Non-directional beacons

Aircraft, traffic control, air services

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spartacus
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Re: Non-directional beacons

Post by spartacus »

A beacon range is controlled mostly by its power output. The max range possible (taking into account the height of the aircraft and the curvature of the earth is about 600 nm over land) It is often restricted in some high density areas though to avoid interference.

A few formulas:

Range over land = three times the square root of the power output
Range over sea = nine times the square root of the power output
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WPXZBP

Re: Non-directional beacons

Post by WPXZBP »

Time of day has a dramatic effect on these LF signals. At night the propogation of such signals is enhanced.
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Re: Non-directional beacons

Post by vk6hgr »

WPXZBP wrote:Time of day has a dramatic effect on these LF signals. At night the propogation of such signals is enhanced.
If Australian amateurs are allowed a LF segment, we'd probably learn a lot more about LF propagation :)
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Re: Non-directional beacons

Post by ConstableCare »

spartacus wrote:A beacon range is controlled mostly by its power output. The max range possible (taking into account the height of the aircraft and the curvature of the earth is about 600 nm over land) It is often restricted in some high density areas though to avoid interference.

A few formulas:

Range over land = three times the square root of the power output
Range over sea = nine times the square root of the power output
Ranges for each NDB is generally in ERSA anyway. If not the DAP's East & West or the Jepp Charts...

CC 8)
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Re: Non-directional beacons

Post by Nafenn »

ConstableCare wrote:
spartacus wrote:A beacon range is controlled mostly by its power output. The max range possible (taking into account the height of the aircraft and the curvature of the earth is about 600 nm over land) It is often restricted in some high density areas though to avoid interference.

A few formulas:

Range over land = three times the square root of the power output
Range over sea = nine times the square root of the power output
Ranges for each NDB is generally in ERSA anyway. If not the DAP's East & West or the Jepp Charts...

CC 8)
so... its in the aip somewhere :)
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Re: Non-directional beacons

Post by ConstableCare »

Nafenn wrote:
ConstableCare wrote:
spartacus wrote:A beacon range is controlled mostly by its power output. The max range possible (taking into account the height of the aircraft and the curvature of the earth is about 600 nm over land) It is often restricted in some high density areas though to avoid interference.

A few formulas:

Range over land = three times the square root of the power output
Range over sea = nine times the square root of the power output
Ranges for each NDB is generally in ERSA anyway. If not the DAP's East & West or the Jepp Charts...

CC 8)
so... its in the aip somewhere :)
Whilst this may be true, it's a generic range only. Specific ranges are generally found in those publications listed...

CC 8)
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Re: Non-directional beacons

Post by VK4006SWL »

Sorry for the thread necro, but I didn't see much point in creating a new topic.

From where I live North of Brisbane, I can always receive the NDB from the airport at Coolangatta, near the border between QLD and NSW. It would be just a shade over 130 km in a straight line. It transmits on 278 or 279 kHz, but I'm not sure what the output power is. It broadcasts a slow morse code callsign of "CG".
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Re: Non-directional beacons

Post by robbage »

It's on 278 kHz and transmits 100w according to ACMA

(oh and good luck with your studies)
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Re: Non-directional beacons

Post by VK4006SWL »

robbage wrote: <snip> (oh and good luck with your studies) <snip>
Thanks. Hopefully, I'll be doing the Foundation level testing in a few weeks.

Back to the beacon... I sometimes leave it playing quietly in the background while I fall asleep. I guess whale sounds aren't my thing. :P
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Re: Non-directional beacons

Post by Nafenn »

130km's is pretty good range to still be picking up an NDB. The "CG" in morse is an identifier for pilots, so that they can confirm that they have entered the correct frequency and are using the right beacon.
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