Radio Aids and Radio Navigation

Question 1

ADF Errors

Answer 1

• Night Effect (Ionosphere reflects signal to different location)
• Mountain Effect (Reflected waves)
• Static Interference (Thunderstorms)
• Bank Error (Antenna meets radio wave at an angle)
• Quadrantal Error (Waves refracted by aircraft skin)
• Coastal Error (Waves bend going from land to water)
• Needle Oscillations (Weak Signal)

Question 2

DME slant range error

Answer 2

Worst at high altitude close to the station

Question 3

LORAN C

Answer 3

• VLF range 90 to 110 kHz
• Ground Stations are in chains containing a master station and several slave stations
• Omni directional hyperbolic signal sent from master station then slave stations in sequence, done 10-20 times per second
• Receiver determines groundspeed, range, and bearing
• Similar to GPS

Question 4

Precision Approach Radar (PAR)

Answer 4

• Only available at a select number of military airports
• Controller has vertical and horizontal radar
• Will give you verbal commands to fly and approach