VOR service volumes

mxalix258

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mxalix258
If a low altitude VOR has a service volume of 40nm, that means between two you can have adequate signal for a span on 80nm. Yet, when looking at a low altitude en-route, there are airways that span well over 80nm. How does one navigate that entire airway?
 
If a low altitude VOR has a service volume of 40nm, that means between two you can have adequate signal for a span on 80nm. Yet, when looking at a low altitude en-route, there are airways that span well over 80nm. How does one navigate that entire airway?

They flight test them for reception.
 
ah, so if it's charted (without a comment saying it's unusable past a certain distance) I should be able to rely on it?

I don't see the point in defining service volumes for VORs then...
 
ah, so if it's charted (without a comment saying it's unusable past a certain distance) I should be able to rely on it?

I don't see the point in defining service volumes for VORs then...

You can use a VOR on an uncharted segment within the service volume. So, if you take off from your grass strip 35nm from the VOR, you can file a direct to the VOR without any need to flight-check that segment.
 
ah, so if it's charted (without a comment saying it's unusable past a certain distance) I should be able to rely on it?

I don't see the point in defining service volumes for VORs then...

It's a guarantee. I sell material that has a shelf life of 3 years. It's guaranteed to work for 3 years. I have customers that use some of the material that's over 11 years old. It still works perfectly fine, it's just not guaranteed to work beyond 3, even though it does.
 
It's a guarantee. I sell material that has a shelf life of 3 years. It's guaranteed to work for 3 years. I have customers that use some of the material that's over 11 years old. It still works perfectly fine, it's just not guaranteed to work beyond 3, even though it does.

i can take a s**t in a box and stamp a guarantee on it if you want, i got the time
 
i can take a s**t in a box and stamp a guarantee on it if you want, i got the time

...but for your daughter's sake you might want to think about buying a quality part from me.
 
ah, so if it's charted (without a comment saying it's unusable past a certain distance) I should be able to rely on it?
Not necessarily, the service volume limits still apply in general. In other words, the service volume defines the limits of reliable reception along a random radial, provided the chart and/or NOTAMs don't list exceptions (like unusable beyond a certain distance or ccw from 150 to 070 or the like). But along the specific radial that defines a charted segment of an airway (and above a certain altitude that's used in setting the MEA), reliable reception may exist beyond the boundaries of the service volume. That is determined by flight testing.

At least, that's my understanding.
 
If you are on an airway at or above the MEA you will have NAV signal all the way to the switch over points between NAV aids.
Tim
 
It also means there won't be another vor on the same frequency within that service volume .
 
It depends which chart you're seeing these segments on, for a sectional there's no additional information about reception altitude. It just shows the airway segment, this sounds like the scenario you describe.

To determine the minimum altitude you need to fly to have ensure navigation, you would need to fly at the MRA or MEA as noted on a low or high altitude enroute chart.
 
Because we don't live on a completely flat, perfect sphere, it is impossible to predict how a given signal transmitted at a certain power level is going to attenuate, definitively, in all directions.

The 40nm distance exists as a baseline minimum that you can follow. That doesn't mean your signal will immediately disappear at 40nm. Most of the time it won't. Along the airway, they've tested it to make sure that it doesn't.
 
If a low altitude VOR has a service volume of 40nm, that means between two you can have adequate signal for a span on 80nm. Yet, when looking at a low altitude en-route, there are airways that span well over 80nm. How does one navigate that entire airway?


Flight checked extended service volume (ESV).
 
That may be funny today, but if the federal government has its way it may be a serious question one of these days.

Not really funny at all... The Feds disabled the Loran C network and next will be the VOR's..... When the next world war starts and the enemy takes out the GPS network with jammers and maybe a low burst nuke then we are TOAST and all navigation will go right into the crapper...:yes::sad:
 
Not really funny at all... The Feds disabled the Loran C network and next will be the VOR's..... When the next world war starts and the enemy takes out the GPS network with jammers and maybe a low burst nuke then we are TOAST and all navigation will go right into the crapper...:yes::sad:
I would like to disagree with you but unfortunately cannot.
 
Not really funny at all... The Feds disabled the Loran C network and next will be the VOR's..... When the next world war starts and the enemy takes out the GPS network with jammers and maybe a low burst nuke then we are TOAST and all navigation will go right into the crapper...:yes::sad:

When the next world war starts your flying days will be history. Navigation for the airlines and the military will be fine with the DME network, which will remain to support FMS DME/DME updating, plus much of the fleet has INS or IRUs. All major airports will still have ILS.
 
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Not really funny at all... The Feds disabled the Loran C network and next will be the VOR's..... When the next world war starts and the enemy takes out the GPS network with jammers and maybe a low burst nuke then we are TOAST and all navigation will go right into the crapper...:yes::sad:

There will be plenty of VORs when the dust settles...there just won't be as many of them.

Bob Gardner
 
There will be plenty of VORs when the dust settles...there just won't be as many of them.

Bob Gardner
Bob I think you and I went through this discussion way back on another forum. I agree with you that there will be plenty left initially, but I still think at sometime in the future(sooner than later) VOR navigation will be looked at in a similar light as Loran C is today, and before that it will be similar to how think of NDB's today, they are still out there but most planes do not have the equipment to take advantage of them. GA pilots tend to be cost conscious, how many of us will put VOR receivers in our planes if new planes are offered without them, and how many of us will put the money into repairing one if our satellite navigation equipment can replace their function legally?
 
If a low altitude VOR has a service volume of 40nm, that means between two you can have adequate signal for a span on 80nm. Yet, when looking at a low altitude en-route, there are airways that span well over 80nm. How does one navigate that entire airway?

The Standard Service Volume is forty miles. If Flight Check finds any irregularities within that radius there will be restrictions published in the A/FD. If no restrictions are published you can expect a good signal throughout the SSV. Sometimes an airway or a procedure requires a greater distance, and Flight Check will be called on to see if an Expanded Service Volume can be established. Where airways exceed the SSV you will find an ESV.
 
The Standard Service Volume is forty miles. If Flight Check finds any irregularities within that radius there will be restrictions published in the A/FD. If no restrictions are published you can expect a good signal throughout the SSV. Sometimes an airway or a procedure requires a greater distance, and Flight Check will be called on to see if an Expanded Service Volume can be established. Where airways exceed the SSV you will find an ESV.

Check Post #14.
 
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