Originally Posted by
HEATHROW DIRECTOR
Does the aeroplane have SELCAL capability on VHF? Equipping all ATC sectors with SELCAL would cost a huge amount of money which I doubt the bean-counters would justify! At a place I worked 121.5 was removed from ATC positions.
Selcal can be used on VHF ( it is not exclusively used on HF), but ATC does not have selcal equipment available. If an ATC sector wanted to contact an a/c by selcal it would have to do it via Shanwick, & I don't think they would be too keen to offer this service on anything other than a "one off basis" ! The other alternatives would be a telephone/radio patch via Berne Radio, Portishead or Stockholm Radio - if they stil exist.