jaymatt1978 said:
Ok this post makes ZERO sense because on the one hand you said the ELT have moves to= 406, which they have. So when they moved I suggested 121.5000 might be used as a calling frequency and you ridiculed me. It's a parallel I drew based on expierence. You offered no useful information and it made you look extremely foolish!
Okay, I'll bite. Three questions:
1 - Please quote the text in which you feel I ridiculed you.
2 - From what 'experience' do you find the need to make 121.5 a calling channel?
3 - And what useful information have you provided in the post that I have quoted above?
My thoughts on 121.500 as a calling channel:
It already IS a calling channel in emergency circumstances. However, I can't imagine a pilot not knowing the frequency of an airport tower. These are published even on the charts used by VFR pilots, and it's hard to imagine anyone flying around without at least a sectional chart. How would they avoid restricted/controlled airspace? So if you're suggesting that as a use for 121.500 I'll go on and ridicule that now...since you've already accused me of doing so. (I tried to be gentler on this subject in my original post, but you took offense anyway)
But to be used in the way that 156.800 is used, definitely seems farfetched to me. Even with 156.800, where all stations are surface-based, there is a lot of traffic in crowded areas, and there are two alternative voice calling channels. 156.45 is now encouraged as an alternate calling channel for pleasure boaters, and 156.65 is the primary calling channel for vessels on inland waterways and in many ports. 156.45 was no doubt put in place to relieve the crowding on 156.800. And I feel sure that the use of 156.65 (which is used by large vessels to avoid collisions) was begun to make sure that ships trying to share a channel (a water channel, not a radio channel) would have a clear, quiet channel to guard. The restriction of this channel to 1 watt (unless more power is actually needed) would seem to be further evidence of that need. Even among folks on the surface, there is much concern about signals travelling too far and introducing confusion to distant users.
That should go 10x for aircraft frequencies, where an airborne 10-watt VHF radio can easily be heard on the ground 100+ miles away. I can easily hear aircraft with parachute jumpers at 10-12,000' at those distances.
If 121.500 were to be opened up for use as a non-emergency hailing channel, you'd have to multiply the increased traffic by the tremendous range of these radios when airborne. This would make it extremely difficult for authorities to enforce protocol or even effectively monitor the frequency. This frequency has a guard band around it, for the purpose of keeping it QUIET so that when something does come up on it, everyone knows it's important enough to pay attention to. Why ruin that by opening it up to wider use? What I would promote is for civilian aircraft to have a 'guard' receiver, just like the military, so that they could easily be hailed by air traffic control, military interceptors, etc. But I see no possible sense in providing it as a calling channel in anything but emergency circumstances.
Another factor is the fact that the current aircraft radio setup already has most hailing needs covered. Planes flying IFR are already in contact with the ground and can be told where to tune next. Planes flying in the VFR corridors of Class B airspace generally have a frequency assigned (in DC, I think it's 122.75) for air/air to help avoid collisions. Airports with no towers have CTAF frequencies, and those with no Unicom usually have aircraft hail each other on 122.900.
A particulary big con to 121.500 as a calling channel is the amount abuse & rulebreaking there is in the air band already. Any number of flight test frequencies are used for idle chit-chat between pilots, and in the days before 25 kHz spacing was mandatory, there was plenty bootlegging on the .25 and .75 segments on even the ATC bands. 121.500 may be the only spot on the VHF airband that pilots actually treat with respect. (The fear of a SARSAT activiation was good training in this area...I hope that the respect doesn't erode over time)
If this makes no sense, so be it. If you feel ridiculed by it, so be it. I'll leave that determination to the moderator.
73/Allen (N4JRI)
