Comments on: Run Minneapolis: Follow the Crosstown http://www.thedeets.com/2009/04/12/run-minneapolis-follow-the-crosstown/ Consistently against torture. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:36:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: james http://www.thedeets.com/2009/04/12/run-minneapolis-follow-the-crosstown/#comment-10295 james Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:13:43 +0000 http://www.thedeets.com/?p=3301#comment-10295 I was ready to write "VOR/DME" nav aid -- and Aaron spelled it out exactly! I was ready to write “VOR/DME” nav aid — and Aaron spelled it out exactly!

]]> By: Daniel http://www.thedeets.com/2009/04/12/run-minneapolis-follow-the-crosstown/#comment-10290 Daniel Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:42:36 +0000 http://www.thedeets.com/?p=3301#comment-10290 @Aaron very cool info. thank you. I remember buying pipe screens from know-names when I was in high school. Daniel @Aaron

very cool info. thank you.

I remember buying pipe screens from know-names when I was in high school.

Daniel

]]> By: Aaron http://www.thedeets.com/2009/04/12/run-minneapolis-follow-the-crosstown/#comment-10289 Aaron Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:20:39 +0000 http://www.thedeets.com/?p=3301#comment-10289 That <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/edkohler/3429970673/" rel="nofollow">big white thing you saw</a> is the MSP <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHF_omnidirectional_range" rel="nofollow">VOR</a>. It's for navigation. It transmits two signals at the same time -- one is a reference phase, the other sends out signals that are a bit different for each radial from it (aka each degree of the compass). This way, equipment in the air can tell at which direction from the VOR it is receiving its signal from. Pretty nifty stuff and more-or-less the most valuable piece of navigational equipment in a plane without GPS. You can see it on <a href="http://skyvector.com/#47-117-3-1524-1050" rel="nofollow">this chart</a> as the hexagon in a box with the dot in the middle. The box to the lower left shows the frequency you can pick it up on (115.3) and the morse code you'll hear off of it to verify you're tuned into the right VOR. VORs also create the basis of the "air highways" in the sky as they're generally defined by radials from VORs across the world. If you fly over a VOR, you enter what the FAA literally calls the "cone of confusion" -- your navigation equipment has really gets "confused" as it receives signals from multiple radials. That big white thing you saw is the MSP VOR. It’s for navigation. It transmits two signals at the same time — one is a reference phase, the other sends out signals that are a bit different for each radial from it (aka each degree of the compass). This way, equipment in the air can tell at which direction from the VOR it is receiving its signal from. Pretty nifty stuff and more-or-less the most valuable piece of navigational equipment in a plane without GPS. You can see it on this chart as the hexagon in a box with the dot in the middle. The box to the lower left shows the frequency you can pick it up on (115.3) and the morse code you’ll hear off of it to verify you’re tuned into the right VOR.

VORs also create the basis of the “air highways” in the sky as they’re generally defined by radials from VORs across the world.

If you fly over a VOR, you enter what the FAA literally calls the “cone of confusion” — your navigation equipment has really gets “confused” as it receives signals from multiple radials.

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