Chapter 3
VHF Com
Very High Frequency Communications
Communications move in formation in and out of both communications and nav igation a re combined in
an airplane for a ir traffic contro l, a irline company op- a single case or housing. Because the com hal f trans-
erations and passenger services. T he earliest "com" ra- mits and receives, it is a " transceiver."
dios sent and received Morse code, then adva nced to
The V HF band is under g reat pressure because of
voice as technology became available. Today, voice
the growing number of a ircraft. Frequencies are as-
mes ages are also headed for extinction, as digital in-
signed by international agreement and difficult to ob-
formation travels more efficiently on " data link," a tech-
tain becau e many non-aviation serv ices compete for
nology spreadin g throug h aviation.
limited s pace in the radio spectrum. These include
VHF-Com. Radios for communication may be public-safety (police, fire, e mergency medical and other
label led "Com, Com m, V HF-Com" or imply " VHF." gove rnment activity). V HF is also in de mand by
They rece ive and transmit in the VHF com band from " landmobile" services such as taxi, and de livery ve-
11 8.00 to 136.975 M i lz . When a radio is a 11a vcom hicles. As a result, avionics eng inee rs have developed
new techniques for expanding communications inside
the ex isting Vl-1 F aviation band.
S plitting. One method for squeezing in more chan-
nels is "splitting." As the accompanying c hart shows.
the VHF band has bee n split four times, resulting in a n
increase from 90 channe ls to over 2,280. This became
possible with advances in digita l signal process ing, es-
pec ia lly to make the com rece iver re pond ve ry selec-
tively to the new, narrow c hanne ls .
A large number of old-techno logy avionics could
Three VHF com radios are often carried aboard airlines;
the antenna location s are shown above. VHF com 1 and not operate with such tight spacing an d, in 1997, radios
2 are fo r communicating with air traffic control. VH F com with 360 channe ls or fewer were banned (sec cha1t).
3 operates in the ACARS system for what is commonly
called "company communications." VHF Data Rad io. In the coming years, there wi ll
be a dramatic drop in the numbe r of vo ice transmis-
sions on the VHF a ircraft band. It is due to the rise of
16
Acceptable VHF Com Radios
•
NO. OF
CHANNELS ACCEPTABLE? NOTES
I
January 1, 1997 banned radios with
90 100 kHz No
360 or fewer channels
The increase from 180 to 360
180 50 kHz No channels resulted when the band was
expanded from 126.90 to 135.9 MHz
Doubling of channels resulted from
360 50 kHz No "channel splitting" (moving
frequencies closer together).
Again channels were split, but new
technology produced selective
receivers which could separate close-
760 25 kHz Yes
spaced channels. Also, another
megahertz was added to the band,
providing 40 more channels.
Further channel splitting tripled the
channels to accommodate increasi ng
2280 8 .33 kHz Yes air trattic. This spacing, 8.33 kHz,
was first used in Europe, where
frequency congestion became critical.
"datalink," where messages are sent and received in digi-
tal coding. The human voice delivers information at a VDR Radio
slow rate---about 300 words per minute. Compare this
to an e-mail message bui lding on a computer screen.
Three hundred words appear in about one-tenth of a
second.' Not only will datalink take one channel and
split it more than fou r ways, it operates faster, and
eliminates misunderstood words.
VDR. Airliners and other large aircraft are equip-
ping with a new generation known as VDR, for VHF
Data Radio . Because many years are required to tran-
sition to a new system, the VDR must operate on both
ex isting and future systems. 25 KHZ
SPACING
Voice. This is the traditional air/ground commu-
nications where the pilot talks over a microphone. It is
known as AM, or ampl itude modulation. 8 .33 KHZ D IGITAL
SPACING DATA
ACARS. An automatic system that reports via
VHF radio to an airline company when its aircraft take Honeywell
off and arri ve, and carries messages about company Control-display head for the VDR (VHF data radio).
opera tions (d esc ribed in the nex t c hapter ). The knob at the lower left enables the pilot to select
either channel spaci ng ; 25 kHz or the newer 8.33
kHz. The next position is "TOMA" whi ch can send
VOL. Yet another mode is VDL , for VHF datalink. digital voice and data.
Many airliners have equipped with VDL because their
wide-ranging flights must be prepared to communicate
with systems everywhere.
17
Basic VHF-Navcom Connections: General Aviation
7. COM 8. NAV 9. COM 10. NAV
ANTENNA ANTENNA AUDIO AUDIO
1. DC POWER INPUT - -- --.
• •• ..... unu.no
3. GROUND
•••
- ""'
COMM STl'I
4. MIC KEY LINE ,w I
...
ffll =
• OWi om,,.. .... m
... .
nKO
Pll.lOOS
5. MIC AUDIO
6. INSTRUMENT ....,._ _ __ _.
LIGHTING
1. DC Power Input
Depending on the airplane's electrical system, this and drives the pilot intercom or passenger add ress
is primary power to the radio; 14- or 28-volt DC. It syste m.
from a circuit breaker or fuse designated for a navcom.
6. Instrument Lighting
In some diagrams, DC power input is also called the
At night, the pilot may dim lights on the panel with
"A" lead.
one control. When this connection is wired to the dim-
2. Switched Power mer, radi o lighting is controlled along with all other
When the radio is turned on, this connection sends illumination.
power from the radio to certain accessories, such as an
7. Corn Antenna
external ind icator that displays navigation information.
Coax ial cable that runs to the VHF com an tenna.
An example is the VOR instrument that displays left-
right, up-down steering commands. 8. Nav Antenna
Coax ial cable to the VO R nav antenna.
3. Ground
The negati ve side of the electrica l syste m, it can 9. Corn Audio
be any part of the airplane 's metal structure that goes Audio received from an incoming signal. In simple
back to the negative side of the battery. insta llations, this line connects to the pilot's headphone
jack. Audio at this po int is " low level," meaning it can
f n compos ite (non-metal) a irpla nes, the ground is onl y drive a headphone, and not a cabin speaker. Al-
a "bus bar," or heavy copper w ire or braid that extends though some radios have built- in a mplifie rs, many air-
the negati ve battery lead through the airplane. craft add an audio pane l. It not only provides amplifi-
4. Mic Key Line cation for the cabin speaker, but boosts and mixes low
Turns on the transmitter when a microphone but- level audio from othe r sources.
ton is pressed. The button may be on the mike, or 10. Nav Audio
mounted on the control yoke. Re leasing the button This enables the pilot to listen to and identify navi-
switches the radio back to receive. gati onal signals, w hich broadcast an ID in Morse code
5. Mic Audio and voice.
This is the voice s ignal from the pilot micro-
phone brought into the radio through a microphone jack
or audio panel. Mic audio is applied to the transmitter,
VHF-Com System
ANTENNA
ACTIVE STORED
VHF TRANSCEIVER
,~1
TRANSFER
M
C
I
A
U
D
P
T
T COCKPIT
VOICE
VHF CONTROL PANEL RECORDER
MIC -~---~----•~•
AUDIO
RECEIVER PANEL
AU DIO
A com radio typically found in airliners and radio between transmit and receive. The
large aircraft. The pilot operates the VHF button is on the microphone or the con-
Control Panel, while the main unit of the VHF t rol yoke.
transceiver is in a remote electronics bay. The transceiver also provides an au-
Two frequencies may be selected at one dio output to the Cockpit Voice Recorder
time; the active channel sends and re- to retain radio messages in the event of
ceives, the stored channel remains inactive. a safety investigation.
When the transfer button is pressed, the two There are usually three VHF com radios
channels exchange places. aboard an airliner. One radio, however,
The Audio Panel connects pilot micro- is operated in the ACARS system, as de-
phone and headset or loudspeaker. "PTT" scribed below.
is the push-to-talk button that switches the
ANTENNA
Third Com Radio
This is the same as the other two com ra-
dios, except for modifications to operate on VHF TRANSCEIVER
ACARS (Aircraft Communication and Report-
ing System) described in a later chapter. M A P
There is no pilot control panel because the I U T COCKPIT
C D T VOICE
frequency is pre-set to an assigned ACARS
l
channel. ACARS automatically receives and RECORDER
transmits messages about company opera-
tions.
A pilot may also use voice on this radio
through the mic and receiver audio connec-
MIC
tion. ACARS
VHF com radios in large aircraft typically AUDIO
operate from a 28 VDC power source. The RECEIVER PANEL
transm itter is often rated at 25 watts of ra- AUDIO
dio frequency output power.
19
VHF-Com Control Panel
ACTIVE FREQUENCY STORED
ACTIVE INDICATOR FREQUENCY
Typical airline control head FREQUENCY
for one VHF transmitter-re-
ceiver (transceiver). The pi-
lot is communicating on the
left display ; the frequency
transfer switch is pointing
left. He has stored the next
frequency on the right side.
A flip of the transfer switch
activates the next frequency.
This panel-mounted unit con- FREQUENCY
trols a remote transceiver in SELECTOR
the electronics bay.
The " Com Test" button at
the bottom disables the au-
tomatic squelch. This allows
atmospheric noise to be
heard , which is an approxi-
mate test of whether the ra-
dio is operating. FREQUENCY FREQUENCY
TEST
TRANSFER SELECTOR
TRANSMITIER
POWER INDICATOR
1. 8 (REFLECTED SHOWN)
DISABLES SQUELCH,
POWER INDICATOR
TESTS LAMPS
CONTROL
{SELECTS FORWARD
RFL OR REFLECTED POWER)
GREEN=
NO FAILURES
RED =TUNING
DATA NOT CORRECT JACK FOR TESTING
WITH MICROPHONE
JACK FOR LISTENING
WITH HEADSET BUTION STARTS TESTS
INDICATED BY RED AND
GREEN LED LAMPS
Located in the electronics bay, the VHF transceiver is reflected power is high, there's a problem in the antenna
remotely tuned by the control head in the instrument or cable. This is covered in the chapter on test and
panel. This LRU (line replaceable unit) has several test troubleshooting. The jacks at the bottom enable the
features built in. The indicator at the top shows trans- technician to talk and listen while testing in the elec-
mitter power in the forward direction (toward the an- tronics bay.
tenna) or power reflected back to the transmitter. If
20
"Splitting" VHF Channels
Almost every decade for the last 50 years, VHF com channels have been " split,"
dividing the space occupied by one frequency. Another way of viewing it is that
channels are moved closer together within the same band.
The first aircraft radios had "200 kHz" spacing. (Note that " 200 kHz" can be
written as ".2 MHz" by moving the decimal three places to the left.) Thus, the dials
of early com radios appeared as:
120.......... 120.2 .. ........ 120.4.......... 120.6 ....... ... 120.8 .......... etc.
This spacing divided the VHF com band into 70 channels. As aviation grew, the
band was increased in size and 20 more channels were added (still with the 200 khz
spacing.
But aviation was growing and demanding more frequencies. Fortunately, the avi-
onics industry was also advancing with techniques that made receivers more " se-
lective," enabling them to separate two channels that are closely spaced. The
progress of splitting went like this:
Spacing No.of Channels
200 kHz 90
100 kHz 180
50 kHz 360
25 kHz 760
8.333 kHz 2280
For channel-splitting to work, transmitting frequencies are held to tight tolerances
to avoid drifting and causing interference to other channels. Because early radios
could not comply, they were outlawed on the aviation bands. Most radios now oper-
ate on 25 kHz and 8.333 kHz spacing.
The last split, to 8.333 khz, marks the beginning of a new-type com radio that handles
both voice and digital data. It is VDL (Very High Frequency Data Link). Using digital
signals, each 8.333 frequency can operate simultaneously with up to four channels
of information; four voice and two digital messages.
Radio Management System
Chelton Av1orn cs
CONTROL-DISPLAY RECEIVER/ NAV (VOR) ADF DME TRANSPONDER
UNIT TRANSMITTER RECEIVER RECEIVER
A Radio Management System eliminates numerous codes, etc. All the other units are mounted in re-
knobs, buttons and separate control heads for op- mote racks and are controlled through a databus
erating com and nav radios. It's less of a workload (ARINC 429).
to operate and saves space on the instrument panel. This system, the Chelton RMS 555, is used by
The pilot sees only the control-display unit (at the corporate, regional airline and military aircraft.
left) and selects or stores frequencies, transponder
21
