VOR's/VORTAC
- Thread starter Atown11
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All VOR's have the capability of transmitting voice. Air Traffic Control requirements determine which type of service a particular VOR will transmit. There are several types of voice services available: HIWAS - hazardous inflight weather advisory serivce, TWEB - transcribed weather broadcast, AWOS or ASOS - automated weather observation system or automated surface observing system, RCO - remote communications outlet. With the exception of the AWOS/ASOS all of the voice services originate at an AFSS - Automated Flight Service Station.There is also a voice ID that is available but it is not in general use. The ID is recorded on a solid state recorder in the VOR equipment. The morse ID can not be removed except during maintenance. Absence of the morse ID of any NAVAID indicates that the NAVAID is not available for use.
Dan
Apple Valley, MN
Dan
Apple Valley, MN
wa8vzq said:
Drop the 'A'; Flight Service Stations are not automated.
wa8vzq said:
That is correct. Sometimes they will also broadcast T-E-S-T in morse if adjustments are being made.
wa8vzq said:
Not broadcast over VOR, that is broadcast locally at the airfield.
VOR's can also be used to communicate with the FSS.
Pilot, on appropriate VHF comm freq (ex. 122.100):'Terre Haute radio, Skylane 116HR listening on Richmond VORTAC'.
FSS (replying on the VOR on 110.60):'116HR, Terre Haute, go ahead'.
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nd5y
Member
mjw357 said:
Put the 'A' back.
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/aca/afss/perf_decision/background/
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Automated refers to how the pre-flight and in-flight briefer positions can receive data from various locations within their coverage area. Things like ATIS, ASOS and how flight plans are proccessed, and other things like that, Very few FSS are not Automated nowdays which is why a lot of people don't even bother saying the Automated part, but everytime you call up your local FSS 1-800-WXBRIEF the recording in the begining should say something like, "Denver Automated Flight Service Station Security information alpha is current, blah blah blah."
Sorry to tell you but FAA Flight Service Stations have been called Automated Flight Service Stations since the late 80's. As the new AFSS's became operational, the old Flight Service Stations were closed. As Angelfire91 indicated, the term automation comes from the data processing. AFSS's are now in transition to a contractor ran service and many of the AFSS's are eventually going to be closed. All pilot weather briefings and in flight radio
calls will be routed to "Super"AFSS's (my term, not an official term). The end plan is to consolidate the 58 CONUS AFSS's down to 3 covering East, Central and West CONUS areas. http://www.faa.gov/ats/mmvafss/
Dan
calls will be routed to "Super"AFSS's (my term, not an official term). The end plan is to consolidate the 58 CONUS AFSS's down to 3 covering East, Central and West CONUS areas. http://www.faa.gov/ats/mmvafss/
Dan
The morse id T E S T is only used for new facilities that are under construction. Charted facilities that are out of service for routine maintenance are required to have their morse id removed. This is how a pilot can tell that a VOR, DME or Locailizer is not valid for navigation.
Dan
Dan
Put ASOS/AWOS back too. It's extremely rare, but VORs can have ASOS/AWOS stations at the site of the VOR. I've only seen it like once.
Also ATIS for an airport can be broadcast from a VOR, in addition to the on field ATIS freq. San Francisco Int'l airport (KSFO) simulcasts their ATIS on the Point Reyes VOR (PYE), which is located about 30 nm north of the airport. They do this because a Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR) takes the majority of the international arrivals (in addition to domestic arrivals from the north) directly over PYE, so they can have the current ATIS by the time they check in with Approach (even though they might not be in line of site with the airport yet). SFO also has an ASOS station on the San Mateo Bridge, which sits out in the bay on a 5 mile final from the normal arrival runways, because SFO commonly uses IFR Charted Visual Flight Procedures (CVFPs) during Visual Meteorological Conditions, and they have specific weather minimums, and the airport could be below minimums but the bridge wouldn't be or vice versa.
I'm a pilot too.
Actually, I kind of confused this thread by implying that VOR's transmit ASOS. While that is technically possible, I've never heard that. ASOS's usually have their own VHF transmitter. That being said, there are a lot of VOR's that transmit AWOS information. It is very common. I think it was too early in the day to post a message ;-)) I apolgize for any confusion I may have generated.
Dan
Dan
and of course, as soon as I post something, I recall otherwise ;-)) yes I can recall hearding an ASOS broadcast over a VOR but that is much rarer than AWOS. That again is fairly common. You will more commonly hear TWEB's over NDB than over VOR's.
For anyone interested. This map shows the ASOS and AWOS locations for all states and shows whether they are broadcast over a VOR, NDB or separate transmitter.
http://www.faa.gov/asos/map/map.htm
http://www.faa.gov/asos/map/map.htm
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