Flight crew described ATIS reception anomalies during arrival descent for mht; listing ATIS receptio...

Narrative:

This is more of an FYI of a condition that can be distracting during descents into mht. Mht ATIS cannot be received until about 150 miles out even at the high flight levels. I could not receive it until after we had started our descent and were in the low FL300s. Usually at other airports this is not a problem but mht has something restricting it; (terrain maybe?); that prohibits us from hearing it until close in. In addition there is an approach control that transmits on the same frequency. It sounded like rochester approach but I could not make it out. This makes it very difficult to understand the ATIS. If this approach facility is busy it can make hearing the ATIS impossible. Its not until we get within 80 or so miles of mht that the ATIS broadcast is clear and not interfered with. Two things. Change the frequency of the ATIS to eliminate the approach control transmission interference. Turn up the power of the ATIS transmitter or relocate the antenna to eliminate the interference or restriction to its reception. On the flight crew end; my solution is to just pull up the metar in the ACARS and briefly listen for the ATIS code and active runway.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Flight crew described ATIS reception anomalies during arrival descent for MHT; listing ATIS reception range and frequency interference as the problem areas.

Narrative: This is more of an FYI of a condition that can be distracting during descents into MHT. MHT ATIS cannot be received until about 150 miles out even at the high flight levels. I could not receive it until after we had started our descent and were in the low FL300s. Usually at other airports this is not a problem but MHT has something restricting it; (terrain maybe?); that prohibits us from hearing it until close in. In addition there is an Approach Control that transmits on the same frequency. It sounded like Rochester Approach but I could not make it out. This makes it very difficult to understand the ATIS. If this Approach facility is busy it can make hearing the ATIS impossible. Its not until we get within 80 or so miles of MHT that the ATIS broadcast is clear and not interfered with. Two things. Change the frequency of the ATIS to eliminate the approach control transmission interference. Turn up the power of the ATIS transmitter or relocate the antenna to eliminate the interference or restriction to its reception. On the flight crew end; my solution is to just pull up the METAR in the ACARS and briefly listen for the ATIS code and active runway.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	841745
Time
Date	200906
Place
State Reference	NH
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Flight Phase	Descent
Person 1
Function	First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 296
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

Flight crew described ATIS reception anomalies during arrival descent for mht; listing ATIS reception range and frequency interference as the problem areas.