Friday, March 11, 2016

Airband Reception and Fog!

I woke up this morning to find that it is quite foggy outside. It's worth noting that reception on VHF and UHF frequencies which includes the airband frequency range, is often much better when there are fog conditions.

I don't want to start getting into technicalities here, but when there's high pressure and fog, it can have an effect on radio wave propagation in the troposhere (the lower level of our atmoshere) which affects airband reception. 

This morning is no exception, as I am receiving East Midlands ATC (about 15 miles from me) much louder and clearer than usual and there's a distinct improvement in reception of aircraft and maintenance vehicles on the ground at East Midlands Airport.

So, it's always worth scanning around in fog conditions to see what signals you can 'pull in'. I remember on one occasion, I was clearly receiving Gatwick approach ATC on 126.825Mhz from my location near Leicester! but that was exceptional and doesn't represent the norm.