WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

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

Time of day has a dramatic effect on these LF signals. At night the propogation of such signals is enhanced.

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

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

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

so... its in the aip somewhere

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

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

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".

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

(oh and good luck with your studies)

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.

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.