Do you call your location when taxiing?
Hey everyone. I was just curious about this and thought it would be an interesting point of discussion. At an uncontrolled airport (such as KWVI), do you regularly call out your location when taxiing? I've heard valid reasons for and against.
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Good topic!
First off, full disclosure, I am an old curmudgeon...
I feel that ground radio traffic actually reduces safety because it takes up bandwidth that could be used by airborne aircraft. Planes on the ground don't realize that they are stepping on inbound traffic due to line of sight transmission constraints. But the folks in the pattern can hear everyone. When in the air I'd really like to know when someone is entering the runway for departure, but I don't care too much about who is moving around on the ground. On the ground I would prefer to go slow around blind corners and always look both ways.
By the by, why don't aircraft radios have power options (1watt or 25watts) like marine radios?
Why do we have to listen to traffic at HAF while in the pattern at WVI? If we could switch to a lower power setting there would be a lot more room on 122.8. There is probably a good reason we don't have this option?
Just wondering...
Cheers, and I am always happy to hear familiar voices on the radio!