Losing my LOM/Finding my FAF

[PPC1052]

Are you set to "Lo" sensitivity? Some MB antennas aren't up to snuff on "Lo", so try "Hi".

Flew last night. Set the marker beacon receiver to Hi, and got the signal. So, in the end, much ado about nothing. It was pilot error.

So, I learned from this thread: 1) set it to high, and 2) the term "LOM" in the NOTAM only refers to the compass locator, not the outer marker.

Thanks, guys.

 

[Palmpilot]

Flew last night. Set the marker beacon receiver to Hi, and got the signal. So, in the end, much ado about nothing. It was pilot error.

So, I learned from this thread: 1) set it to high, and 2) the term "LOM" in the NOTAM only refers to the compass locator, not the outer marker.

Thanks, guys.

There is a legitimate use for the low setting, and that's to get a more precise location of the beacon after acquiring the signal on the high setting. (Obviously that won't work in cases where reception isn't good enough to pick it up on low.)

 

[PPC1052]

There is a legitimate use for the low setting, and that's to get a more precise location of the beacon after acquiring the signal on the high setting. (Obviously that won't work in cases where reception isn't good enough to pick it up on low.)

Unfortunately, you won't know when you can trust the lo sensitivity. I guess you can start hi, and switch lo. But that's a lot of fumbling around at the FAF.

 

[Palmpilot]

Unfortunately, you won't know when you can trust the lo sensitivity. I guess you can start hi, and switch lo. But that's a lot of fumbling around at the FAF.

Starting hi and switching to lo is the way I was taught.

I've never found pushing one button one time to be a significant addition to my workload, but if it is for you, it's probably not that crucial to locate the marker precisely. The worst that could happen from just leaving it on high sensitivity is probably that you might start the timer a little too soon, and that's very unlikely to be fatal, IMO.

 

[PPC1052]

Starting hi and switching to lo is the way I was taught.

I've never found pushing one button one time to be a significant addition to my workload, but if it is for you, it's probably not that crucial to locate the marker precisely. The worst that could happen from just leaving it on high sensitivity is probably that you might start the timer a little too soon, and that's very unlikely to be fatal, IMO.

That was sort of my thinking. Where I am flying there is a lot that happens at AIRPA. In addition to having to start the timer, and reconfigure to descend, ATC starts rattling off a bunch of instructions I have to read back, and then make a radio call to traffic in the pattern. So, at least for my experience level, there is a bit of task saturation.