KML Overlay of AM Radio Stations in the US

PeterNSteinmetz

PeterNSteinmetz

Ejection Handle Pulled
Joined
Sep 9, 2015
Messages
2,653
Location
Tempe, AZ
Display Name
Display name:
PeterNSteinmetz
I have just completed a project to provide a KML overlay that can be used in Foreflight and other EFBs which shows the location, frequencies, and call signs of all AM radio stations in the US. So you can turn the layer on, zoom in on a target area, and find nearby stations to use with your ADF (well, my plane still has one ;)

Available on my flying page at http://steinmetz.org/peter/flying/index.html
 
Nice!
 
Peter! Awesome. Thank you.

This spring/summer I was looking forward to tooling around the GPNW listening to the Mariners on the ADF.
 
I also did my instrument training in my Cardinal. When I first got it, the ADF was indicating off by about 20 degrees. I did some googling and found that they are apparently fairly sensitive to extra capacitance in the lines from the loop or its connectors. Pulled it from the rack and cleaned the connectors and back in business.

My instructor later told me that he had hoped it would continue not working so he wouldn't have to teach me how to do NDB approaches :)
 
nice project, sir! I too am an ADF fan...sort of. There's beauty in the simplicity.
sadly, the plane I'm currently renting doesn't have one installed.
 
I like to practice an NDB approach once in a while...keeps you on your toes.
 
Shot an ADF on my checkride. Zero since then in~25 years. I do miss listening to the radio in the cockpit.
 
Thanks Pete
That looks like it was a big project and I will get a lot of use out of the file. I’ve already added it as a layer to my ForeFlight and have checked the magnetic headings to the local radio stations.

I like flying ADF approaches and listen to the radio on cross country flights. Your file will help with both activities.

Gary
 
When I was a teenager, we drove from Albuquerque to Durango almost every weekend in the winter to ski at Purgatory. On the way there, at a fork in the old two lane highway outside town, was a small billboard advertising the local AM station.

Fast forward several years, and I was in the back of a Baron with some other friends headed to Durango to hang glide. Another guy was driving a Suburban up with all of our kites.

As we got closer, the pilot, who wasn't the most organized guy, called out "Anyone know the frequency of the radio station in Durango?" Normally he would be met with a collective "Huh?", but I knew not only the frequency, but the call letters too. :D
 
There used to be an iPhone app called Plane Radio. It had a data base of radio stations with locations, signal strength, and format. You would put in the nearest VOR, and it would list the stations by distance from you. I remember listening to a Patriots playoff game on a flight from Bozeman to Atlanta without missing a play. Unfortunately, the creator stopped updating it a few IOS’s ago.

I’ll give yours a try. Thanks Peter.
 
Nice job, but how does one add the file to an EFB? (It worked nicely with Google Earth on the computer)
 
farmrjohn said:
Nice job, but how does one add the file to an EFB? (It worked nicely with Google Earth on the computer)
Click to expand...
In the case of Foreflight, e-mail the file to yourself. Tap and hold the attachment in the e-mail until the "share" option pops up. It will give you a list of apps in which you can open the file. Scroll to look for Foreflight (sometimes you have to tap "more" in order to get to Foreflight). Foreflight will open, then will ask what you want to do with it. Select the option to create a new map layer. That's it.

Now in the Foreflight map view, when you select the 'layers' icon in the upper left, "AM Radio Stations" will be at the bottom of all the options, such as TFRs, 100LL prices, etc., etc.
 
Pilawt said:
In the case of Foreflight, e-mail the file to yourself. Tap and hold the attachment in the e-mail until the "share" option pops up. It will give you a list of apps in which you can open the file. Scroll to look for Foreflight (sometimes you have to tap "more" in order to get to Foreflight). Foreflight will open, then will ask what you want to do with it. Select the option to create a new map layer. That's it.

Now in the Foreflight map view, when you select the 'layers' icon in the upper left, "AM Radio Stations" will be at the bottom of all the options, such as TFRs, 100LL prices, etc., etc.
Click to expand...

Tried that with FltPlan Go and could share the file from mail but then it doesn't appear as a layer. Under custom map layers FltPlan Go says to import .mbtiles files using iTunes. Thanks, got part way there at least.

On a side note I remember listening to KOMA out of OKC back in the day in Colorado and searched for it. It's no longer an AM station, and the towers are gone thanks to a tornado.
 
There is a way to fly a constant radius circle using only an ADF receiver by timing the angular change of the pointer.

That was the stuff I did in the first few lessons when I began my instrument rating training. That and compass turns.

Lost skills, I'm sure.
 
Peter, I do appreciate your efforts and generosity, a state-by-state-organization of the data may be easier to use. Flying about in unfamiliar territory I would have no idea of and local stations' call letters.
 
Domenick said:
Peter, I do appreciate your efforts and generosity, a state-by-state-organization of the data may be easier to use. Flying about in unfamiliar territory I would have no idea of and local stations' call letters.
Click to expand...

If you load the map as an overlay in Foreflight, you can just zoom in where you want.

If you want a subset for a specific state or set of states, I can make one up for you. Just let me know. I might add a breakdown next year, depending on how general the call for it is.
 
Thanks, Peter. We still have an ADF. I am going to give it a try.
 
Thanks again Peter. I just loaded your file on my iPad running Garmin Pilot and it looks like it is going to work just fine. If something happens to GPS I will be able to easily navigate using the ADF. I was surprised to see so many AM stations around!
 
I miss listening to ballgames on the ADF while flying, but don’t miss the 14lbs of net weight.
 
I used your overlay today in the air, Peter, and it worked flawlessly with my ADF. Thanks again.
 
Brian, love the site. Thanks for the effort collecting, and thanks to the contributors.
"South West" on the AM Radio Stations should be "Northwest" -- ID, MT, OR, WA, WY
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top