Airbus 318/319/320/321 Undifferentiated
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Distraction
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
General None Reported / Taken
Aircraft; Company Policy; Procedure
Data VHF radio 3 transmits bursts of data at low altitude on approach which is aurally picked up in VHF1. This blocks radio reception; such as from tower; at a very busy and critical time. This model of radios; in earlier serial numbers; has a Service Bulletin (SB); but when this issue was reported years ago; there was no pertinent SB; so it was dropped by Maintenance. It remains; however; an ongoing issue. It is not a given that it will happen; and it seems more common in Denver than other stations; and it seems to apply to all aircraft; old and new; A318 through A321; whether it is a problem with the filter in VHF1 or an antenna problem or BNC connector problem or an overly strong transmission by VHF3; there is something wrong with the radio setup. Honeywell knows that this is a problem but took no action years ago. Maintenance control discouraged a request to pilots to write-up radios which do it; probably because they knew how it would disrupt operations; but I think this should be done to at least document the events.
Airbus Captain experienced radio interference from VHF 3 when data was transmitted during approach and the transmission bled through to VHF 1; making ATC communication difficult.