Simviation Forum - VOR's vs NDB's

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VOR's vs NDB's (Read 336 times)

Oct 27^th, 2005 at 11:20am

Jester Offline
Colonel
Hmmm...
Pennsylvania

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Posts: 85

I'm not really sure where to post this, so please excuse me if this isn't the right place.

I have a question about the range of VOR's and NDB's: what are they?

In FS98, NDB's had a range of about 88nm - making them the primary means of navigation for my longer distance flying. I could fly from Jimmy Stewart Airport (KIDI) to Harrisburg International Airport using two NDB's - one of which was right on the outter marker at Harrisburg.

VOR's seemed to have a range of 47nm in FS98 - altitude depending of course. In FS2000, the range of the VOR's have remained the same, but the NDB's have changed greatly - approx. 35nm.

Thanks in advance,

John

Vision: The ability to look beyond what you can see

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Reply #1 - Oct 27^th, 2005 at 12:03pm

C Offline
Colonel
Earth

Posts: 13144

In the real world VORs and NDBs will have varying ranges depending on their signal strength. For a VOR this is combined with a altitude to give a "protected range" (ie, where you should be guaranteed a signal...

A couple of example using my little red book...

VORs:

Goodwood on the South coast of the UK has a protected range of 80nm up to 50,000ft (depicted as 80/50)

Newcastle (UK) on the other hand has a protected range of 200nm up to 50,000ft (200/50)

NDBs:

Myggenaes (Faroe Islands) has a range of 100nm

Brough (UK) has a range of 15nm...

The other thing to remember with beacons is they don't follow the earths curvature. For example, if I tuned in to the Newcastle VOR (above) at a range of 100nm I probably wouldn't receive a signal unless I was around 10,000ft/FL100 or above. Hence we take a rough ratio of 1000ft for every 10nm away from the beacon, ie, at 125nm from the beacon, 12,500ft/FL125; 80nm from the beacon, 8000ft/FL80... and I see you seemed to mention this in your post!!! Grin

Typical Charlie information dump! Wink

« Last Edit: Oct 27^th, 2005 at 2:26pm by C »

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Reply #2 - Oct 27^th, 2005 at 12:45pm

beaky Offline
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Uhhhh.... yup!
Newark, NJ USA

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If i remember correctly, NDB signals are less affected by terrain, which is the one limiting factor i've seen most often using VORs in real flying. The omni part of the signal may get around the terrain, but the radials are easily blocked by mountains. I've seen this in FS9, also... just recently, flying through the Andes, the VOR at Marta, Ecuador was playing "peek-a-boo" as I traveled among some very high peaks.
As far as 'raw" range goes, I'm not sure, but it varies for both types ... there are also high-altitude versions of both.

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Reply #3 - Oct 27^th, 2005 at 11:34pm

Jester Offline
Colonel
Hmmm...
Pennsylvania

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Posts: 85

Many thanks Charlie and daddy

I've made some adjustments during the flight planning stage to try to overcome this... whatever it is. I'm sure I'll figure out more work arounds as I branch out of local area flying. A typical flight for me now is between one or two hours as I zip along in a Beech Bonanza 36TC or a Beech Baron. I'm a Beechcraft nut...

Thanks again,

John

Vision: The ability to look beyond what you can see

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Reply #4 - Oct 30^th, 2005 at 5:00pm

Ivan Offline
Colonel
No, I'm NOT Russian, I
only like Russian aircraft
The netherlands

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Quote:

NDBs:

Myggenaes (Faroe Islands) has a range of 100nm

Brough (UK) has a range of 15nm...

But depends on antenna size too. Russian radios usually have far more range on their NDB recievers (exceeding what is said on the charts)

Russian planes: IL-76 (all standard length ones), Tu-154 and Il-62, Tu-134 and An-24RV&&&&AI flightplans and repaints can be found here

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Reply #5 - Oct 30^th, 2005 at 5:23pm

Brett_Henderson Offline
Colonel
EVERY OUTER MARKER SHOULD
BE AN NDB

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About 3/4 of the way down that page.. there's a chart..

http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/vor-nav.htm

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Reply #6 - Oct 30^th, 2005 at 5:41pm

C Offline
Colonel
Earth

Posts: 13144

Quote:

But depends on antenna size too. Russian radios usually have far more range on their NDB recievers (exceeding what is said on the charts)

Indeed, that is probably true. Certainly in the Publications and TAPs I use everyday the range quoted is the "protected" range, "guaranteed" (yeah right) from interference...

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Reply #7 - Oct 31^st, 2005 at 2:01am

Jester Offline
Colonel
Hmmm...
Pennsylvania

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Posts: 85

Thanks for the web page - it was a good read.

John

Vision: The ability to look beyond what you can see

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Reply #8 - Nov 2^nd, 2005 at 6:25pm

Boss_BlueAngels Offline
Colonel
I fly airplanes upside
down for fun.
Snohomish

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VOR=good
NDB=evil

I hate NDB's. The ones near me are pretty much useless, and are horrible to the instrument students. lol

CFI: "where are you going?"
ME: "Tracking to the station, the needle is pointing straight ahead"
CFI: "Yeah, but the station is 2 miles behind you."

ME: "... oh. Now what?"

The day is always better when you're flying upside down.&&&&www.fight2flyphoto.com&&&&Canon RebelXT&&Canon 18-55mm&&Sigma 10-20mm F/4-6.3&&Sigma 100-300mm F/4-6.3&&Sigma 50-500mm F/4-6.3

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