In the Federal Aviation Administration, air traffic control authorities in a given area require the use of multiple frequencies within given channels. It facilitates communication with numerous aircraft by air traffic controllers at every stage of aircraft operation: en route, approach, landing and taxiing.
Congestion on the frequency caused by pilots and controllers trying to speak to one another is bad enough. Now, take away the frequency completely as area high school football scores drown out traffic advisories and control instructions, with only one emergency frequency in VHF.
Larger cities, in addition to being more likely to deal with digital television signals and on a greater scale than smaller communities, usually deal with much more air traffic. I'm not saying that I know a technical solution to this problem, because I don't. I do know that the aviation community's safety record is built on killing its own and figuring out the unsafe circumstances in retrospect.
Bottom line: don't trust the FCC, or any group of technical specialists, to see a larger picture just because it's obvious to you.
Slashdot Mirror
In the Federal Aviation Administration, air traffic control authorities in a given area require the use of multiple frequencies within given channels. It facilitates communication with numerous aircraft by air traffic controllers at every stage of aircraft operation: en route, approach, landing and taxiing.
Congestion on the frequency caused by pilots and controllers trying to speak to one another is bad enough. Now, take away the frequency completely as area high school football scores drown out traffic advisories and control instructions, with only one emergency frequency in VHF.
Larger cities, in addition to being more likely to deal with digital television signals and on a greater scale than smaller communities, usually deal with much more air traffic. I'm not saying that I know a technical solution to this problem, because I don't. I do know that the aviation community's safety record is built on killing its own and figuring out the unsafe circumstances in retrospect.
Bottom line: don't trust the FCC, or any group of technical specialists, to see a larger picture just because it's obvious to you.