From monitoring ARTCC comms it seems it's use might vary between controllers. I'm wondering how much it's dependant on controller preference ? Do some use it more than others ? Sort of like frequency cross-coupling, some use it some don't. Do the older controllers use it as much as the younger ones ? It also seems that at times when it gets really busy it's used less, which seems counterintuitive.
Potential for digital radio for in-air flights/ARTCC and frequency assignment questions.
- Thread starter NS9710
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There is nothing safer than pilots listening to other aircraft over VHF voice to "Stay in the Loop" during busy ATC times like on app, dep, twr and gnd. CPDLC has its advantages..at altitude.
Absolutely dependent on controller preference. There is no requirement to use it at all, and some folks choose not to, but very few. Most people really like it though. Also, there are still certain aircraft/aircraft types that are not equipped, even with the airlines. So instead of using it for some aircraft and not for others, they just choose to use voice.
As far as the workload, I think it's just a matter of comfort. Give it a couple years and I think you're going to see more comfort using it when it gets busy.
jaymatt1978
Member
Here's the thing digital is used for narrowbanding and for FM Mode. I have never heard of narrowbanding the AM modes, Europe is expanding the aviation radio networks. North America is way far behind I have only seen Boeing have licenses for the new frequency allocations. I don't see a complete changing over for quite awhile
Yes it can. Most CPDLC traffic is sent via VHF Datalink Mode-2 (VDL2).
It can be monitored with a utility such as GitHub - szpajder/dumpvdl2: VDL Mode 2 message decoder and protocol analyzer or GitHub - TLeconte/vdlm2dec: vdl mode 2 SDR decoder if you have Linux know-how.
More info on the operation from FAA can be found in Advisory Circular 90-117.
Great read introducing aircraft datalinks including VDL2 and CPDLC
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