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Old 5th Oct 2004, 10:57
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Ascend Charlie
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Great South East, tired and retired
Posts: 4,409
Received 245 Likes on 114 Posts
The only frequency i have heard noise on so far is 128.0

On Friday, in the middle of a pelting rainstorm, I was approaching Scone and made the normal CTAF calls. Despite the screeching electrical noise, I kept the volume up to listen for traffic, as the vis was pretty poor. On finals for runway 28, I see a lightie taxying up the runway ahead of me.

Not a problem, I am a chopper and can slow down to wait for him to taxy off to the hardstand, but i heard nothing from him. I shut down, and in the wind and rain at the bowser, ask him if he heard me : "Yes, and I talked back to you." I informed him that soon a jet would be arriving. I already knew that the jet had interference on 128.0 from their inverters.

He finishes his refuel, and taxies back onto the runway to head back for the threshold 28 and his hangar nearby. At this stage, the jet emerges from the gloop pointed straight at him. By pre-arangement they had 123.45 on the other set and I told them on a hand-held of the lightie, and that the wind favoured 11. They made a circuit and the runway was eventually clear for landing.

In the worst of circumstances, the situation could have been disastrous - the lightie could have been airborne heading at me, or the wind may have favoured the jet landing on 28 with the lightie still taxying in the rain. But airmanship and good fortune led to a safe result.

All I am asking is for people to simply tune up the freq and see if their aircraft, too, picks up some stray signal from its own circuits.

A simple aircraft, with no fancy electronics, probably will not be affected. If you have some swept-up gear, it might be an eye-opener. Enough numbers, AsA might look at avoiding that frequency.

At Scone, the ancillary cost would be zero, with no ground-based radio facilities. Sure, the ERSA and Notams will cost, but a lot less than a prang.
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