EHITCH
Pre-takeoff checklist
This past weekend I flew right seat in 2 different planes into and out of 2 different airports (Piper at KPWK and Skyhawk at KUGN). Listening to the controllers at Palwaukee I have a hard time understanding what they are saying, and I always thought it was my hearing, or maybe my cheap headset. Happened again on Saturday, ATC seemed to have some kind of a buzz or vibration or overtone or something, same as I remembered from several months before.
What made we wonder, though, and provoked this post, is that on Sunday, ATC at Waukegan was crystal clear and I understood every word. The planes are about the same vintage and my headset had not magically changed overnight, it's just that having the chance to compare both levels of sound quality only one day apart made me wonder: has anyone else experienced this kind of quality difference? Isn't there some minimum level of audio quality or clean signal or something that the FAA requires (dumb question, I know, but I still have faith)? Have other pilots in the Chicago area experienced this, and if not, next time you're up in the northern area give a listen, I'd like to know if you run into the same thing.
Thanks, Hitch
What made we wonder, though, and provoked this post, is that on Sunday, ATC at Waukegan was crystal clear and I understood every word. The planes are about the same vintage and my headset had not magically changed overnight, it's just that having the chance to compare both levels of sound quality only one day apart made me wonder: has anyone else experienced this kind of quality difference? Isn't there some minimum level of audio quality or clean signal or something that the FAA requires (dumb question, I know, but I still have faith)? Have other pilots in the Chicago area experienced this, and if not, next time you're up in the northern area give a listen, I'd like to know if you run into the same thing.
Thanks, Hitch