ARTCC Remote transmit?

[wogggieee]

This is something I've always wondered, and i think i know the answer before i ask the question, but just wanted some verification. For all of the different frequencies i see listed for an ARTCC are at different locations, and transmit from that area. Example the Alexandria freq of the Minneapolis ARTCC, i can hear ground and plane, so its obviously transmitting from that area. However my question is, and I'm assuming this to be true, are all of these different locations that transmit originate from one location, IE MSP Center in Minneapolis. And if so how are they connected to the transmitter location. Also at these transmitter locations, is there a radar at that location as well, or is the whole ARTCC covered by one radar, though I'd think that is a large area to cover with one radar. Also are most of these transmitting sites located at airports, or just random locations? I hope this makes sense, and sorry it got so long.

 

[Audiodave1]

Hello,
You are correct, they generally originate from the ARTCC and are conected via fiber or telco lines. The locations are generally geographically desireable locations within the sectors they are communicationg with which sometimes are at airports but usually are not.

Comms below 10K' (I think) are usually from the airport those freq's are assigned to. Anything above that level is from the area ARTCC.


I cannot comment on radar but generalli I believe there are a few raddar systems per ARTCC for redundancy if anything. These are usually located at major airports in the region.

Dave

 

[crayon]

http://atcmonitor.com/airtrafficcontrol_explained1.html

 

[wogggieee]

Thanks, i think you guys pretty well answered my questions. That like is really great. I especially like the live radar feed. Does anyone know of a site that has a radar feed for the Minneapolis ARTCC area?

 

[N4UYV_Al]

I visited one of the Boston Center remotes about 10 miles from me & it has radar within the 'soccer ball' (As my daughter calls it)...The tech said they dont get too close to certain areas when servicing the site..

 

[wogggieee]

Aren't the "soccer ball" ones doppler weather radar?

 

[wa8vzq]

Radomes are used by all kinds of RADAR and other services that use high gain dish antennas like satellite tracking facilites. The "soccer-ball" shape is related to construction and not function.

 

[PHL_Approach]

If it has the "Soccer Ball" then that would indeed be ARSR-4 (Air Route Surveillance Radar) http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/images/arsr-4-varsr03.jpg

The more common ARSR-3 has nothing over it. As someone mentioned about Dopplers being a "Soccer Ball", I would say they are more of a "Golf Ball"

 

[wa8vzq]

"The more common ARSR-3 has nothing over it". Sorry the "more common" statement is inaccurate. There are 12 ARSR-3 facilities in the FAA inventory. There are 42 ARSR-4 sites. There are 18 ARSR-2's, 25 ARSR-1E's, 22 FPS-20's and 13 FPS-117's. So the ARSR-3 is the least common type deployed.

I've never been to an ARSR-3 site so I can't comment on the radome but I've been to ARSR-1/2/4 and FPS-20 sites and they all had one and they all look like soccer balls to me.

http://www.nas-architecture.faa.gov/nas5/mechanism/mech_data.cfm?mid=100023

Dan

 

[N4UYV_Al]

park next to the building, get outa your vehicle & just smell the RF in the air....The installation techs could'nt let me in for a tour with all the restrictions...

 

[PHL_Approach]

"The more common ARSR-3 has nothing over it". Sorry the "more common" statement is inaccurate. There are 12 ARSR-3 facilities in the FAA inventory. There are 42 ARSR-4 sites. There are 18 ARSR-2's, 25 ARSR-1E's, 22 FPS-20's and 13 FPS-117's. So the ARSR-3 is the least common type deployed.

I've never been to an ARSR-3 site so I can't comment on the radome but I've been to ARSR-1/2/4 and FPS-20 sites and they all had one and they all look like soccer balls to me.

http://www.nas-architecture.faa.gov/nas5/mechanism/mech_data.cfm?mid=100023

Dan

Damn, they pushed those things out. Within the last year there was a good amount of ARSR-3's still active.