Understanding FSS Frequencies

ebykowsky

ebykowsky

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Hello all, I'm having a bit of trouble understanding which frequency for FSS to transmit/receive on. Planning a flight tomorrow from KCUB to KJZI, and I'm trying to figure out how to contact the FSS in flight. For instance, the Columbia VOR (CAE) is frequency 114.7 and is affiliated with Anderson FSS. The VOR box has 122.1R in the upper left hand corner and 122.65 in the upper right. Does this mean that I can either transmit on 122.1 (Com 1) and listen on the VOR 114.7 (Nav 1) or I can just transmit and receive over 122.65 and not have to use two different frequencies?

Thanks
 
So, what's the 122.65 for?
 
Or worse yet, Charleston VOR has upper left hand corner 122.2 and 122.5, then upper right 122.1R and VOR 113.5
 
Excellent questions...and stuff I haven't seen before...hoping someone more knowledgeable comes along...
 
ebykowsky said:
Hello all, I'm having a bit of trouble understanding which frequency for FSS to transmit/receive on. Planning a flight tomorrow from KCUB to KJZI, and I'm trying to figure out how to contact the FSS in flight. For instance, the Columbia VOR (CAE) is frequency 114.7 and is affiliated with Anderson FSS. The VOR box has 122.1R in the upper left hand corner and 122.65 in the upper right. Does this mean that I can either transmit on 122.1 (Com 1) and listen on the VOR 114.7 (Nav 1) or I can just transmit and receive over 122.65 and not have to use two different frequencies?
Click to expand...

Affirmative. State which you're using when you call.
 
Ok, thanks. I now remember reading to say "receiving over VOR," or "on this frequency such and such" etc. so that makes more sense now.
 
ebykowsky said:
So, what's the 122.65 for?
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It's an alternate frequency. With no T or R, they do both.

Just set your COM radio to 122.65 and go to town.

"Anderson Radio Bugsmasher 123XY listening 122.65"

This is on the chart legend (except for the phraseology). You can bring that to your oral, and you'll have a facsimile in the supplement book during your written as well.
 
As Steve aludes, you need to tell them where you're listening explicitly. I've not made it out to the new LM FSS facilities but even the older AFSS has a big display of a dozen receive sites each with two or more frequencies that light up when you transmit, but that only tells them what receiver they HEAR YOU ON, if you're listening on a different frequency, they can't even guess where to transmit back.
 
So does the R means that the FSS is receiving on that frequency only or that you need to receive on that frequency in the airplane?
 
tmyers said:
So does the R means that the FSS is receiving on that frequency only or that you need to receive on that frequency in the airplane?
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The R tells you what frequency FSS uses to receives your transmission. You broadcast on 122.1, listen on the VOR frequency. Were it the other way round you'd have a hard time broadcasting on the VOR frequency.
 
Grab your Airport/Facilities Directory. Go to the legend pages in the front and read the entire Communications section. Your question (and many others) are answered right there.

Bob Gardner
SAY AGAIN, PLEASE
 
tmyers said:
So does the R means that the FSS is receiving on that frequency only or that you need to receive on that frequency in the airplane?
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You need to read the legend pages in the A/FD too. Don't CFI's teach their students to use the A/FD these days?

Bob Gardner
 
I recommend reading Bob Gardner's book "Say Again, Please". It was really helpful for me.
 
MDeitch1976 said:
I recommend reading Bob Gardner's book "Say Again, Please". It was really helpful for me.
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Thanks for the kind words....but I am still dumbfounded by the number of pilots who have apparently never read anything in the A/FD beyond the airport listings. Lots of good answers in the legend, but they are a waste of paper if no one reads it.

Gotta admit that my flight training took place years before computers, but I think that posting questions in a forum like this instead of reading the source material is a sign of intellectual laziness.

Bob
 
bobmrg said:
Thanks for the kind words....but I am still dumbfounded by the number of pilots who have apparently never read anything in the A/FD beyond the airport listings. Lots of good answers in the legend, but they are a waste of paper if no one reads it.

Gotta admit that my flight training took place years before computers, but I think that posting questions in a forum like this instead of reading the source material is a sign of intellectual laziness.

Bob
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I have ripped out a few pages of the A/FD, other than just the airport information that would be pertinent to my flight. Some of this is informative, takes up very little space for a VFR Pilot. You can keep it in your flight bag.
 
I've been flying professionally for over a decade without an A/FD. The info can't be THAT important.

fltplan.com has much of the same info as does foreflight.
 
Captain said:
I've been flying professionally for over a decade without an A/FD. The info can't be THAT important.

fltplan.com has much of the same info as does foreflight.
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Do I sense some sarcasm?
I think for a student pilot, you get past the airport information, and just run into what looks like a bunch of nonsense. It took me several views through to say, hey, this is for IFR. Then I found the items that could pertain to me.
 
Captain said:
I've been flying professionally for over a decade without an A/FD. The info can't be THAT important.

fltplan.com has much of the same info as does foreflight.
Click to expand...

Please check those sources and let me know if they include Aeronautical Chart Bulletis or, for that matter, an explanation of aviation frequency assignments and usage.

I flew professionally for a couple of decades...but having been a CFI, I knew where to find information such as the subject of the OP.

Bob
 
bobmrg said:
Gotta admit I think that posting questions in a forum like this instead of reading the source material is a sign of intellectual laziness.

Bob
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Forums are useful. Others besides the OP learned from the responses to his question. It is about as much as one can hope for, in the way of serious good, considering that online forums are otherwise full of idle chat and joke-making.

Snottiness, on the other hand, has no place here. Just my opinion.
 
bobmrg said:
You need to read the legend pages in the A/FD too. Don't CFI's teach their students to use the A/FD these days?
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I don't think they do. I learned that A/FD existed from this forum, I believe, and later found references to it in some kind of FAA handbook or possibly AIM. My primary CFI existed to take me out of a spin I entered while experimenting with rudders while in slow flight and to keep lookout while I was under the hood. Although, the other day I met him in the ready room explaining what a longitude was to a student. Maybe he figured I was old enough to read printed material on my own.
 
bobmrg said:
You need to read the legend pages in the A/FD too. Don't CFI's teach their students to use the A/FD these days?

Bob Gardner
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We try. And it's never been more available with products like ForeFlight making it easy to access.
 
LDJones said:
We try. And it's never been more available with products like ForeFlight making it easy to access.
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Hopefully, Students learn how to use Foreflight properly as well. I.E. If your going to be flying through a restricted air space, and you do not have access to the portion of the flight chart with tower information and airspace. Do they know how to obtain it from Foreflight. When I wanted to know, I kept playing with Foreflight clicking on the airspace, and then realized I had to change the filter, and finally there was the information for the restricted airspace.
 
Almost always the nearest ATC is an easier bet for finding out if an R-area is active (and more often than not Center is the listed as the controlling agency).

As for Flight Circus, in addition to Foreflight, most of the handheld and panel mount GPSs these days have a NRST FSS function that will give you the nearby FSS comm facilities.
Frankly, with datalink weather the ONLY time I've talked to FSS airborne was to file a popup IFR plan when ATC was disinclined to take it on their frequency.
 
I use airnav almost exclusively for my preflight airport planning, and it gives me just about everything I need to know about my destination, from field altitude to airport diagrams. For FSS I tend to use the nearest vor on the sectional and this has generally worked well for me. I looked at the legend on the sectional and did not see a solid explanation. Glad to have it cleared up, and it worked fine on my last xc. Never tried foreflight, but will have to give it a look. Also, skyvector is amazing for planning routes, especially after adding the world VFR chart compilation. I've found aopa to be rather lackluster however.
 
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ebykowsky said:
I use airnav almost exclusively for my preflight airport planning, and it gives me just about everything I need to know about my destination, from field altitude to airport diagrams. For FSS I tend to use the nearest vor on the sectional and this has generally worked well for me. I looked at the legend on the sectional and did not see a solid explanation. Glad to have it cleared up, and it worked fine on my last xc. Never tried foreflight, but will have to give it a look. Also, skyvector is amazing for planning routes, especially after adding the world GRD chart compilation. I've found aopa to be rather lackluster however.
Click to expand...

The place to look is the legend pages of the Airport/Facility Directory, not the sectional. Am I repeating myself?

Bob Gardner
 
I understand that now. I was just going through my thought process before posting here. I would have never thought to look on the afd for an explanation, but fully understand that now. Glad to have a helpful forum that can guide me through the process, and thankfully I won't have to look in the afd legend for this again because I now know.
 
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