NOTAM Q Line now visible

[Mike Cross]

As promised AIS are now providing the Q line in their briefs. Working now on the AIS site (if a little slow at the moment, the problem is under investigation).

For those not in the know the Q Line is a line of code to a format laid down by ICAO that is used for selecting and sorting the NOTAM to appear in a brief. Here's an example just taken from the AIS site.
EGHI
COM : Q)EGTT/QCTLT/IV/B/AE/000/999/5057N00121W005
FROM 05/07/01 11:15 TO 05/10/31 23:59 B1321/05
E)SOLENT RADAR OPR WITH LIMITED SSR. ATS OUTSIDE CONTROLLED AIRSPACE
MAY BE LIMITED AT TIMES. ACFT TRAINING WILL BE LIMITED, WITH NO
HOLDING AVAILABLE.


Within the Q Line you will see the height band affected as FL's (000/999), the geographic centre (5057N00121W) and the radius of influence in n.m. (005)

This should enable you to better understand why the item appears in your brief.

You can find a more detailed explanation of the Q Line here (http://www.telecall.uk.com/ais/More_NOTAM.htm) and here. (http://www.ais.org.uk/aes/en/qline.pdf)

[High Wing Drifter]

Looks like a more reliable/consistent format for the software planning tools too.

[Mike Cross]

That's why we asked for it.

I suggest anyone interested in writing software gets a copy of "Notam Selection Criteria", an attachment to Appendix C of ICAO Document 8126, the Aeronautical Information Services Manual, which gives a full decode of all of the 4 letter Q codes. The example above for instance includes the code QCTLT which translates as.

Q - Identifies it as the Q Code
C - Tells us it's category COM _ Communication and Radar Facilities.
T - Tells us it's Terminal area surveillance radar
LT - means Limited to (see text for limitation)

QNVCT for example would indicate a VOR "on test, do not use"

Mike