  
|
Latest Videos
About The Author:
Born and raised in Chicagoland. Moved to St Louis in 1995 after bouncing around the world with the United States Air Force as a DJ and Management Engineer. Retired from the Air Force in 1998. Works full time as a National Radio Host and Operations Manager for the All Star Radio Networks (right here in St Louis). Joined WIL in 2006 after three years at KSD-FM and six years on K-Hits. Married to Gaynale (30 years). Two grown children Shauna and Brad. No grandchildren yet. My passions are Flying, Radio and being with my family. Catch me weekends on WIL.The Old Dawg Learns New Tricks - Part 6 of 12
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replying the story in its archived form does not constitute a re-publiccation of the story.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF RADIO
“Tower, I can’t pick up WIL on my transponder”. “Rik that device is to help Air Traffic Control (ATC) identify who you are and where you are.”
That’s a good thing, in the congested skies over St. Louis, it’s important to everyone that Air Traffic Control knows who you are, where you are and where you are going.
That was part of the information we learned during ground school on Thursday night. The big thing was how to communicate with ATC, and other aircraft in different types of airspace that surround airports.
There are so many tools to aid pilots before they even buckle in and start the engine. The Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS) provides a wealth of important information for pilots, such as ; the current wind conditions, the sky conditions, temperature and dew point, altimeter settings and what runways are in use. Lots of important info I'll want to know when calculating my departure.
What about these other radios? WIL is 92.3FM. No sorry, the two other radios we learned about are the COM/NAV (Communications and Navigation). They broadcast on a frequency above the FM band from 108.00 to 135.975 MHZ. These frequencies help pilots communicate with the variety of ATC control centers from those 20 national ones called CENTER, to the local approach and departure controllers, to the control tower and to each other.
Before we concluded class, we were reminded about a test next week !?! OH BOY, here’s my chance to test my knowledge. I felt pretty confident on the test review, just a couple areas that I’ll need to review. I guess we’ll know more on Tuesday Night? Next update is coming up on Wednesday, so wish me well.
Have a great weekend and stay cool.
-Rik Out
|
What do you think?
We want to hear from you! Take five seconds to join ToastedRav.com or log in.