I'm going to come out and say it..."meowing" on guard ****es me off. I'd never say it on 121.5, as that one annoyed dude who retorts back just invites a dozen more meows. I'm sure I'll get that here too but at least you can't post on this forum anonymously.
So too does saying "any traffic in the pattern please advise..." or "last call" on CTAF, but I can forgive those radio calls as they at least have the intent of usefulness.
Look, I'm not a stick in the mud, I like a good joke as much as the next guy, but the nonsense on guard is really annoying. I usually end up turning down the volume on comm 2, which defeats the purpose of monitoring guard. I'm also based in the DC area, so monitoring guard has a bit more urgency.
I stated flying 30 years ago. I don't remember this being a thing when I started. For the last 15 years, it's been a thing nearly every flight. The other day I had to explain to my 10 year old why seemly respectable adult pilots are acting like six year olds on the radio. I mean, even he thought it was dumb, and he thinks my fart jokes are funny.
Look, I'm not looking to lock up these guys. The FCC isn't going to be going after them anytime soon, and a "meow" on guard isn't going to crash an airplane...but it could cause fewer folks to monitor guard and thus limit assistance in an actual emergency.
This has gotten me thinking...we could probably figure out who is doing this. Multi-lateration and radio triangulation can pinpoint the source of a radio transmission. ADS-B data can provide a pretty good source of an aircraft in a point in space. I'm sure you could narrow down which aircraft generated the source of the meow probably 66% percent of the time. If you use valid radio calls where the pilot uses their radio to communicate with ATC and calibrate location to radio transmission, you could get even more accurate positioning. Bonus points if the same radio was used, as you might even be able to detect a "signature" based on the radio used.
Could this be done using a scattering of inexpensive raspberry Pi computers connected to a SDR (software designed radio) receiver? Or would it take something more technically capable? I'm just a pilot, not a tech experience , so I'm not really sure.
Perhaps we could figure out who's doing this? Regional pilots? Part 141 flight school planes? Time builders? Random flying clubs? Pipeline patrol? I don't know.
But maybe a high profile YouTuber could take this on as a project to figure out how to do this? Maybe a couple uncomfortable inquiries might put the guard cats to rest...might make for fun content too. Where's Bryan? Has he started training yet?
Anyway, thanks for listening to my Ted talk/rant. In the meantime, bonus points to Bose or Lightspeed if they can come out with a new headset that filters out "meows" and "guard" sounds.
So too does saying "any traffic in the pattern please advise..." or "last call" on CTAF, but I can forgive those radio calls as they at least have the intent of usefulness.
Look, I'm not a stick in the mud, I like a good joke as much as the next guy, but the nonsense on guard is really annoying. I usually end up turning down the volume on comm 2, which defeats the purpose of monitoring guard. I'm also based in the DC area, so monitoring guard has a bit more urgency.
I stated flying 30 years ago. I don't remember this being a thing when I started. For the last 15 years, it's been a thing nearly every flight. The other day I had to explain to my 10 year old why seemly respectable adult pilots are acting like six year olds on the radio. I mean, even he thought it was dumb, and he thinks my fart jokes are funny.
Look, I'm not looking to lock up these guys. The FCC isn't going to be going after them anytime soon, and a "meow" on guard isn't going to crash an airplane...but it could cause fewer folks to monitor guard and thus limit assistance in an actual emergency.
This has gotten me thinking...we could probably figure out who is doing this. Multi-lateration and radio triangulation can pinpoint the source of a radio transmission. ADS-B data can provide a pretty good source of an aircraft in a point in space. I'm sure you could narrow down which aircraft generated the source of the meow probably 66% percent of the time. If you use valid radio calls where the pilot uses their radio to communicate with ATC and calibrate location to radio transmission, you could get even more accurate positioning. Bonus points if the same radio was used, as you might even be able to detect a "signature" based on the radio used.
Could this be done using a scattering of inexpensive raspberry Pi computers connected to a SDR (software designed radio) receiver? Or would it take something more technically capable? I'm just a pilot, not a tech experience , so I'm not really sure.
Perhaps we could figure out who's doing this? Regional pilots? Part 141 flight school planes? Time builders? Random flying clubs? Pipeline patrol? I don't know.
But maybe a high profile YouTuber could take this on as a project to figure out how to do this? Maybe a couple uncomfortable inquiries might put the guard cats to rest...might make for fun content too. Where's Bryan? Has he started training yet?
Anyway, thanks for listening to my Ted talk/rant. In the meantime, bonus points to Bose or Lightspeed if they can come out with a new headset that filters out "meows" and "guard" sounds.
