News, called “Radio Watch”, which is basically structured along the lines of this column.

The article was headlined “Air Band Future Doubt”, and the bylined article warns that our ability to listen to HF aero communications is in serious doubt in the future. It further states that “primary over ocean reporting will be handled through satellites”. What have I been trying to tell you for some time in this column? Yes, the days of HF are most definitely numbered. Our offices are already equipped with satellite receiving equipment in anticipation of a sharp decline in the utilisation of HF by long haul airliners. We want to be ready. A knowledge of and equipment capable of recovering data as well as voice is essential, in addition to the acquisition of satellite receiving equipment.

Some quotes from the article . . . “Automatic Dependent Surveillance, or ADS as it is known, will eventually replace the lengthy voice position reports presently heard on HF. Unfortunately, Selcal codes, which enthusiasts use to tie up aircraft registrations with flight numbers will no longer be required. ” And . . . “I believe the listening hobby will be with us for a long time to come, albeit reduced in scope. HF monitoring will suffer the most, but there will still be plenty of transmissions from the Third World where financial resources are unlikely to keep pace with technology. Of course there are ways of monitoring data links, so another field of interest will emerge. ”

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The temporary closure of airspace in Afghanistan and Russia one day recently at very short notice caused a large number of airliners to be turned back and away from the closed airspace. Many of the aircraft had to return to their airport of departure. Not Qantas! They had the latest satellite communications with Qantas Operations in Sydney!

When Qantas Flight Operations became aware of the impending problem, Qantas 9 was fast approaching the area, but was out of HF radio range. However, using OTC’s facilities at Perth and Satellite Aircom, an immediate warning was transmitted to the satellite equipped 747-400 aircraft, with hardcopy printouts of suggested alternative routing. Qantas 9 used the information and were able to divert successfully around the closed area.

Then in turn, as requested by Qantas Control, Qantas 9 flightdeck crew alerted the crew of Qantas 1, following behind by 30 minutes. Qantas 1 was similarly able to divert around the closed airspace rather than return to the point of departure like most other airline flights were forced to do.

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If you would like to contribute to “On the Airbands”, write to me, at PO Box 16 Georges Hall 2198. As you read this we will be on our Qantas 7 47-400 en route to the USA and destination Atlanta Georgia, for the annual Monitoring Times Convention.

Fill you in next month. Till then . . . good monitoring!