krackula wrote:

On Thu, 28 Dec 2006 18:52:37 -0600, "Dave Bethke"
<dbethke@houston.rr.com> wrote:

"krackula >" <<krackula@i.am> wrote

................they kinda  look like an inverted
ice cream cone ( but huge )  with a buncha  little antennas around the
base of the thing  (  a  kind of  directional or locator beacon
aircraft  stuff  )   on top of a small white building .........

That sounds like a VOR (VHF Omni Range) station.  Not to many around the
ranges, at least civilian ones.  There's one at LAS on the field, right near
the intersection of the two sets of double runways. No doubt the AF uses
portable temporary ones for training.

yep that's the ones ok !  typed  "  VHF Omni Range  " into Google
and they popped up.

would a person be able to use an icom ic-a2  ( for example ) to find
those ?   don't have to read them or anything like that ,   just find
them if they are  transmitting  nearby ?  how far  away from those ,
on the ground , do you think a person could hear them  with something
like the ic-a2 ?  I'm guessing those are  ( if hearable with an a2 )
found on the bottom half  of the receiving freq  range  of the a2  ?
( since I never seem to hear much down there ) .


also , have you ever played with those  Zoan MRX traffic ( air )
alerts  ( or similar gizmos )   that read the reflections off  "
illuminated "  transponders of in-flight aircraft  to see how  well
they did around on the  ground  ?  ( maybe for red flag  or on some of
those  UAVs ?  )
sometimes it'd be nice to know when possible photo opportunities
are about to happen so you could be ready to take a picture in time !
ha ha ha haha ha    frequently  they happen so fast , a person can't
get ready fast enough to get a picture off !  my camera shuts down if
I don't twiddle the controls or something every now and then ! it's
never ready when those " low and fast " runs are  thundering overhead
, it seems !  ( worse , I'M never ready ! )


thanks

The ic-a2 will receive a VOR, but it can't track it. Other Icoms can
demod the VOR:
http://www.icomamerica.com/products/avionics/a24_a6/

This is the one at basecamp:
http://www.lazygranch.com/images/basecamp/vor1.jpg

At this point, we know where all the VORs are on the range, so I
wouldn't go out of my way to get a radio to demod a VOR. Groom has a
VOR and one localizer. The TTR has a VOR and two localizers. The NDB
locations are not known yet, though I think I know where the one at the
TTR is located.