I was once told that many airliner std ops was to have 125.1 in box 2 if not actually being used.
I have friends that always do the same in GA.
I think it’s a great idea but have yet to remember to do it.
I always keep 121.5 on comms 2 except for when listening to ATIS. It’s funny how many Brit pilots use it over Brittany to do practice pans and to tell their life story
And, including ATPL’s how many forget that it is tined on the emergency frequency and start asking for clearances on it.
Peter wrote:
Country dependent; maybe Sweden does
Touché.
But according to AIP-UK London ACC does too. And what’s the point of 121.5 if no one is listening?
You will get a response from the RAF’s D&D unit on 121.5 anywhere in the UK.
Touché.
It’s not “touché” – it is just a lot of things exist in Sweden, and sometimes in Norway, and nowhere else.
For example in the UK D&D (a service to the RAF, historically, because fast jets are always fuel critical and if they get lost it is Big Trouble) listens to 121.50 and offers a countrywide VDF location service and alerting etc (above specified altitudes; typically 2-3k ft) but FIS (e.g. London Info) doesn’t listen on it, the big CAS owners (e.g. London Control) don’t, and neither do any of the airport tower units. They would be awfully busy if they did because there is a lot of idle chatter on 121.50. Maybe some other countries do; does Langen Radar offer a service on 121.50 in Germany?
many airliner std ops was to have 125.1 in box 2 if not actually being used.
They do fly like that but a novice would not even work out (quickly) how to select #2 radio on a big jet.
On 121.5 even in the UK if you call for say London Control, they will answer. But of course you would have to know to do that. But if you call on 121.5 anywhere you will get FIS assistance if you are in VHF range. If nothing else, airliners will answer as they routinely monitor guard.
But Peter is right, tuning a radio on a Collins system or Honeywell system is not straightforward.
Surely if you call up on 121.50 and say “London Control Nxxxx blah blah…” the answer will come back from D&D, not from London Control.
There must be a basic point here in that while you can have more than one agency listening on 121.50, you cannot possibly have more than one agency replying to the call, and since we know D&D will respond, it implies that nobody else will.
Otherwise, London Control would need to have a means of routing a 121.50 transmission to the nationwide system of transmitters used by D&D, with frequency offsets to prevent them interfering. That is possible but is that really implemented? And not just for London Control but lots of other units that control big chunks of airspace. And each time they transmitted back to you, it would prevent D&D doing their job.
Our military UHF boxes have a Guard Monitor function so no matter what frequency you are working it monitors 243 and will pick up transmissions – the idea is that if you have lost comms due frequency faff you will get a Guard transmission.
Peter wrote:
Surely if you call up on 121.50 and say “London Control Nxxxx blah blah…” the answer will come back from D&D, not from London Control.There must be a basic point here in that while you can have more than one agency listening on 121.50, you cannot possibly have more than one agency replying to the call, and since we know D&D will respond, it implies that nobody else will.
I can assure you LC will reply if you ask for them.
JasonC wrote:
But Peter is right, tuning a radio on a Collins system or Honeywell system is not straightforward.
Topic drift, perhaps, but this sounds like a horrific failing in user interface design.
