Idea for Jim Weir

Jim,

Like a lot of small airports, we have quite a few people who park in the
parking lot, frequently on their lunch hours, to watch the airplanes land
and take off. It would be a nice PR opportunity if they could listen to the
CTAF while they're there. I've been thinking about a simple repeater that
would pick up the local CTAF chatter and retransmit it onto the FM band so
that they could tune their car radios in to listen. Would a simple VHF
receiver circuit be selective enough to pick up a single frequency in the
aviation band? There are a few two-transistor regenerative receiver
circuits around for the receiver portion, and quite a few simple FM
"wireless mic" circuits for the low-power transmitter part. IIRC, the FCC
allows a few milliwatts (microwatts?) to be broadcast in the FM band without
a license.

Alternatively we may just buy a cheap Rat Shack scanner and a cheap wireless
mic, hook them together and be done with it, but I thought that a kit of
parts to make such a device might be popular. Just a thought.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

("Bob Chilcoat" wrote)
snip
Like a lot of small airports, we have quite a few people who park in the
parking lot, frequently on their lunch hours, to watch the airplanes land
and take off. It would be a nice PR opportunity if they could listen to
the
CTAF while they're there. I've been thinking about a simple repeater that
would pick up the local CTAF chatter and retransmit it onto the FM band so
that they could tune their car radios in to listen.


A few years ago we ran across a spate of 'House For Sale' signs that
instructed us to tune our radio to (whatever) to hear a recorded message
about the house -- the very house we were sitting in front of. I thought
GREAT idea! Terrific idea!!

Two problems:
1. The recorded one minute message was usually lame - call us for info.
Huh???
2. Haven't seen those signs around now for a couple of years.

Yes, I think it's a great idea for the parking area. I'd like to see
something like that at ANE.


Montblack

standard at LAS... park next to the runways, tune the car's FM as directed..
and listen to tower..
low power transmitter does not transmit more than a mile or so.. almost
loose it as soon as you leave the parking lot..

BT

"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...
Jim,

Like a lot of small airports, we have quite a few people who park in the
parking lot, frequently on their lunch hours, to watch the airplanes land
and take off. It would be a nice PR opportunity if they could listen to
the
CTAF while they're there. I've been thinking about a simple repeater that
would pick up the local CTAF chatter and retransmit it onto the FM band so
that they could tune their car radios in to listen. Would a simple VHF
receiver circuit be selective enough to pick up a single frequency in the
aviation band? There are a few two-transistor regenerative receiver
circuits around for the receiver portion, and quite a few simple FM
"wireless mic" circuits for the low-power transmitter part. IIRC, the FCC
allows a few milliwatts (microwatts?) to be broadcast in the FM band
without
a license.

Alternatively we may just buy a cheap Rat Shack scanner and a cheap
wireless
mic, hook them together and be done with it, but I thought that a kit of
parts to make such a device might be popular. Just a thought.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

Easier...cheaper...probable Kitplanes column...

Go down to Walmart and buy one of those $29 synthesized FM transmitters that
is intended to take the output of a CDROM and broadcast it throughout the
house. Modulate it with the speaker or phones output of the UNICOM radio
inside the FBO...with wires as long as necessary to put the transmitter up
high enough to cover the parking lot.

No more fooling around necessary.

Jim




"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...
Jim,

Like a lot of small airports, we have quite a few people who park in the
parking lot, frequently on their lunch hours, to watch the airplanes land
and take off. It would be a nice PR opportunity if they could listen to
the
CTAF while they're there. I've been thinking about a simple repeater that
would pick up the local CTAF chatter and retransmit it onto the FM band so
that they could tune their car radios in to listen. Would a simple VHF
receiver circuit be selective enough to pick up a single frequency in the
aviation band? There are a few two-transistor regenerative receiver
circuits around for the receiver portion, and quite a few simple FM
"wireless mic" circuits for the low-power transmitter part. IIRC, the FCC
allows a few milliwatts (microwatts?) to be broadcast in the FM band
without
a license.

Alternatively we may just buy a cheap Rat Shack scanner and a cheap
wireless
mic, hook them together and be done with it, but I thought that a kit of
parts to make such a device might be popular. Just a thought.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

"RST Engineering" wrote

No more fooling around necessary.

Except for the batteries...mine eats them voraciously.

Bob Moore

"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...
Jim,

Like a lot of small airports, we have quite a few people who park in the
parking lot, frequently on their lunch hours, to watch the airplanes land
and take off. It would be a nice PR opportunity if they could listen to
the
CTAF while they're there. I've been thinking about a simple repeater that
would pick up the local CTAF chatter and retransmit it onto the FM band so
that they could tune their car radios in to listen. Would a simple VHF
receiver circuit be selective enough to pick up a single frequency in the
aviation band? There are a few two-transistor regenerative receiver
circuits around for the receiver portion, and quite a few simple FM
"wireless mic" circuits for the low-power transmitter part. IIRC, the FCC
allows a few milliwatts (microwatts?) to be broadcast in the FM band
without
a license.

Alternatively we may just buy a cheap Rat Shack scanner and a cheap
wireless
mic, hook them together and be done with it, but I thought that a kit of
parts to make such a device might be popular. Just a thought.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)




Try Ramsey Electronics get a FM transmitter and a cheap base scanner hook
the scanner to the transmitter it will do what you want it to do. I
recommend the FM100 its a nice agile unit so you can pick a freq that not
being used in your area.

http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/cgi...ion&key=FM100B

Except for the batteries...mine eats them voraciously.

We put a battery-powered telephone headset amplifier on our hotel's
switchboard phone, so that we could hear better when the lobby got busy and
loud. It ate batteries daily, so I bought one of those 110 volt battery
eliminators at Radio Shack. It was cheap, and has worked flawlessly for
several years now.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Why pay $150 for what Walmart will sell you for $30?

Jim



"NW_PILOT" wrote in message
...
Try Ramsey Electronics get a FM transmitter and a cheap base scanner hook
the scanner to the transmitter it will do what you want it to do. I
recommend the FM100 its a nice agile unit so you can pick a freq that not
being used in your area.

http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/cgi...ion&key=FM100B

Yeah, but I can build this:
http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_30469/article.html for five or six bux,
and this: http://www.elexp.com/kit_fmwm.htm for $4.50. Add a simple power
supply built from my junk box and I have the whole thing for under $20. My
concern is whether or not the receiver will be able to discriminate between
123.00 MHz and the frequencies on either side. The airport Unicom
transceiver isn't easily accessible.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"RST Engineering" wrote in message
...
Why pay $150 for what Walmart will sell you for $30?

Jim



"NW_PILOT" wrote in message
...
Try Ramsey Electronics get a FM transmitter and a cheap base scanner
hook
the scanner to the transmitter it will do what you want it to do. I
recommend the FM100 its a nice agile unit so you can pick a freq that
not
being used in your area.


http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/cgi...ction&key=FM10
0B

"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...
Yeah, but I can build this:
http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_30469/article.html for five or six
bux,

The idiots behind this magazine want you to spend many dollars to download
the article. BZZZZT.



and this: http://www.elexp.com/kit_fmwm.htm for $4.50.


Very buggy and drifty design. Not acceptable.

Jim