The discussion above on having a NOTAM for farmer Joe's fly-in is not something that is practical as NOTAMs are only issued against promulgated locations and navaids and such NOTAMs will only be published in the FIR list (not against any nearby locations), which is, I suggest, not something that the average GA flyer would check very often as there is usually a bucket load in the list and it is very difficult to find something on the list that might be relevant. A subject of much discussion at the RAPACs over the years, but NOTAMs have very strict guidelines in accordance with ICAO recommended standards etc.
If strategic decisions are going to be made on the basis of an assumption that GA pilots are too lazy or incompetent to read FIR NOTAMS, and participants in fly-ins are too lazy or incompetent to organise a NOTAM about the fly-in, trivia like confusion about broadcast requirements is the least of Australian aviation’s worries.
If you’re saying it’s not possible to get a NOTAM promulgated to say that a fly-in is going to happen at a specified distance and bearing from an aerodrome or Navaid with a code that’s on a chart, I call ‘bullsh*t’.
The suggestion that there’s all this ‘chat’ going on at hundreds of unmarked airstrips across the country, that’s going to clog up the area frequencies when it ‘moves’ from 126.7, is laughable. I listen to three frequencies when I fly: Area frequency, 126.7 and the nearest CTAF that’s not 126.7 (or sometimes 123.45 if there are friends around and we do want to ‘chat’). I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of calls I’ve heard on
any of those frequencies from an airstrip that
isn’t marked on a chart.
There is a NOTAM in force, today, that says the area VHF frequency must be used for operations at and in the vicinity of strips that aren’t marked on charts. Have the area frequencies been flooded with broadcasts from all those people operating in and out of unmarked strips who were previously broadcasting on 126.7? Have 747s collided because of the ‘chat’ and confusion? (That’s right – I forgot: The people that operate in and out of these places are too lazy or incompetent to read NOTAMS.
)