The nondirectional radio beacon (NDB) is a ground-based radio transmitter that transmits radio energy in all directions. The ADF, when used with an NDB, determines the bearing from the aircraft to the transmitting station. The indicator may be mounted in a separate instrument in the aircraft panel. [Figure 1] The ADF needle points to the NDB ground station to determine the relative bearing (RB) to the transmitting station. It is the number of degrees measured clockwise between the aircraft’s heading and the direction from which the bearing is taken. The aircraft’s magnetic heading (MH) is the direction the aircraft is pointed with respect to magnetic north. The magnetic bearing (MB) is the direction to or from a radio transmitting station measured relative to magnetic north. The ground equipment, the NDB, transmits in the frequency range of 190 to 535 kHz. Most ADFs also tune the AM broadcast band frequencies above the NDB band (550 to 1650 kHz). However, these frequencies are not approved for navigation because stations do not continuously identify themselves, and they are much more susceptible to sky wave propagation especially from dusk to dawn. NDB stations are capable of voice transmission and are often used for transmitting the Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS). The aircraft must be in operational range of the NDB. Coverage depends on the strength of the transmitting station. Before relying on ADF indications, identify the station by listening to the Morse code identifier. NDB stations are usually two letters or an alpha-numeric combination. The airborne equipment includes two antennas: a receiver and the indicator instrument. The “sense” antenna (nondirectional) receives signals with nearly equal efficiency from all directions. The “loop” antenna receives signals better from two directions (bidirectional). When the loop and sense antenna inputs are processed together in the ADF radio, the result is the ability to receive a radio signal well in all directions but one, thus resolving all directional ambiguity. The indicator instrument can be one of four kinds: fixedcard ADF, rotatable compass-card ADF, or radio magnetic indicator (RMI) with either one needle or dual needle. Fixedcard ADF (also known as the relative bearing indicator (RBI)) always indicates zero at the top of the instrument, with the needle indicating the RB to the station. Figure 2 indicates an RB of 135°; if the MH is 045°, the MB to the station is 180°. (MH + RB = MB to the station.) The movable-card ADF allows the pilot to rotate the aircraft’s present heading to the top of the instrument so that the head of the needle indicates MB to the station and the tail indicates MB from the station. Figure 3 indicates a heading of 045°, MB to the station of 180°, and MB from the station of 360°. The RMI differs from the movable-card ADF in that it automatically rotates the azimuth card (remotely controlled by a gyrocompass) to represent aircraft heading. The RMI has two needles, which can be used to indicate navigation information from either the ADF or the VOR receiver. When a needle is being driven by the ADF, the head of the needle indicates the MB TO the station tuned on the ADF receiver. The tail of the needle is the bearing FROM the station. When a needle of the RMI is driven by a VOR receiver, the needle indicates where the aircraft is radially with respect to the VOR station. The needle points the bearing TO the station as read on the azimuth card. The tail of the needle points to the radial of the VOR the aircraft is currently on or crossing. Figure 4 indicates a heading of 360°, the MB to the station is 005°, and the MB from the station is 185°. The ADF can be used to plot your position, track inbound and outbound, and intercept a bearing. These procedures are used to execute holding patterns and nonprecision instrument approaches. The ADF needle points TO the station, regardless of aircraft heading or position. The RB indicated is thus the angular relationship between the aircraft heading and the station, measured clockwise from the nose of the aircraft. Think of the nose/tail and left/right needle indications, visualizing the ADF dial in terms of the longitudinal axis of the aircraft. When the needle points to 0°, the nose of the aircraft points directly to the station; with the pointer on 210°, the station is 30° to the left of the tail; with the pointer on 090°, the station is off the right wingtip. The RB alone does not indicate aircraft position. The RB must be related to aircraft heading in order to determine direction to or from the station. When you are near the station, slight deviations from the desired track result in large deflections of the needle. Therefore, it is important to establish the correct drift correction angle as soon as possible. Make small heading corrections (not over 5°) as soon as the needle shows a deviation from course, until it begins to rotate steadily toward a wingtip position or shows erratic left/right oscillations. You are abeam a station when the needle points 90° off your track. Hold your last corrected heading constant and time station passage when the needle shows either wingtip position or settles at or near the 180° position. The time interval from the first indications of station proximity to positive station passage varies with altitude—a few seconds at low levels to 3 minutes at high altitude. The ADF may be used to “home” in on a station. Homing is flying the aircraft on any heading required to keep the needle pointing directly to the 0° RB position. To home in on a station, tune the station, identify the Morse code signal, and then turn the aircraft to bring the ADF azimuth needle to the 0° RB position. Turns should be made using the heading indicator. When the turn is complete, check the ADF needle and make small corrections as necessary. Figure 5 illustrates homing starting from an initial MH of 050° and an RB of 310°, indicating a 50° left turn is needed to produce an RB of zero. Turn left, rolling out at 50° minus 50° equals 360°. Small heading corrections are then made to zero the ADF needle. If there is no wind, the aircraft homes to the station on a direct track over the ground. With a crosswind, the aircraft follows a circuitous path to the station on the downwind side of the direct track to the station. Tracking uses a heading that maintains the desired track to or from the station regardless of crosswind conditions. Interpretation of the heading indicator and needle is done to maintain a constant MB to or from the station. To track inbound, turn to the heading that produces a zero RB. Maintain this heading until off-course drift is indicated by displacement of the needle, which occurs if there is a crosswind (needle moving left = wind from the left; needle moving right = wind from the right). A rapid rate of bearing change with a constant heading indicates either a strong crosswind or close proximity to the station or both. When there is a definite (2° to 5°) change in needle reading, turn in the direction of needle deflection to intercept the initial MB. The angle of interception must be greater than the number of degrees of drift, otherwise the aircraft slowly drifts due to the wind pushing the aircraft. If repeated often enough, the track to the station appears circular and the distance greatly increased as compared to a straight track. The intercept angle depends on the rate of drift, the aircraft speed, and station proximity. Initially, it is standard to double the RB when turning toward your course. For example, if your heading equals your course and the needle points 10° left, turn 20° left, twice the initial RB. [Figure 6] This is your intercept angle to capture the RB. Hold this heading until the needle is deflected 20° in the opposite direction. That is, the deflection of the needle equals the interception angle (in this case 20°). The track has been intercepted, and the aircraft remains on track as long as the RB remains the same number of degrees as the wind correction angle (WCA), the angle between the desired track and the heading of the aircraft necessary to keep the aircraft tracking over the desired track. Lead the interception to avoid overshooting the track. Turn 10° toward the inbound course. You are now inbound with a 10° left correction angle.
NOTE: In Figure 6, for the aircraft closest to the station, the WCA is 10° left and the RB is 10° right. If those values do not change, the aircraft tracks directly to the station. If you observe off-course deflection in the original direction, turn again to the original interception heading. When the desired course has been re-intercepted, turn 5° toward the inbound course, proceeding inbound with a 15° drift correction. If the initial 10° drift correction is excessive, as shown by needle deflection away from the wind, turn to parallel the desired course and let the wind drift you back on course. When the needle is again zeroed, turn into the wind with a reduced drift correction angle. To track outbound, the same principles apply: needle moving left = wind from the left, needle moving right = wind from the right. Wind correction is made toward the needle deflection. The only exception is while the turn to establish the WCA is being made, the direction of the azimuth needle deflections is reversed. When tracking inbound, needle deflection decreases while turning to establish the WCA, and needle deflection increases when tracking outbound. Note the example of course interception and outbound tracking in Figure 7.
ADF orientation and tracking procedures may be applied to intercept a specified inbound or outbound MB. To intercept an inbound bearing of 355°, the following steps may be used. [Figure 8]
NOTE: The rate of an ADF needle movement, or any bearing pointer for that matter, is faster as aircraft position becomes closer to the station or waypoint (WP). Interception of an outbound MB can be accomplished by the same procedures as for the inbound intercept, except that it is necessary to substitute the 180° position for the zero position on the needle. Some of the common pilot-induced errors associated with ADF navigation are listed below to help you avoid making the same mistakes. The errors are:
VOR is the primary navigational aid (NAVAID) used by civil aviation in the National Airspace System (NAS). The VOR ground station is oriented to magnetic north and transmits azimuth information to the aircraft, providing 360 courses TO or FROM the VOR station. When DME is installed with the VOR, it is referred to as a VOR/DME and provides both azimuth and distance information. When military tactical air navigation (TACAN) equipment is installed with the VOR, it is known as a VORTAC and provides both azimuth and distance information. The courses oriented FROM the station are called radials. The VOR information received by an aircraft is not influenced by aircraft attitude or heading. [Figure 9] Radials can be envisioned to be like the spokes of a wheel on which the aircraft is on one specific radial at any time. For example, aircraft A (heading 180°) is inbound on the 360° radial; after crossing the station, the aircraft is outbound on the 180° radial at A1. Aircraft B is shown crossing the 225° radial. Similarly, at any point around the station, an aircraft can be located somewhere on a specific VOR radial. Additionally, a VOR needle on an RMI always points to the course that takes you to the VOR station where conversely the ADF needle points to the station as a RB from the aircraft. In the example above, the ADF needle at position A would be pointed straight ahead, at A1 to the aircraft’s 180° position (tail) and at B to the aircraft’s right.
The VOR receiver measures and presents information to indicate bearing TO or FROM the station. In addition to the navigation signals transmitted by the VOR, a Morse code signal is transmitted concurrently to identify the facility, as well as voice transmissions for communication and relay of weather and other information. VORs are classified according to their operational uses. The standard VOR facility has a power output of approximately 200 watts, with a maximum usable range depending upon the aircraft altitude, class of facility, location of the facility, terrain conditions within the usable area of the facility, and other factors. Above and beyond certain altitude and distance limits, signal interference from other VOR facilities and a weak signal make it unreliable. Coverage is typically at least 40 miles at normal minimum instrument flight rules (IFR) altitudes. VORs with accuracy problems in parts of their service volume are listed in Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) and in the Airport/Facility Directory (A/FD) under the name of the NAVAID. The ground equipment consists of a VOR ground station, which is a small, low building topped with a flat white disc, upon which are located the VOR antennas and a fiberglass cone-shaped tower. [Figure 10] The station includes an automatic monitoring system. The monitor automatically turns off defective equipment and turns on the standby transmitter. Generally, the accuracy of the signal from the ground station is within 1°.
VOR facilities are aurally identified by Morse code, or voice, or both. The VOR can be used for ground-to-air communication without interference with the navigation signal. VOR facilities operate within the 108.0 to 117.95 MHz frequency band and assignment between 108.0 and 112.0 MHz is in even-tenth increments to preclude any conflict with ILS localizer frequency assignment, which uses the odd tenths in this range. The airborne equipment includes an antenna, a receiver, and the indicator instrument. The receiver has a frequency knob to select any of the frequencies between 108.0 to 117.95 MHz. The ON/OFF/volume control turns on the navigation receiver and controls the audio volume. The volume has no effect on the operation of the receiver. You should listen to the station identifier before relying on the instrument for navigation. VOR indicator instruments have at least the essential components shown in the instrument illustrated in Figure 11.
The desired course is selected by turning the omnibearing selector (OBS) knob until the course is aligned with the course index mark or displayed in the course window. The course deviation indicator (CDI) is composed of an instrument face and a needle hinged to move laterally across the instrument face. The needle centers when the aircraft is on the selected radial or its reciprocal. Full needle deflection from the center position to either side of the dial indicates the aircraft is 12° or more off course, assuming normal needle sensitivity. The outer edge of the center circle is 2° off course; with each dot representing an additional 2°. The TO/FROM indicator shows whether the selected course, if intercepted and flown, takes the aircraft TO or FROM the station. It does not indicate whether the aircraft is heading to or from the station. Flags or Other Signal Strength Indicators The device that indicates a usable or an unreliable signal may be an “OFF” flag. It retracts from view when signal strength is sufficient for reliable instrument indications. Alternately, insufficient signal strength may be indicated by a blank or OFF in the TO/FROM window. The indicator instrument may also be a horizontal situation indicator (HSI), which combines the heading indicator and CDI. [Figure 12] The combination of navigation information from VOR/Localizer (LOC) with aircraft heading information provides a visual picture of the aircraft’s location and direction. This decreases pilot workload especially with tasks such as course intercepts, flying a back-course approach, or holding pattern entry. (See Flight Instruments, for operational characteristics.) [Figure 13]
The VOR does not account for the aircraft heading. It only relays the aircraft direction from the station and has the same indications regardless of which way the nose is pointing. Tune the VOR receiver to the appropriate frequency of the selected VOR ground station, turn up the audio volume, and identify the station’s signal audibly. Then, rotate the OBS to center the CDI needle and read the course under or over the index. In Figure 1, 360° TO is the course indicated, while in Figure 14, 180° TO is the course. The latter indicates that the aircraft (which may be heading in any direction) is, at this moment, located at any point on the 360° radial (line from the station) except directly over the station or very close to it, as in Figure 14. The CDI deviates from side to side as the aircraft passes over or nearly over the station because of the volume of space above the station where the zone of confusion exists. This zone of confusion is caused by lack of adequate signal directly above the station due to the radiation pattern of the station’s antenna, and because the resultant of the opposing reference and variable signals is small and constantly changing.
The CDI in Figure 14 indicates 180°, meaning that the aircraft is on the 180° or the 360° radial of the station. The TO/ FROM indicator resolves the ambiguity. If the TO indicator is showing, then it is 180° TO the station. The FROM indication indicates the radial of the station the aircraft is presently on. Movement of the CDI from center, if it occurs at a relatively constant rate, indicates the aircraft is moving or drifting off the 180°/360° line. If the movement is rapid or fluctuating, this is an indication of impending station passage (the aircraft is near the station). To determine the aircraft’s position relative to the station, rotate the OBS until FROM appears in the window, and then center the CDI needle. The index indicates the VOR radial where the aircraft is located. The inbound (to the station) course is the reciprocal of the radial. If the VOR is set to the reciprocal of the intended course, the CDI reflects reverse sensing. To correct for needle deflection, turn away from the needle. To avoid this reverse sensing situation, set the VOR to agree with the intended course. A single NAVAID allows a pilot to determine the aircraft’s position relative to a radial. Indications from a second NAVAID are needed in order to narrow the aircraft’s position down to an exact location on this radial. To track to the station, rotate the OBS until TO appears, then center the CDI. Fly the course indicated by the index. If the CDI moves off center to the left, follow the needle by correcting course to the left, beginning with a 20° correction. When flying the course indicated on the index, a left deflection of the needle indicates a crosswind component from the left. If the amount of correction brings the needle back to center, decrease the left course correction by half. If the CDI moves left or right now, it should do so much more slowly, and smaller heading corrections can be made for the next iteration. Keeping the CDI centered takes the aircraft to the station. To track to the station, the OBS value at the index is not changed. To home to the station, the CDI needle is periodically centered, and the new course under the index is used for the aircraft heading. Homing follows a circuitous route to the station, just as with ADF homing. To track FROM the station on a VOR radial, you should first orient the aircraft’s location with respect to the station and the desired outbound track by centering the CDI needle with a FROM indication. The track is intercepted by either flying over the station or establishing an intercept heading. The magnetic course of the desired radial is entered under the index using the OBS and the intercept heading held until the CDI centers. Then the procedure for tracking to the station is used to fly outbound on the specified radial. If the desired course is not the one being flown, first orient the aircraft’s position with respect to the VOR station and the course to be flown, and then establish an intercept heading. The following steps may be used to intercept a predetermined course, either inbound or outbound. Steps 1–3 may be omitted when turning directly to intercept the course without initially turning to parallel the desired course.
Typical pilot-induced errors include:
The effectiveness of the VOR depends upon proper use and adjustment of both ground and airborne equipment. The accuracy of course alignment of the VOR is generally plus or minus 1°. On some VORs, minor course roughness may be observed, evidenced by course needle or brief flag alarm. At a few stations, usually in mountainous terrain, the pilot may occasionally observe a brief course needle oscillation similar to the indication of “approaching station. Pilots flying over unfamiliar routes are cautioned to be on the alert for these vagaries, and in particular, to use the TO/ FROM indicator to determine positive station passage. Certain propeller revolutions per minute (rpm) settings or helicopter rotor speeds can cause the VOR CDI to fluctuate as much as plus or minus 6°. Slight changes to the RPM setting normally smooths out this roughness. Pilots are urged to check for this modulation phenomenon prior to reporting a VOR station or aircraft equipment for unsatisfactory operation. VOR system course sensitivity may be checked by noting the number of degrees of change as the OBS is rotated to move the CDI from center to the last dot on either side. The course selected should not exceed 10° or 12° either side. In addition, Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 91 provides for certain VOR equipment accuracy checks, and an appropriate endorsement, within 30 days prior to flight under IFR. To comply with this requirement and to ensure satisfactory operation of the airborne system, use the following means for checking VOR receiver accuracy:
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) VOT transmits a test signal that provides users a convenient means to determine the operational status and accuracy of a VOR receiver while on the ground where a VOT is located. Locations of VOTs are published in the A/FD. Two means of identification are used: one is a series of dots and the other is a continuous tone. Information concerning an individual test signal can be obtained from the local flight service station (FSS.) The airborne use of VOT is permitted; however, its use is strictly limited to those areas/ altitudes specifically authorized in the A/FD or appropriate supplement. To use the VOT service, tune in the VOT frequency 108.0 MHz on the VOR receiver. With the CDI centered, the OBS should read 0° with the TO/FROM indication showing FROM or the OBS should read 180° with the TO/FROM indication showing TO. Should the VOR receiver operate an RMI, it would indicate 180° on any OBS setting. A radiated VOT from an appropriately rated radio repair station serves the same purpose as an FAA VOT signal, and the check is made in much the same manner as a VOT with some differences. The frequency normally approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is 108.0 MHz; however, repair stations are not permitted to radiate the VOR test signal continuously. The owner or operator of the aircraft must make arrangements with the repair station to have the test signal transmitted. A representative of the repair station must make an entry into the aircraft logbook or other permanent record certifying to the radial accuracy and the date of transmission. Airborne and ground checkpoints consist of certified radials that should be received at specific points on the airport surface or over specific landmarks while airborne in the immediate vicinity of the airport. Locations of these checkpoints are published in the A/FD. Should an error in excess of ±4° be indicated through use of a ground check, or ±6° using the airborne check, IFR flight shall not be attempted without first correcting the source of the error. No correction other than the correction card figures supplied by the manufacturer should be applied in making these VOR receiver checks. If a dual system VOR (units independent of each other except for the antenna) is installed in the aircraft, one system may be checked against the other. Turn both systems to the same VOR ground facility and note the indicated bearing to that station. The maximum permissible variation between the two indicated bearings is 4°. |
When checking the course sensitivity of a VOR receiver how many degrees should the OBS be rotated to move the CDI from the center to the last dot on either side?
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