storms can pull the ADF need toward them instead of the NDB leading to incorrect readings so you are basically getting headed towards the thunderstorm dear friends and followers welcome back to my Channel today we are diving into something fundamental yet fascinating the NDB and its partner the ADF but first here's a question for you when was the last time you relied on something other than GPS to find your way in today's video we're going to explore this classic navigation tool that can enhance your flying skills and help you navigate safely when technology may fail so get your notebooks out because there's a small test at the end of this video so no messing about and let's get [Music] started what do NDB and ADF sand for first things first the NDB is a nondirectional beacon it is a very simple yet essential form of navigation especially in light aircraft it can also be used in Airline jets for long distance or approach navigation it consists of a transmitter based on the ground that transmits radio waves in every direction hence the name non-directional Beacon this works in conjunction with the ADF the automatic direction finder which is an instrument fitted in your plane after you have dialed in the NDB frequen quency the ADF searches for the radio waves and points its Needle on the instrument towards the tuned in NDB now speaking of the frequencies this little symbol here shows the location of the ndbs on your VFR IFR charts plus their frequency a two or three letter identifier and the mors code to explain it in the simplest way possible possible picture your friend saying to you do you see that light on the top of the mountain right there you reply yeah I can see that then you point with your finger to that light very simply speaking the light is the NDB and the tip of your finger is the ADF needle pointing towards it the light or let's call it a beacon shines in all directions so nondirectional and you can see it from anywhere where you're standing but The Shining Light can canot tell your position relative to it to avoid any confusion and ensure you are flying towards the correct Beacon each NDB transmits its identification in the low or medium frequency bands somewhere between 200 and 400 kohtz being the most common but they can go all the way up to 1,750 khz now each NDB will transmit it its own two or three-letter mulse code signal for example the Plymouth NDB has a frequency of 397 khz and is identified by listening to the Papa yane Morse code signal sounds confusing don't worry the frequency source and identification information are on the radio navigation charts or the approach charts that you will be carrying in the cockpit what is the range of a nondirectional beacon well if you are flying long range you will need a fairly strong NDB now these will have a range of 100 nautical miles or more however for even longer crosswater flying you will need an even more powerful indb for example some beacons in the Pacific area can have a range of up to 400 nautical miles on the other hand if you're flying a much shorter route within the UK for example where there are many navigation facilities most of the ndbs have a much shorter range going back to our Plymouth NDB which just has a 20 nautical mile radius basically acting as a homing Beacon as it is situated right next to the runways of Plymouth airport there are a few effects on the NDB that will affect its accuracy that you should be aware of under ideal conditions an NDB signal will be accurate to to within 2° but several factors can reduce this accuracy considerably one of the most common one is interferences from other ndbs that transmit on similar frequencies so you must ensure that your ADF is tuned perfectly the Earth itself also has an effect NDB signals can reflect of high mountains which kind of sort of distort the signal and so can Thunder all I hate this word Kum limbus loud formations causing electrical storms can pull the ADF knel toward them instead of the NDB leading to incorrect reading so you are basically getting headed towards the thunderstorm now that we have found our Direction with the NDB how does our aircraft tell us where to go the automatic direction finder operates on the radio Compass principle meaning that it will point the directional needle toward where the signals from the NDB are coming from there are three components within the aircraft that make up an ADF the receiver this is where the frequency is tuned to match the NDB the aerial system this is made up of a loop aial and a sense AAL which work together to identify exactly where the NDB signals are coming from on all the airplane the antenna is often referred to the airplane's washing line as it was attached at the vertical stabiliz izer all the way to the roof of the cockpit and the ADF display obviously located among the cockpit instruments now in order to identify the correct NDB that you want to fly to you will need to select the audio on the ADF and then listen to the morse code signal to confirm that it is the correct one ndbs have different identification characteristics associated with their trans type for example in the UK all ndbs can be identified using the ADF mode selector only however in Continental Europe some ndbs require the pilot to First select the bfo or the beat frequency oscillator to enable identification of the NDB now the role of the bfo is to impose a tone on the NDB carrier wave to make it audible to the pilot now some ndbs can carry voice Transmissions like the automatic terminal information service atis at some airports in rare cases if there is a malfunction with ATC Communications via the normal VHF signal it is possible for them to send Transmissions via an NDB or VR I have actually experienced that a couple of times already so when flying to or from an NDB understanding bearings is essential now the bearing to an NDB is called the qdm magnetic bearing to the station while the bearing from the NDB is the QDR the magnetic bearing from the station I always used the nemonic when flying to an NDB the m in the qdm is for home and when flying away from it I'm on the QDR and the R means meaning I'm radiating away from the NDB so to fly to the NDB you align your aircraft's heading so that the ADF needle points directly ahead of the relative bearing indicator and another helpful donkey bridge is how to correct your course in a crosswind use the neonics push and pull the needle when tracking to the NDB push the aircraft's heading toward towards the needle if it drifts to the side conversely when flying from the ND pull the tail of the needle towards the desired track to keep the aircraft on course this approach ensures you maintain an accurate bearing relative to the station either When approaching or departing the NDB even with wind interference and speaking of wind you don't want to be homing to the NDB if there's a strong crosswind the aircraft tends to drift sideways resulting in a curved flight path towards the NDB rather than a straight track this happens because the aircraft's heading changes to maintain a direct bearing to the station continuously correcting for the lateral drift caused by the wind to avoid this curving path and instead maintain a straight CA to the NDB you should track towards the NDB Now tracking involves obviously correcting for Wind Drift by setting a wind correction angle so you determine this by flying The aircraft's Heading slightly into the wind such that the needle stays offset by a small amount by doing so this will then allow the aircraft to fly a straight path as you maintain a consistent bearing to the NDB compensating for the crosswind obviously Now by monitoring and adjusting your heading as necessary you maintain a direct straight line track to the NDB this is a super fun practice on and the PC simulations you definitely have to try that out if the audio setting on the ADF is selected you may also be able to receive broadcasting stations such as the BBC or other commercial radio stations since they transmit using low frequency and mid-frequency bands now you might be surprised to hear that some Pilots have been known to using these as navigational AIDS however that is not the best idea as the source can be difficult and unreliable to identify because radio station broadcasts don't always come from the main transmission tower they usually use relay stations to broadcast their signal over wider distances so today we have covered the basics of what a non-directional beacon and an automatic direction finder are and what they look like and how they are used and along with the precautions to bear in mind now here's your test write in the comments below the names of the two aals within an aircraft that work together to identify where an NDB signal is coming from and on that bombshell that's it for today here is your checklist for today subscribe to my channel check activate the notification Bell check follow my Instagram account check perform a touch and go at my website check where you can get this amazing book and don't forget a good pilot is always learning especially when using ndbs wishing you all the best your Captain Joe [Music]