Canberra tower question

[kermitthefrog]

Do ATC towers necessarily transmit from the tower itself? In Canberra, there's a radar on Mt Majura (close to the airport) and I was wondering whether that might be where the tower happens to transmit from.
Thanks.

[Comint]

Do ATC towers necessarily transmit from the tower itself? In Canberra, there's a radar on Mt Majura (close to the airport) and I was wondering whether that might be where the tower happens to transmit from.
Thanks.

Local Control (within 10 Nautical Miles of the airport) is usually transmitted from the Control Tower, or at least from a building within the airfield perimeter.

--
Comint

[blacktown]

The ACMA entries suggest that Canberra Tower (118.7000) has three Tx/Rx locations

1. Airservices Australia - Control Tower Canberra Airport
2. Airservices Australia - Radar Station, Mt Majura
3. Capital Airport Group P/L - International Terminal Canberra Airport

Outside of tower hours (2000-1300UTC) 118.7000 becomes the CTAF frequency

[kermitthefrog]

Interesting - does that mean all 3 Tx/Rx simultaneously? From my home, the tower/airport is behind a hill but I might have line of sight to Majura.

[geodementia]

No, one will be primary, one backup and one tertiary. They cycle the active Tx periodically, so you will see varying signal strength based on your location and which Tx is active.

[geodementia]

I have an old Airservices doc that lists all of the Tx sites... For Canberrra:

M = Master S = Secondary T = Tertiary
MJA (Mt Majura) has:
118.7 MS 124.5 MS 125.9 MS 128.4 MS 127.45 M

CB TWER (Canberra Tower) has:
118.7 T 121.7 MS 124.5 T 125.9 T

Regards,
Geoff

[Vkfour]

Depending on the terrain, amount of traffic coming in, the direction it's coming from and no doubt a few other considerations, transmissions can, and do occur from other than the tower. The exception being surface movement. There was a site that outlined the various approach frequencies, their transmitter locations and a heap of other stuff, but naturally, when I just did a quick google, I couldn't find it. If I can find it, I'll put it up here.

[kermitthefrog]

Thanks. So, if what Geoff has posted is still correct, the tower itself seems to be the tertiary transmitter. That's interesting given that Mt Majura is over 7km away from the tower (but a much better point to transmit from).

[geodementia]

As a private pilot flying around Canberra it makes sense... If the tower was primary there woild be no comms with aircraft over a lot of Canberrandue to shielding from Mt Ainslie. Majura gives better coverage in most directions.

[austerz]

In Canberra safety in airports is on the highest level!

[Phantom]

In Canberra safety in airports is on the highest level!

Highest level?
Interesting first post....Would you care to elaborate?