2 Meter Radios

I have heard pilots expressing their enthusiasm for 2 meter shortwave radios. (ie. clear channels, repeaters provide extended range, ability to make telephone calls) I would like to hear comments on specific models so Santa can make a certain little boy happy.

Does that 'little boy' have an amateur radio license? It is the requirement for licensing (which requires passing a rather stiff written test) that pretty well keeps two meter radios out of glider cockpits. I have been a licensed amateur radio operator far longer than I have been a glider pilot and I have never even considered taking a 2-meter radio flying with me. Why would I want to carry yet another radio?

Vaughn (WB4UH

Well, I'd certainly vote for less chit-chat on 123.3/.5, but are people getting these in addition to or instead of an aircraft radio? And how much chit-chat is on the 2 meter bands they'd be using from 10,000', where they'd get much more range than the hams on the ground? Does that bother the hams?

The hams will probably go ballistic. In the UK it will bring the wrath of the radio authority down around your shoulders in the US I suspect the ARRL would also want to have a big beef as well

Robin, Astir Pilot and Radio Ham

Hmm. I was using them XC in hang gliders, so it was typically instead of. Hang gliders may be a special case, because we usually had more than one pilot to a retrieve vehicle. So small groups of pilots find it useful to have their 'own frequency'.

When I used 70 cm in my glider, it was in addition to.

Since there's now an HT that is both airband and 2m, there's no reason it couldn't be in addition to, even if the HT is the only radio in the glider.

Well, done correctly, the pilots ARE hams. Notice I'm not saying everyone should just go out and buy a radio. Getting a Technician ticket is not hard, and will (probably) teach you how to operate without irritating other hams.. Hams use 2m when driving and hiking and biking and all sorts of things. I don't see why hams shouldn't use 2m flying gliders (though in some countries it is not legal to operate aeronautical mobile). But there are lots of simplex channels, and if you stay off of the simplex calling frequency, it's unlikely to be a problem, especially in remote areas.

OTOH, calling up as aeronautical mobile is enough of a novelty to get some attention. Some of my ham friends have wondered about the weird 'alternator whine' of the vario in the background.

Tim Ward

The problem with 2 meter is there would not be a way to call the closest FSS to get weather, or to contact the tower when you land.

Not in my experience. When hang gliding on a non-XC flight I kept my radio on lowest power setting because anybody I wanted to talk to was within a few miles line of sight. On the days when we got to 7k - 10k AGL hams 30 miles away could pick us up. Most of the reaction was friendly. They were curious about antennas and about hang gliding. The only unfriendly reaction was to folks not using their call signs, or not having callsigns. But that's the same unfriendly reaction the unlicensed users got when standing on the ground.

This is not a problem with 2 meter radio. This is a problem with not having an air band radio. I haven't seen anyone in this thread advocate replacing the air band tranceiver with 2m. I think amateur radio can be a useful tool for some XC pilots. I think if you use 2m, you should get the license, or, contrariwise, you shouldn't use 2m if you don't get the license. I think getting the Technician license here in the US is pretty easy. I think the Yaesu VXA-700 ( http://www.pilotshop.hu/yaesu/vxa-700.pdf ) isa really nifty package, and I _really_ wish they'd been available when I was flying hang gliders.

Tim Ward

Could explain why the ham bands and 11 meters don't sound any different now.

(.._ ... . _.. _

Hope they don't throw in questions like 'What's the best voltage to use with a 14 volt radio?'. Not one glider pilot in ten could figure that one out.

If one compares the ham bands as they were even twenty years ago with the morass of garbage they have now become, you would understand my disdain. If one understands that it once was considered a sign of a dedicated amateur to BUILD his own equipment, you would further understand the disdain. I operated all bands from 80M though 220mhz bands, using mostly homebuilt or converted surplus until the years 1980 through 1988, at which time I aquired a nice Collins 75A-1 and Johnson Viking II CDC. NEVER was any brand on any of my antennas, including the array for 2M moonbounce.

When they reinstate the technical and regulation portion of the test to what was required, and bring back the CW standards required at that time, I MIGHT think about reinstating my license. As long as the rice box and the brick are the norm, not much of interest there. What is in place now is NOT what The Old Man had in mind when he brought the amateurs cause before the legislators. (Hiram Percy Maxim for those that don't know.)