Shannon on 124.700

Storm 10

Anyone listening to Shannon Control on 124.700 in the West, I am in Galway and get 124.700 loud and clear but for the past few days it's very poor and hard to hear, every other Airband freq that I listen to is ok. Has there been a freq change or a transmitter problem?

Diamondd7

hi i am from galway city too what type of antenna do you have, i recently got a new antenna and it works well can hear shannon approach and shanwick

Storm 10

Hi there I use a homemade dipole antenna cut to the frequency it's loud and clear on all other Shannon frequencies but 124.700 is gone very poor where up to three weeks ago it was loud and clear, the antenna is working fine.

[Deleted User]

without more details it's hard to tell...

where in Galway?

Were you getting controller and aircraft and now it's just aircraft (or some aircraft)

Best guess is you were receiving from Woodcock Hill Tx and they switched to the alternative Tx site...

W/Hill was probably in full bandbox mode so you got controller and aircraft, even when aircraft weren't in range.. changing Tx site would mean you only receive aircraft in range

Storm 10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764604#Comment_117764604

I always got control and aircraft I still get control and aircraft but where I received it say strength 4 or 5 it's now around strength 2, the other frequencies in Shannon are all fine perhaps they have a transmitter fault or have they moved 124.700 to another frequency , have you another frequency for them for the places you mention.

faoiarvok

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764823#Comment_117764823

If your reception of the aircraft has also decreased, it’s not to do with the transmitter, unless they’re aircraft that are being retransmitted from another frequency by Shannon (Generally 127.5 or 119.075 are band boxed with 124.7). In general any controlled traffic arriving or departing Shannon or Cork will be on 124.7, so if your reception of those has also deteriorated, I’d guess the issue is on your end.

127.5 is usually transmitted from Woodcock Hill also, though the controller may select other sites for aircraft in other parts of the country.

Storm 10

No issues with aircraft 127.500 is grand but 124.700 is way down compared to a few weeks ago 119.075 is loud and clear also.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764823#Comment_117764823

could very well be a TX fault at Woodcock. You can have degradation over time which may not necessarily effect the area of operation (much to notice) but on the fringes of operation (in your case listening at ground level) if could have a dramatic effect...

another cause could be the use of another TX and hence antenna at Woodcock... other antenna may just be at the wrong side of the mast, or the geographic scatter and reflections might just be bad enough at your location...

The alternate site would still use 124.700 (it's in the southeast), not sure how the IAA have their setup, whether it's single or multi carrier legs...

Eurocontrol are pushing for single carrier legs, assuming this, this means Woodcock hill would solely be used, the other site only as backup.

Which points back to a potential issue or change of Tx config at Woodcock....

There is also the outlier of an issue in your setup but if you get other frequencies OK, with no change, you would be looking at a funky fault like water in your feed line or connections... possibly some lightening issues... but you usually see those issues over a few megs, but it's not unheard of to have it local to a meg or 2

Storm 10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117768808#Comment_117768808

Thanks for that surprised that Shannon does not have relay transmitter in the West the number of times that I heard Shannon calling Rescue 118 with no reply and me hearing both of them and they not hearing each other would show they definitely need a Northern antenna , hopefully it's something that will be sorted if there is an antenna issue, I'll keep ye posted.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769152#Comment_117769152

The have at least 8 Tx sites covering Shannon FIR/UIR... this includes 1 in Mayo and 1 in Donegal

When frequencies are bandboxed it's difficult for your average listener to unpick which frequency is being used where.. The radio horizon down at low level is a very real problem, it could have been a case that they were simply out of line of site range and would need to ascend to regain coverage.

They should have HF and SATCOM for these situations but I'm not fully aware if they do.

Or it could have been a simple case that they were busy... as far as I'm aware, standard practice when working low level maritime OPS is to disengage speaking to ATC as it's uncontrolled airspace anyway and work solely on VHF marine.

Storm 10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117770024#Comment_117770024

Do you have any idea of what the frequencies for Mayo and Donegal are or where should I search I have 119.075 and 127.500 currently these two are the best however a controller talking on 124.700 is not always coming through on the other channels. Appreciate the help maybe I should email the Tower and ask them 😁😁😁

[Deleted User]

I don't unfortunately. If the controller is not coming through, it would indicate it's being TX'd from another site. Bandboxing means you hear controller and aircraft on multiple frequencies at once. Doesn't necessarily mean they are all from the same TX site though, you could easily have all 3 frequencies mentioned bandboxed, but only hear controller and A/C on one and aircraft only on the others.

It would be interesting the response you get from the IAA if you did, I can't see it being favourable :-D