VFR & IFR Comms = 1 subject

To produce radio wave -> Oscillating electrical current & aerials

They move @ speed of light.

Speed of light is constant at 3*10^8 m/s

Hz = Cycles per second = frequency

Speed of light = 162000 NM /s

1000 Hz = Kilohertz, etc

Frequency Bands:

Mil uses upper VHF & lower UHF for comms.

Civ uses 118MHz to 137 MHz for comms

Factors that affect range:

-> Power of transmitter

-> Height of transmitter & Receiver
-> Obstructions between transmitter & Receiver

Frequency bands:

VLF Very Low Frequency 3KHz - 30KHz

LF Low Frequency 30 KHz - 300 KHz
MF Medium Frequency 300 KHz - 3 MHz
HF High Frequency 3 MHz - 30 MHz
VHF Very High Frequency 30 MHz - 300
MHz
UHF Ultra High Frequency 300 MHz - 3 GHz
SHF Super High Frequency 3 GHz - 30 GHz
EHF Extremely High Frequency 30 GHz - 300 GHz

With height in feat AMSL, range in NM

Ducting = Radio wave may be guided along horizontal layer following curvature of earth. Increases
wave's range.

Power output affects range. Double range -> 4x power.

So as we are doubly far out, signal strength reduces to 1/4th of original

Attenuation = loss of signal strength. Becomes significant above 1GHz.

Surface attenuation = greatest compared to atmospheric attenuation.

Ionospheric attenuation greatest at low frequencies

Information on radio wave goes via:

Amplitude Modulation (Vary strength (amplitude) of carrier wave to transmit info.)

Used on VHF, UHF & HF

Frequency Modulation (Vary frequency of a wave to transmit info)

FM Can clip a signal to remove part of the intel. So FM Signal will produce high fidelity without
interference

Pulse Modulation: Interrupts the carrier wave to send dots & dashes, or digitised binary information