How many letter codes represent the TACAN station?

How many letter codes represent the TACAN station?

• A. 2
• B. 4
• C. 1
• D. 3

Answer: (D)

TACAN stations use a three-letter identifier to identify themselves. The distance information comes from a numeric DME channel, but the station’s human-readable identity is the three-letter code transmitted in Morse. This three-letter ID provides a large enough pool of unique combinations worldwide to avoid confusion between stations, even as the number of NAVAIDs grows. In a VORTAC setup, the same three-letter identifier is used for both the VOR and the TACAN portion, keeping identification consistent. So three letter codes represent the TACAN station.

TACAN stations use a three-letter identifier to identify themselves. The distance information comes from a numeric DME channel, but the station’s human-readable identity is the three-letter code transmitted in Morse. This three-letter ID provides a large enough pool of unique combinations worldwide to avoid confusion between stations, even as the number of NAVAIDs grows. In a VORTAC setup, the same three-letter identifier is used for both the VOR and the TACAN portion, keeping identification consistent. So three letter codes represent the TACAN station.