Air traffic controller frequency over my radio

[isamom]

Can someone tell me why my kitchen radio periodically switches to the air traffic control frequency? I can hear controllers speaking to commercial flights. This happens on both am & fm and we often cannot get a "normal" radio signal for a couple of days! We live about 10 miles from Palomar airport in Carlsbad CA and about 25 miles from SD airport- a few miles in from the coast

[digger]

I doubt that it's a case of your radio switching to an ATC frequency, as much as it is a case of ATC transmissions being strong enough to be heard through that radio. A very strong radio signal can sometimes be heard on a radio that isn't tuned to that particular frequency. I live directly beneath a common departure route from PIT, and on occasion I'll hear ATC transmissions over my kitchen radio as well. Someone with a better grasp of the technical aspects can go into greater depth, I'm sure

[kiwisteve]

It could be an IMAGE problem 

If the IF freq on the radio is 10.7 Mhz  say for the FM broadcast frequency       Air Freq   minus the IF fr Twice   eg    120Mhz - 10.7 - 10.7 =
98.6 Mhz    ( in the fm radio band )

also all sorts combinations possible

Steve

[athaker]

haha...that's kind of a cool problem to have

[kiwisteve]

Its a real pain in the comms world   !! 

[digger]

Back when I was a teenager, and had a CB radio in my car, if I keyed up sitting in her driveway, my girlfriend's mother would hear it over her bedroom radio. Once I found that out, whenever I was leaving for the night, I'd always say 'Goodnight, Mary Ellen!"   

[isamom]

Well it's not such a cool problem when you're just trying to listen to the news in the morning. It doesn't matter what station we tune to on  AM/FM- when this happens, all we hear are ATC conversations.  That's what I meant when I say that the ATC "takes over" the radio- sometimes for a couple of days!

[digger]

Are you near an ATC facility of any kind? There are some remote antennas that handle transmissions from facilities that are some (many) miles away.

[kiwisteve]

Some ( domestic )radios have very poor rejection of unwanted frequencies .
some digital clock radio combos are particularly bad  . the one I have picks up noises
from a GSM cellphone anywhere near it

[tyketto]

Does this consistently happen, and are you steadily hearing the ATC comms over the radio? If so, there is the off chance that what you're hearing is intentional.

For example, KLAS and KVGT broadcast tower ops over 88.5FM up to a certain distance from the field and directed towards the parking areas adjacent to the fields.

Do you know if there is anything similar to that set up for your local field?

BL.

[isamom]

It only happens with one radio and it is hard to predict when it occurs or how long it will last. It doesn't matter what channel the radio is tuned to- AM/FM- the only thing you can hear is ATC conversations