I recently made a flight to Spain for a few days, and noticed that very frequently I couldn’t hear ATC. On the way down, CH and FR ATC were 5/5 the whole way. In ES I had this problem everywhere. Air-air was 5/5. Others that were flying with me along the same path and similar altitude with different radios didn’t seem to have trouble.
Has anyone see anything like this? Perhaps ES ATC uses a particular manufacturer that doesn’t seem to like the Trig TY91? Thanks!
I’d say it’s terrain and line of sight issue rather than radio. Happened twice to me, handover Barcelona to Madrid, even flying at FL160. Obviously, they are equipped to communicate with guys flying at FL260+. Be ready to monitor 121.5 to get next frequency or ask early in advance.
Yes it’s likely terrain and/or ground antenna coverage….I recall flying in 6kft-8kft band one end up losing comms from time to time (your can hear Airliners talking but you can’t hear ATC)
Emir wrote:
I’d say it’s terrain and line of sight issue rather than radio. Happened twice to me, handover Barcelona to Madrid, even flying at FL160. Obviously, they are equipped to communicate with guys flying at FL260+. Be ready to monitor 121.5 to get next frequency or ask early in advance.
Ibra wrote:
Yes it’s likely terrain and/or ground antenna coverage….I recall flying in 6kft-8kft band one end up losing comms from time to time (your can hear Airliners talking but you can’t hear ATC)
Makes sense – from what I understand ATC in Spain is mainly geared for airline traffic, so they may not have installed antennas for lower altitude traffic.
Yes, happens all the time, but why did the others in your group did not have this problem?
Yes, happens all the time, but why did the others in your group did not have this problem?
Different moment of talking, different units, better reception, SQ on… who knows 
Antenna(s) placement is paramount, as in VHF on the bottom of the plane, whilst GPS usually reside on top.
The problem might be also be speed induced, as the others weren’t flying as fast as Miguel-Miguel was… VHF wave propagation is therefore also related to the square of speed 
In southern Europe it is common for low level VFR traffic to have range problems due to terrain and I don’t see any reason for the Trig TY91 to be any more subject to these issues than any other radio on the market.
On a number of occasions when flying airliners I have relayed messages between light aircraft and ATC units when it has been clear that contact has been lost.
Did you check the antenna connections, what does the SWR meter say?
Another thing in Spain is distance from antenna, besides from antennas directional characteristics.
Dan wrote:
The problem might be also be speed induced, as the others weren’t flying as fast as Miguel-Miguel was… VHF wave propagation is therefore also related to the square of speed
That’s the only problem with the RV-8 – gets a little wonky as we approach 0.8 c …
