TECHNICAL

DME
TROUBLESHOOTING
B Y B R A D P R I M M

D
ME systems were high tech When a VOR station is shown on an GPS is not approved to take the place
when I started my career. In aeronautical chart as a VORTAC, that of DME when needed on a precision
the Navy, the TACAN sys- station is actually a collocated approach.
tems had distance to the station as well TACAN and VOR station. The DME Of course, it is only a matter of time
as TACAN bearing. In civilian life, the is receiving a real TACAN signal in before LOC/DME waypoints are
DME (distance measuring equipment) that case. TACAN has bearing infor- entered in the IFR GPS databases.
is the distance portion of TACAN, mation superimposed on the squitter Until that time, we must keep our cus-
same frequencies and same timing pulses and the pulse amplitude is mod- tomers safe with a properly operating
scheme. In fact, a civilian DME set ulated by a 30 Hz signal. The ATC- DME.
will work with TACAN as long as you 1200Y-3 test set has a TACAN switch Before getting into our trou-
know what TACAN channel equates on the rear panel to simulate this mod- bleshooting scenario, a review of
with the paired NAV receiver frequen- ulation. When it is switched on, all DME basics is in order. An airborne
cies used to tune civilian DME equip- pulses generated by the test set are DME measures slant range from the
ment. modulated with a 30 Hz sine wave to aircraft to the ground station by meas-
simulate real-world conditions. uring the time it takes for a pulse-pair
Back when I got out of the Navy, interrogation from the DME to be
the civilian airplane that had a DME answered by the pulse-pair reply from
installed was considered well the ground station. Radio waves take
equipped. Although digital units were 6.18 microseconds to travel one nauti-
beginning to hit the street, such as the cal mile or 12.36 microseconds to
Narco DME-190, you still saw plenty travel one nautical mile round trip.
of tube sets with sweeping needle dis- The ground station waits 50
plays such as King’s KN-60 series microseconds after receiving a valid
(introduced in 1967). So why is DME interrogation before replying. Without
important to the serious IFR pilot? this delay, the DME could still be
Why not just rely on the fancy new transmitting its second interrogation
GPS equipment? pulse when the first pulse of the reply
The databases for GPS systems do is received at close range. So if the
not contain the lat/long of the localiz- time interval from interrogation by the
er antennas, which is where the collo- DME to valid reply was 173.6
cated DME antenna is positioned. microseconds, the ground station
Since this is typically 1,000 feet off would be 10 nautical miles away (10
the departure end of the runway, there by 12.36 microseconds plus 50
will be several tenths of a mile differ- microseconds delay equals 173.6
ence between the airport reference microseconds).
point (which is in the GPS database) Civilian DME systems are frequent-
and the DME/localizer antennas. This ly paired with NAV frequencies to
is not “close enough” for an IFR eliminate the need for the pilot to tune
Wilcox (Thales) DME ground station approach in the soup and therefore, each system. The DME frequencies
equipment rack.

26 AVIONICS NEWS • FEBRUARY 2003

are divided up into two groups. The
whole-tenth Nav channels (i.e. 108.10,
112.20) are X channels utilizing pulse
pairs spaced 12 microseconds apart.
The 50 Khz Nav channels (i.e. 108.15,
112.25) are Y channels utilizing pulse
pairs spaced 36 microseconds apart.
Each DME channel is actually two fre-
quencies, with the transmitter and
receiver separated by 63 Mhz.
The civilian DME frequency range LOC antenna array is on the left, DME antenna is on the right.
is between 978 Mhz and 1213 Mhz.
For 108.00 to 112.20 Mhz nav chan-
nels, the DME receives X channel
replies 63 Mhz below its transmitted
frequency and Y channel replies 63
Mhz above the transmitted frequency.
From 112.30 to 117.95, the roles are
reversed, i.e. X channel replies are
received 63 Mhz above the DME
transmitted frequency.
The DME ground station transmits
a constant maximum pulse repetition
frequency (PRF) of 2,700 pulses per
second(PPS). When no interrogations
are received, the 2,700 PPS consists of KN-64 is disassembled and switch is removed for repair.

random single pulses called “squitter.”

Each time a valid interrogation is During the identifier transmission, no and sheepishly said, “My DME fre-
received, a pulse pair reply is transmit- valid replies are received by the DME quency display intermittently changes
ted in place of a squitter pulse. If so but tracking and memory circuitry pre- to other frequencies and I am having
many interrogations are received that vent the loss of “lock-on.” trouble changing channels.” I ask,
no squitter pulses are left to replace, In keeping with the recent trou- “How does it work when it is on fre-
the DME ground station reduces its bleshooting issues, we will repair a quency?” and “How does it work in
sensitivity to keep the number of hypothetical problem with a KN-64 remote mode?”
replies below the 2700 PRF limit. DME. The KN-64 is a popular, panel He replied, “It seems to work OK
When the airborne DME unit has mounted DME unit that first hit the when the display frequency doesn’t
picked out the replies to its own inter- street in 1982. It is based upon the change and as far as remote operation
rogations from the squitter pulses and design of the KN-62/A, which was goes, I don’t think it was ever hooked
replies to other DME’s, it is consid- introduced in 1978. The original KN- up.”
ered to be “locked-on” or “tracking” 62 was 100 watts peak pulsed power “Does the DME Ident sound good
the ground station. The DME will not nominal and not TSO approved. The when the DME distance display is
lock on to another DMEs replies KN-62A was also 100 watts peak dashed?” I ask.
because they are not in sync with its pulsed power nominal and TSO “I don’t know, what is DME Ident?”
own interrogations. approved which allowed its use as an he answers.
Approximately every 45 seconds, approved DME above 24,000 feet. “Get out of my shop you idiot!” I
the DME ground station will substitute The KN-64 is not TSO approved and thought, as I said, “Well, I can see you
all squitter pulses and replies with has only 50 watts peak pulsed power need the Pilots Avionics
pulse pairs at the rate of 1350 PPS. nominal, which is fine for the lower Troubleshooting Guide, downloadable
These pulses are detected as a 1350 Hz altitudes. from the Aircraft Electronics
Morse-code identifier, for use by the The customer walked into the shop Association’s website at www.aea.net.
pilot to properly identify the station. with one hand protecting his wallet Continued on following page

AVIONICS NEWS • FEBRUARY 2003 27

DME TROUBLESHOOTING has obviously spent some time on tie- Afterwards, I rinse the printed cir-
Continued from page 27 down in the south. cuit board and other switch parts with
Anyway, I have a pretty good idea of With my Xcelite, screwdriver style, isopropyl alcohol to remove any eras-
what your problem is and you can’t King Allen (3/32), I remove the unit er residue. Reassembly begins and
afford to fix it—just kidding.” With from the rack and immediately notice after the switch parts are assembled, I
that dry bit of humor behind us, he another shortcut that the installing apply the high vacuum grease called
signs the work order and out to the air- shop has taken. Only two of the four out in the maintenance manual to the
craft I go with the ATC-600A ramp screws needed to secure the front of switch detents and a small amount of
tester in tow. the rack are installed. As one would epoxy to the retaining ring. While the
After setting up the ramp tester, we expect, no support strap was installed DME unit is apart, it is a good idea to
fire the DME up in the aircraft and it is in the rear of the rack and the whole check for peeling of the insulation on
quickly apparent to me that the fre- tray was drooping just like my mother- the flex cables. When this deteriora-
quency selection switches themselves in-law’s… hey wait a minute, let’s not tion is spotted, the only proper repair
are causing the problem. When I even go there. is the replacement of the cables. In this
switch modes to RMT from FREQ, or With the unit out of the rack, I pro- case, no peeling was noted. The unit is
to GS/T, the DME stays locked on. ceed back to the bench for testing and ready for reassembly and final test.
The GS/T and the RMT (remote chan- troubleshooting. A quick check of the Having already started warming up
neling) modes electronically discon- KN-64 on the pulse bench confirms the IFR 1200Y3 bench test set, I move
nect the front-panel channeling that it has a definite case of switchosis. the KN-64 from the piece-work bench
switches. In the GS/T mode, the fre- Getting the up-to-date maintenance to the pulse bench and begin the
quency readout is removed from the manual off the shelf, I begin the disas- checkout process. Of course the first
display so the ground speed and time- sembly process on the piece-work thing I perform are checks involving
to-station information can be shown. bench. I carefully separate the screws the switches and everything appears
In the FREQ mode, wiggling or turn- by size since the top and bottom cov- fine. Next we begin the final test pro-
ing the frequency selection knobs cre- ers employ several different lengths. cedures spelled out in the KN-64
ates erratic frequency changes. When proper access is gained, I maintenance manual. These test pro-
This is a common problem on the start the switch disassembly, which cedures are very thorough and have
older, digital King Silver Crown radio starts with the removal of the “C” spaces available for the entry of test
line as the switches wear out or get washer (retaining ring) on the end of results. This allows the technician to
dirty. Similar frequency selection the Khz knob shaft. As expected, I make copies, record his test results
switches are used on the KR-87 ADF, watch the little @$%^ zing away into and file them with the work order. No
KN-53 Nav, KX-155/165 Nav/Coms the twilight zone despite my best further problems were encountered
etc. Continuing the tests, I listen to the efforts to contain it as I pop it off the during the bench testing.
DME ident and it is hooked up. I was shaft. Anticipating this, I keep several There are some special cautions to
concerned that it might not be since in stock. It’s a lot cheaper than getting be aware of during the repair of these
the installing shop had failed to put in down on my hands and knees and units. The VCO and transmitter cir-
the remote channeling wires to the searching the floor for a $2 part. cuits are constructed of laminated
Collins Micro-line Navs. The Micro- With the switch disassembled, I Teflon microstrip boards, which are
line Navs have the necessary DME inspect the switch parts and the circuit easily damaged by heat. Use only a
channeling outputs to allow remote board. This switch design uses the low-wattage soldering iron.
operation of this customer ’s KN-64. Switch Board Circuit card as the non- The large scale integrated circuits
I also notice the sun-bleached, moving part of the switch. It looks like (LSIs) are mounted in sockets for easy
orange tinted display lens and make a all this unit will need is a good clean- replacement. An insertion/extraction
mental note to tell the customer. This ing. Using my FAA approved pencil tool (p/n 050-01671-0000) is sold by
may generate another service job to eraser, I remove the grit from the Honeywell to prevent damage to the
replace the lens if he is in the mood to printed circuit board traces and I clean LSIs during maintenance. It will also
keep his stack looking spiffy. I also and retention the finger tabs on the cut troubleshooting time way down to
notice that the display lenses in his rotating switch halves. I was expecting keep a known-good set of these LSIs
Collins Micro-line Nav and Com units to find a broken finger or tab on one of in stock.
are sun-bleached clear, not even the rotating switch halves but this unit After the final checks are complete
orange looking anymore. This aircraft is just dirty. and all systems go, I take the KN-64

28 AVIONICS NEWS • FEBRUARY 2003

 I also check both X and Y channel
operation using the ATC-600A ramp
tester. The ATC-600A checks these
channels using the paired frequency of
108.00 and 108.05 Mhz. Since the
ATC-600A can only check two chan-
nels, I tune in the field DME just to get
another valid test of the system on a
different frequency. The local DME
ground station is collocated with the
field localizer and always reads .9
miles when interrogated from our
hangar or ramp area.
A quick check of the DME ident is
in order since most audio panels do
Top KN-64 has normal display lens, bottom
not give the pilot any way to adjust the
KN-64 has sun-bleached display lens.
volume. In addition, the nominal
bench setting of 3.0 volts (.5 V p-p)
back to the aircraft. Before I can insert does not guarantee that a comfortable
the DME back into its tray, I need to listening level will be achieved in the
properly secure the tray to the air- cockpit. I have tested plenty of DMEs
craft—details, details… The rails in in the aircraft that were so loud you
the radio rack do not have holes drilled wanted to rip the headphones off your
for two of the four screws needed to head when the DME ident was select-
secure the front of the rack. The rack ed. In this case, the DME ident is at an
gets removed, the holes drilled, the acceptable level. If the ident had been
rear support installed and all of the too low or high, the KN-64 could have
proper hardware is used when the rack been loosened from its rack and R305
is reassembled. adjusted through a hole in the top
A simple frequency knob repair has cover until a comfortable listening
turned into a major production. My level is achieved.
joke about the customer not being able Luckily, no further problems are
to afford to fix it is closer to the truth encountered with the final checkout. I
than I had imagined. He authorized the mention the bleached out displays to
repair only after I told him that if he the customer and he declines the repair
didn’t allow me to properly secure the at this time since he had to spend extra
rack, I could not return his aircraft to money on the mounting rack repair.
service. So, I send him on his merry way,
Finally, I reinstall the KN-64 into its minus a few bucks and with ugly look-
tray. During the final test of the DME, ing displays. At least his DME is not
I make sure that the power output from ready to fall behind the panel during a
the antenna is good because this 50- hard landing. ❑
watt DME cannot afford to lose power
in a poor antenna system. The DME
ground stations will reduce their
receiver sensitivity as the number of
interrogating aircraft increase in order
to avoid over-working the ground sta-
tion transmitter. So, low power DME
units can lose lock even when within
their theoretical range limit.

AVIONICS NEWS • FEBRUARY 2003 29