[BC] FAA RF rulemaking

[Mark Humphrey]

On 6/27/06, Ron Cole <rondcole at gmail.com> wrote:

> The big complaint that I have head from the FAA for over 25 years if
> Receiver Blanketing.  Seems an Aircraft radio tuned to 118 Mhz can't handle
> a 100KW FM being with a few miles of the airport.
> Now your garden variety $9.95 radio from the local Wal Mart has no problem
> but a $2500 Collins or King Aircraft radio cant measure up...

The potential problem is usually caused to localizers and VORs, which
operate as low as 108.2 MHz.  This can be "brute force" overload as
well as third-order IM between two or more stations.

And bear in mind that terrain obstacle attenuation doesn't usually
have much, if any, effect on local ground-to-air paths.  Several miles
away, an FM station on a short tower will clobber the front end of an
aircraft receiver much harder than a radio on the ground.

Mark