HF Air traffic control

[AlaskaListener]

Does anyone know if the controllers on HF have to deal with the static like we do listening at home? I know the aircrew in the cockpits have a SELCAL that makes it so they can turn their radios down but how does a controller on the ground stand that much static in his/her ear? I’ve been listening to the North Atlantic crossing aircraft and it drives me nuts after a little bit.

 

[ka3jjz]

HF is HF - noise is part of the game. However, there's an equal chance that the noise you are hearing is local to you, not to the controller. There are so many things that can cause static (loose or poor solder joints at the antenna, etc.) that it's very difficult to say it's just one thing - it might not be.

Mike

 

[jiminpgh]

HF Interference

I attended a wedding and struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me.
His hearing in one ear was bad.
Turns out he spent years in aviation, and his hearing loss was due to working HF.
When it gets noisy, I turn it off, he could not.
Think about flying at elevation near thunderstorms.

While I'm not expert, I think this will soon be on satellite. Listen while you can.
There are some interesting you tubes on trans Atlantic flight planning and ATC to find.
I don't listen often, but the air tracking web sites really help identify what your hearing.
I love the exotic call signs, the range, and the equipment. It is the real deal.


Regards,
Jim

 

[majoco]

Don't forget that the ATC controller has more than one receiver per frequency and he can pick the best antenna for the aircraft that he's listening to. Also he's not going for the DX, he has an area to cover that is specifically for him and any aircraft within his sector should be capable of giving him a good signal - he's not using off-the-shelf receivers either - I think Auckland are using Cubic now, in the 70's they were Redifon R499's crystallised with front end tuned filters and if I remember correctly they were remoted, well away from any noise sources. RF gain controls are very good too at reducing the background noise while keeping any signal easily audible. Also as the time of day goes by, they are swapping frequencies to get the best reception, although it's quite tricky here as we have quite a few stations vying for the frequencies to use!

Here's the front panel of an R499, I used to recrystal and repair these back in the 70's! Very good receivers but of restricted usefulness if you haven't got the crystals!

 

[Fast1eddie]

Very nice Martin. Spent some time with Army Aviation and we had several separate V/UHF remote mounted transmitters with 50 watt amplifiers....Think they were ITT products which were remotely installed and controlled, but I think that had more to do for providing sufficient coverage over a extremely wide rual area than noise issues.

 

[majoco]

I don't know about the rest of the HF Aero world, but here the guy you hear on the radio is just the postman. The actual controller who knows where all the aircraft in his sector are is on the other end of a voice link to the radio operator. That's why when you hear an aircraft request an altitude change or a route diversion due weather there is a long pause while the 'postman' chats to the controller and gets an answer back. The 'postman' filters the messages and sends them off to best user - the controller is not interested in the met reports, they get sent to the met office in Kelburn and so on. Most company reports go via ACARS and CPDLC which bypasses the 'postman' completely, the second group in the message is the destination address.