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Old 18th Dec 2004, 08:42
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TheOddOne
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
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I do hear 'three two decimal four seven' from time to time. Personally I think that missing out the initial 'one' (and of course we droppped the last 'five' years ago) is the way forward. It's completely unambiguous. The initial 'one' is totally redundant.

Of course, if we were to go to 'channel' we would presumably need four digits rather than three, which with the addition of the word 'channel' might make it more long-winded than present. And of course, all the radios in the world would need their dials changing. I couldn't possibly remember that 'three four decimal four seven' was 'channel one three seven eight'!

The key here is unambiguity. By using the 'decimal' we know we're talking about a frequency, nothing else. Likewise, if we say 'feet' we know we're talking about a vertical measurement, not a horizontal one. When reporting DME, we say 'five point two', not 'five decimal two'

Interesting point, though.

BTW, how long is VHF voice comm going to last? For large public transport a/c ops it will almost certainly be replaced by an automated datalink system in the next few years, whether it's 'son of ACARS' or another system - we'll see. That'll further marginalise the GA types who won't/can't participate (I can't see how it can work for single crew ops, for instance).

For large transport types, I can see that soon the uplink of ATC instruction will input directly into the a/c systems, leaving the crew mostly in a monitoring function and steering the aircraft on the ground.

Cheers,
TheOddOne
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