AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 87

Navaid boxes on Jeppesen (left) and FAA
(right) low-altitude en route charts show FSS
frequencies. The 122.1R note on the FAA
chart's Farmington VOR indicates that you can
transmit on that frequency and listen on the
VOR frequency.
earlier, only using the name of the nearest
designated FSS. For example, you'd
use " Saint Louis Radio " when near the
Farmington, Missouri, VOR, because
" Saint Louis " is in the brackets below the
Farmington VOR's identification box. Once
communications are established, you dictate
your flight plan, FSS copies it, sends it along
to ATC, and gives you an ATC frequency to
contact for activation and clearances.
While you're at it, you might also obtain
an FSS weather briefing for your route of
flight. This can be a full-blown standard
briefing or an abbreviated version, your
choice. Because you have the luxury of
time when talking over an FSS frequency,
you can get a deeper dive into descriptions
of convective and other weather that could
affect the rest of your flight.
Sometimes you might see 122.1 MHz
posted above the VOR identification
box, along with the letter " R. " This
means that FSS can receive you over
122.1 MHz. So, you broadcast on 122.1.
To listen to FSS, you'll have to dial up
the volume and set up your com radio
so you can listen to the VOR frequency.
This is where FSS transmits to you. So,
your com radio is tuned to 122.1 and
your nav radio is tuned to the VOR frequency,
with the ID or Voice function
selected. Welcome to old-school procedures,
held over from those times where
transmitting and receiving on the same
frequency weren't possible when cruise
altitudes were comparatively low, and
distances from the station may have
been too great.
For the callup on this split-frequency
arrangement, you have to tell
FSS the frequencies you're using for
transmitting and receiving. To use the
Farmington VOR example, you'd say
" Saint Louis radio, N12345, transmitting
122.1, listening Farmington VOR. "
After that, it can get a little chaotic.
Other pilots may also be transmitting on
122.1, and you'll hear the VOR's Morse
code behind the FSS briefer's transmissions.
It can get confusing. You may have
to ask the briefer to " say again please. "
Are there any other ways to air file? If
you have the systems-and can swing it
financially-you could use a satellite phone
to call an FSS for an in-person brief-andfile
session. But this option seems to be
only for high-rollers flying big iron.
If all this sounds like a hassle, you can
always fall back on filing your flight plan
after the preflight briefing, and flying
IFR from takeoff to touchdown. This can
be done the old-fashioned way over the
telephone with flight service, or using
the flight plan functions on tablets running
ForeFlight, Garmin Pilot, or other
apps. After that, you'd pick up your clearance
from clearance delivery at bigger
airports, from ground control or tower
at others, or right before takeoff if you've
been issued a void time. If the void time
expires before you take off, your clearance
expires, and you have to file all over
again. Facing a frustration like that can
make air filing an appealing process.
tom.horne@aopa.org
AOPA PILOT / September 2022
87
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022

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