Leeds Bradford: Air Traffic, ILS & Navigation Aids

[a300boy]

The CAA pushed ground stations into 8.33 spacing radios by increasing licence fees significantly for non 8.33 radio stations and of course all aircraft operators into buying new very expensive equipment if they had no 8.33 capability.
My little organisation has spent around £15000 on our three aircraft but I have to admit we had a grant of around £2000 from the Caa towards the cost.
We were told it was due to increased demand for radio frequencies for lots of different users and was triggered by Easa and continental europe needs.

 

[oldendays]

I don't think it still happens ( not audibly anyway) but does anyone apart from me remember when ATC used to perform a functional check on the RT equipment ? It was done at least twice a day - at the start of the early watch and at the watch changeover at about 1.30 p.m. One would hear this transmission three times (once per frequency)' "12375/12105/1203. Main. Standby" The Tower controller was transmitting on the primary (main) transmitter then immediately selecting the backup (standby) and transmitting on that. I don't know how they switched from one transmitter to another or if the UHF vehicle frequency was similarly checked. Once all six transmitters were given the nod, the Tower controller would transmit his 'sign-in' with his initials and that of the other controllers on duty, also signing off the early watch if it was the lunchtime changeover.

I used to love hearing those little quirks and oddities. Now we occasionally get to hear Tels performing TX tests but not much else. I expect there's a lot that goes on that we just don't hear about.

 

[quik123]

I don't think it still happens ( not audibly anyway) but does anyone apart from me remember when ATC used to perform a functional check on the RT equipment ? It was done at least twice a day - at the start of the early watch and at the watch changeover at about 1.30 p.m. One would hear this transmission three times (once per frequency)' "12375/12105/1203. Main. Standby" The Tower controller was transmitting on the primary (main) transmitter then immediately selecting the backup (standby) and transmitting on that. I don't know how they switched from one transmitter to another or if the UHF vehicle frequency was similarly checked. Once all six transmitters were given the nod, the Tower controller would transmit his 'sign-in' with his initials and that of the other controllers on duty, also signing off the early watch if it was the lunchtime changeover.

I used to love hearing those little quirks and oddities. Now we occasionally get to hear Tels performing TX tests but not much else. I expect there's a lot that goes on that we just don't hear about.

Just not needed with modern kit. Transmitters use internal test routines to continuously monitor there performance. You might here test tones occasionally when tels do routine maintenance.

 

[oldendays]

One other thing noticeably different from 15-20 years ago is the sound of the controllers' voices. At LBA at least, this is largely down to a different variant of microphone in their headsets. The Astrolite headset used back in the day was fitted with a moving iron dynamic microphone whereas the modern Sennheiser has a moving coil dynamic microphone. The former produced a very clear, treble-rich almost nasally speech sound which was very 'radio'. Moving coil microphones produce a more natural sounding speech, as if the user was standing next to you. Both good, but different. The same could be said of transmissions from aircraft.

 

[oldendays]

Does anybody know who this 'Hotel Xray' fellow is who keeps cropping up on the LBA Radar frequency ? I've heard him a few times yesterday and today, making blind transmissions while in the circuit for runway 29, wherever that is. I guess it's local as the transmissions are strong and I heard him on the ground at one point, advising he was backtracking! It's possible the anticyclone is boosting vhf reception, so HX may not be as close as I think.

 

[Bigman]

Could it be Jet2 G-JZHX?

 

[oldendays]

Doubtful!

 

[Crashgate]

Most likely something in the circuit at our local International Airstrip at Oxenhope, they have a runway 11/29. Could well be G-AYHX as the owner is shown in Keighley.

Possibly broadcasting blind on Leeds approach (134.580Mhz) as per the NOTAM as close to the zone (or maybe mistuned the Safetycom frequency of 135.480Mhz)

 

[oldendays]

Thankyou, Crashgate. That sounds the most likely explanation.

 

[oldendays]

Air Traffic Engineers (aka 'Tels') are this morning doing some R/T tests. Checking the Emergency Handset System on all VHF frequencies. Quite a lot of howl-round. I don't know if the Frequentis voice switch is fully commissioned yet - Tels might be working on that too. It's always good to hear the technical stuff going on behind the practical.

There was something similar going on last Sunday on the secondary radar frequency but I don't know if that was Tels or some avionics engineers testing an aircraft radio.

 

[quik123]

Leeds Bradford Airport

LBA is continuing to invest in aviation safety, with the latest technology to aid our Air Traffic Controllers. 🎛️ Last week, the Air Traffic Engineering team installed a new Voice Communications...

www.facebook.com

Posted today on various social media, official news of the new voice switch

 

[oldendays]

Not related to the new Frequentis gear but I'm still getting inferior radio reception on Radar over Tower. I think it's probably because of the UR43 coax feeding one of my antennae is more lossy than the RG223 from the other. Both antennae are identical, give or take an inch or two to allow for different frequency SWRs. I'll replace the UR43 with RG223 and see what happens. Loft, here I come!

 

[oldendays]

An unfamiliar voice manning Radar this morning. A newcomer to Leeds Bradford, perhaps.

 

[oldendays]

Still poor reception on 134.580 this morning - lots of white noise behind the controllers' transmissions. On the flip side, 120.305 is almost like having the controller sitting next to you. I've also noticed a lot of interference on 134.180 (East Midlands Radar) recently, a frequency which isn't that far away from 134.580. Coincidence ? East Midlands seem to be increasingly using 126.180 for Radar as well.

 

[oldendays]

I've been reading through this thread from about 2010. I've been making the same observations about RT quality for about three years. Just saying.

 

[quik123]

Still poor reception on 134.580 this morning - lots of white noise behind the controllers' transmissions. On the flip side, 120.305 is almost like having the controller sitting next to you. I've also noticed a lot of interference on 134.180 (East Midlands Radar) recently, a frequency which isn't that far away from 134.580. Coincidence ? East Midlands seem to be increasingly using 126.180 for Radar as well.

I don't know where you are, but white noise would indicate either a lack of signal or some local(to you) source of noise. I'm surprised you can get anything from East Mids, it is a heck of a distance to receive VHF on the ground.

 

[oldendays]

Hello quik- I'm glad you've appeared. I'm just down in Yeadon so probably only a straight mile from the airport. I have three VHF airband aerials in my loft and a few different (Icom, Uniden, Signal) radios. There are also a couple of communal analogue television aerials in the loft that I'm fairly certain are completely unused so I wouldn't expect those to be the source of any noise. I must stress, Tower, Delivery and Denville are all coming through first class; it's just Radar where the white noise presents. This really started several years ago and coincided with the first round of frequency changes and the new aerials on the Tower roof.

I can't receive any RT from East Midlands ATC but I keep the Radar frequency stored in the scanners. A few times recently, the scan had stopped because of interference/white noise/spurious TX and not even maximum squelch can overcome it. The same thing occurs on 135.000, occasionally used by Manchester Radar. Eventually, things settle down and the scan resumes.

All very mysterious. I'm happy to receive a private message and discuss further, if you wish.

 

[quik123]

It really does sound like you have some local interference. Those TV aerials could be connected to distribution amplifiers which can cause problems, also fluorescent lights or modern LED lights can be a nightmare for radio. Best thing you could try is relocate your aerial even just to prove it

 

[oldendays]

There is at least one distribution amplifier which I can fortunately access. If this is causing the problem, why is it only in the upper part of the band ? There are no fluorescent or LED lights anywhere in the block that I know about. Moving the aerials isn't an option; I'm lucky to have access to the loft as it is and external aerials aren't allowed, satellite dishes notwithstanding!

Of course, we could always can 134.580 and get 123.755 back! I can't afford the filtering gear, mind.

 

[oldendays]

Reception is worse than ever this morning (10.00 local time). Even Tower is sub- par! However, the aircraft RT isn't that clear either today - it's normally excellent, even aircraft on the ground at LBA.