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Old 31st Mar 2014, 17:50
  #8833 (permalink)  
awblain
 
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If satellite dopper data exists for the first four transmissions (through 17:07) and while the a/c was still in VHF range, I can only conclude that data transmissions occurred over both VHF and SAT simultaneously (or nearly so).
Even if that happened, the problem would be timing. The relative timing of receipt by ground-based VHF probably won't be precise enough to use. The ground-signal travels a few hundred km, while the satellite-signal travels 36000km, and is received by a machine detected to precise timing. Perhaps there's something useful in there, but it seems hard to picture it would be crucial.

The satellite pings were also sent for the benefit of Inmarsat's network management, via a directional satellite antenna on the crown of the aircraft. Since they're not intended to transmit information, it seems unlikely that the same signal would also be broadcast from the aircraft over ground-communication VHF.
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