PLAINVILLE — An AM radio system that broadcasts the chatter of pilots using the town-owned Robertson Airport is now on the air.
The low-voltage transmitter system installed this summer by Boy Scout Colin Stamm for his Eagle Scout community service project has a short range of under 200 feet from the equipment on an airport apron shed.
So people who want to listen to pilot talk must be at the facility, which makes the system a perfect addition for people who come daily, park and watch small private planes and the occasional helicopter take off and land.
“I can only imagine how much interest this will create,” town airport commission chairman Byron Treado said Wednesday. “A lot of people bring children to look at the planes. I used to when my children were younger. This radio will make a trip to the airport even more exciting.”
The broadcast system is so new, no sign is up yet to tell people to tune to AM 1710. That sign will soon be in place, according to Neal Witkin, a pilot who files out of Robertson and who assisted Stamm with the project.
Witkin, a New Britain resident, said last week that this system is the first of its kind in a Connecticut airport.
The broadcast is one-way so people can hear pilots but not respond. Witkin said the transmitter that converts pilot radio to AM band is low in power so it will not interfere with aviation operations, nor did the project require special federal aviation and communications permits.
Although the talk might be a little dry for kids, if the transmissions Wednesday afternoon are any indication. Each fragment of talk began with a sharp crack that will startle listeners if the volume is high.
And the chatter is mostly some combination of letters and numbers and single words, like ” SW. 63. 055,” ” “base” and “Robertson.”
“I haven’t heard it yet. I hope to stop by this weekend,” Treado said of the system the town gave Stamm permission to install.
Stamm, who lives in Newington and became interested in aviation because his father flies as a hobby, decided on the pilot broadcast system as a project after learning about similar setups in other general aviation airports out of state.
Source: http://www.courant.com
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