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How do most of you pilots set up a flight plan and what nav-aids doyou use.



 
 
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  #21  
Old November 14th 09, 05:19 PM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Brian Whatcott
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 915
Default How do most of you pilots set up a flight plan and what nav-aidsdo you use.

Yes indeed, Mike. Or close enough. If you buy the copper tape antenna
and stoppers from the avionics guru who lurks on r.a.homebuilt he will
want to sell you something to trim a little shorter to account for the
local speed of light (c) on a 1/4 .

My nose was a little out of joint initially with yet another slightly
snippy and mis-spelled note from an anonymous poster on this
crap-infested group. [Brings to mind the idea of adolescent poseurs
with dirty ears and dirtier mouths...]
....But he was in fact doing me a service in prompting me to look out the
requirements for 406MHz ELTs in the US.

These turn out to include the requirement for a 406MHz ELT on NEW light
aircraft and ANY light aircraft going international (if I got it right).
This could happen, I suppose. I have made the Oshkosh pilgrimage, and I
am fixing to visit Corpus Christi in the other direction....
I am not thrilled by the prices however. Surely there must be cheaper
examples out there than the $800 specimens? A new Ameriking dual Fx
costs $150 after all....

The initial point was that a glance at a light aircraft will show
whether it is equipped for 121.5 (or 121.5 and 243Mz) or 406Mhz.
The great majority of aircraft that I see, have a 20+ inch whip or rod.

Brian W


MikeW wrote:

g'day Brian,

Call frequency "f". Speed of light c = 3*10^8 metres/second. Wavelength =
c/f in metres. Quarter-wave antenna length then is c/4*f.

So, 406 MHz, call it 400 to simplify a bit. Wavelength = 3*10^8/400*10^6 =
3*10^8/4*10^8 = 0.75 metres. Quarter wave a bit under 20 cm, which would be
a bit under 8 inches old scale.

Cheers ... MikeW.

/snip/

Hi, User posting as Dave,

do you know how to relate emission frequency
to the length of a corresponding quarter wave whip?

Brian W



  #22  
Old November 15th 09, 07:23 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
MikeW
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2
Default How do most of you pilots set up a flight plan and what nav-aids do you use.

Hi Brian,

I've just bought a new 406MHz EPIRB for the boat, cost me AUD400, so about
$350 of your variety I think. The "real" problem is that the COSPAS/SARSAT
constellation of satellites had the 121.5/243MHz capability turned off at
the beginning of this year, which suggests tht the 20 inch whip is basically
useless unless there's an aircraft monitoring 121.5 within line of sight.
We've all had to re-equip during this year to cope (I've managed to leave it
until the beginning of our summer, when new stocks became available).
Incidentally, just measured the antenna: 175 mm from the top of the case so
rough approximation not too bad in this case.

Cheers ... MikeW

"brian whatcott" wrote in message
...
Yes indeed, Mike. Or close enough. If you buy the copper tape antenna
and stoppers from the avionics guru who lurks on r.a.homebuilt he will
want to sell you something to trim a little shorter to account for the
local speed of light (c) on a 1/4 .

My nose was a little out of joint initially with yet another slightly
snippy and mis-spelled note from an anonymous poster on this crap-infested
group. [Brings to mind the idea of adolescent poseurs
with dirty ears and dirtier mouths...]
...But he was in fact doing me a service in prompting me to look out the
requirements for 406MHz ELTs in the US.

These turn out to include the requirement for a 406MHz ELT on NEW light
aircraft and ANY light aircraft going international (if I got it right).
This could happen, I suppose. I have made the Oshkosh pilgrimage, and I am
fixing to visit Corpus Christi in the other direction....
I am not thrilled by the prices however. Surely there must be cheaper
examples out there than the $800 specimens? A new Ameriking dual Fx costs
$150 after all....

The initial point was that a glance at a light aircraft will show whether
it is equipped for 121.5 (or 121.5 and 243Mz) or 406Mhz.
The great majority of aircraft that I see, have a 20+ inch whip or rod.

Brian W


MikeW wrote:

g'day Brian,

Call frequency "f". Speed of light c = 3*10^8 metres/second. Wavelength
= c/f in metres. Quarter-wave antenna length then is c/4*f.

So, 406 MHz, call it 400 to simplify a bit. Wavelength = 3*10^8/400*10^6
= 3*10^8/4*10^8 = 0.75 metres. Quarter wave a bit under 20 cm, which
would be a bit under 8 inches old scale.

Cheers ... MikeW.

/snip/

Hi, User posting as Dave,

do you know how to relate emission frequency
to the length of a corresponding quarter wave whip?

Brian W



  #23  
Old November 15th 09, 04:57 PM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Brian Whatcott
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 915
Default 406 ELTs, EPIRBS & PSBs (was How do most of you pilots set up...)

I reset my search to PSBs: personal Survival Beacons.
I think this is the style of device that you are using.
These are more reasonable. $300-$400 - but the ones with GPS built in
seem to run $600.
They seem to come in two flavors: those with built in GPS, and those
with an interface to an external GPS source which are cheaper.

Some beacons feature 121.5 AND 406.1xxx because a coordinate
transmission gets rescue in the near ball park but (for aircraft at
least) a 121.5 transmission can be homed right to the (hidden by
trees?)site.

However, the climber/backpacker version PSB/EPIRB is probably not
approved for aircraft use - it's duration is certainly more limited.
The revised regs DID say a survival 406 ELT may be used for light
aircraft though.

Brian W

MikeW wrote:
Hi Brian,

I've just bought a new 406MHz EPIRB for the boat, cost me AUD400, so about
$350 of your variety I think. The "real" problem is that the COSPAS/SARSAT
constellation of satellites had the 121.5/243MHz capability turned off at
the beginning of this year, which suggests that the 20 inch whip is basically
useless unless there's an aircraft monitoring 121.5 within line of sight.
We've all had to re-equip during this year to cope (I've managed to leave it
until the beginning of our summer, when new stocks became available).
Incidentally, just measured the antenna: 175 mm from the top of the case so
rough approximation not too bad in this case.

Cheers ... MikeW

  #24  
Old November 16th 09, 08:31 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
MikeW[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default 406 ELTs, EPIRBS & PSBs (was How do most of you pilots set up...)

Yes Brian, pretty much true. My device is guaranteed for 48 hours
transmission after activation as it's intended for off-shore use, but no
GPS interface. But it doesn't need it - the satellite(s) works that out to
within 6km radius within an hour or so and then the inbuilt 121.5 MHz
secondary homes the aircraft in on the signal. That's how most of the
deep-water sailors (think British Ocean Challenge, Whitbread Round the
World, etc) get home when things go pear shaped. We've got some very good
maritime search aircraft that can damn near reach Antarctica if they've got
an EPIRB report. As indeed do your people. So why re-invent the wheel each
time when there's a perfectly good spare in the shop next door?

Unfortunately it's been a long time since I had the prop in front of me, but
I've kept an interest.

Cheers ... MikeW


"brian whatcott" wrote in message
...
I reset my search to PSBs: personal Survival Beacons.
I think this is the style of device that you are using.
These are more reasonable. $300-$400 - but the ones with GPS built in seem
to run $600.
They seem to come in two flavors: those with built in GPS, and those with
an interface to an external GPS source which are cheaper.

Some beacons feature 121.5 AND 406.1xxx because a coordinate transmission
gets rescue in the near ball park but (for aircraft at least) a 121.5
transmission can be homed right to the (hidden by trees?)site.

However, the climber/backpacker version PSB/EPIRB is probably not approved
for aircraft use - it's duration is certainly more limited.
The revised regs DID say a survival 406 ELT may be used for light aircraft
though.

Brian W

MikeW wrote:
Hi Brian,

I've just bought a new 406MHz EPIRB for the boat, cost me AUD400, so
about $350 of your variety I think. The "real" problem is that the
COSPAS/SARSAT constellation of satellites had the 121.5/243MHz capability
turned off at the beginning of this year, which suggests that the 20 inch
whip is basically useless unless there's an aircraft monitoring 121.5
within line of sight. We've all had to re-equip during this year to cope
(I've managed to leave it until the beginning of our summer, when new
stocks became available). Incidentally, just measured the antenna: 175 mm
from the top of the case so rough approximation not too bad in this case.

Cheers ... MikeW



 




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