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Aircraft radio for emergency?

a real signal mirror (made in Japan) works very good. I used them for work, signal tower site to tower site line-of-site study. Way brighter than anything else. Stable enough for a guy to get a photo of the flash.
 
WaterH said:
Pylett is listening. Do you know if that is true for all airlines? If you heard something, would you report gps to center?
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Yes, have friends and pretty much all the airlines. We have enough radios that we are always monitoring 121.5 and will relay or report anything we hear. If we or ATC miss a frequency change they will come up on 121.5 and broadcast for us as well.

Years ago on our way to Hawaii we hear a mayday from a cirrus that cant transfer his last fuel bladder and knows that he is not going to make it to Hilo like he planned. Were able to use our sat phone and get him coordinates to the nearest cruise ship. He survived.

 
When I first started flying our survival vest had PRC-90s) painted yellow, later OD Left overs from the Viet Nam. Had a holster in it for a S&W 38.
Found a pic. Could talk on 243.0 The later PRC-112s gave us VHF 121.5
1728056800080.jpeg

We monitored 121.5/243.0 every flight, also known as Guard.
Edited to correct bad memory
 
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I have a pile of nice and cheepo race radios. Can they be of use besides holding the shelf down?
 
billdacat said:
Get yourself a Technicians licence and a VHF radio equipped with APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System). The APRS thingy can squak a message (SOS or whatever you want to say) that other APRS radios receive. Stupid easy to locate someone using these radios.

Checkout the website "aprs.fi" .:smokin::smokin::smokin::smokin:
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Get a TNC and you can run it from a smart phone with pretty much any radio. APRS capable radios are kinda spendy.
 
Poke said:
I have a pile of nice and cheepo race radios. Can they be of use besides holding the shelf down?
Click to expand...
Likely yes, but really, depends on what else is near you, more specifically, who's listening. To be useful, you need somebody else listening to whatever you can transmit on. I have some unlocked radios that will do 136-600, a good bit has some traffic, most of it I can't legally transmit on, but if there's nobody else on that frequency, I could put out 1.21 gigawatts and nobody would know but the power company (and they'd only know if I draw on the grid to do it, or step on their linemens' dispatch frequencies).

Most "race" radios are actually operating in commercial 151-157 or so, since you're not stepping on the ham nerds, generally, nobody looks for unlicensed operations in that realm in normal times beyond a bit of cussing-out from somebody who's legit, if you step on their ops. Upside is, there's often commercial operations on those frequencies in most major metro, industrial, utility, and mining areas, downside is, big enough disaster, nobody's at work in the area, and few to none will take a "work radio" home to monitor in their off hours. They're generally limited to line of sight (ish) so if you're on a mountaintop, good chance of reaching way out; if you're in a valley, not likely to hit the next valley over.

Many of the cheap race radios are really just clones with software limitations applied so that they have "race" frequencies preprogrammed with "race" names, and in reality, the radio is capable of typically 136-171 operations in VHF (maybe also 440-490 UHF and FRS/GMRS). Personally, I'd try to open them up software-wise and see what they can do, and once I had them as open as they could be, I'd start poking around and listening to whatever they can, make a note of where there is traffic, google up the ham radio designated calling frequencies, and note whatever of those that the radio can listen or talk to. With that info, calling frequencies and where there was traffic during normal times, would be the first places I'd start trying to talk to people in disaster times. Kind of a rabbithole of a thing, but it's potentially better than shelf ballast. If you aren't familiar with it, google CHIRP radio software and start down the rabbithole if you want. Or post what info you have and see how bored-n-nerdy I and the various other ham nerds here, feel.
 
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WaterH said:
I had an emergency transmitter on a helicopter we were hauling on a trailer get triggered by a pot hole. It took them about six hours to find me. (On the phone) I went and shut it off and that was that. They told me this happens all the time.



I have flown over tons of stuff that sparkled. I guess if I was over a disaster site and you could hit me enough times, I would investigate, but a rhythmic strobe light would definitely get my attention.



Yea, a fire is good unless there’s tons of fires. I often meet people on the ground that say how could you have not seen me? I have to tell them “looking up, I’m the only thing there and I’m making noise”, “looking down, there’s tons of shit and I can’t hear a thing”

On the 121.5 thing. Some radios have a setup where they always monitor that freq in the background no matter what freq they have dialed in. So it could work, but nobody is dialed into that except satellites and official search planes. I guess Pylett is listening. Do you know if that is true for all airlines? If you heard something, would you report gps to center?
Click to expand...


“all aircraft operating in the United States national airspace, if capable, shall maintain a listening watch on VHF guard 121.5 or UHF 243.0.”


I generally have 121.5 tuned up while I’m in route. I don’t hear traffic on it every flight, but it certainly not uncommon to hear airliners helping relay communications to someone. :cookie:

EDIT, I do not think trying to use that to call aircraft assistance from the ground an effective plan.
 
In an emergency you CAN use a Ham radio without a licence. No HAM is going to ignore or snub you for not having a licence in an emergency. Many times I have heard a kid get on a Ham radio... We will ask if there is an emergency and if we can help. I can ignore you if you are just fucking around. FCC will take care of you....
IMHO: Get a licence, you will have a much better chance of getting help with knowing how to use the radio.
 
I would not want to be the government official who tried to arrest me if I used a ham radio without a license in an emergency.

Also fuck off, not paying an extra tax to use the airwaves. I use my GMRS radio all the time without a license, as should everyone
 
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Slander said:
I would not want to be the government official who tried to arrest me if I used a ham radio without a license in an emergency.

Also fuck off, not paying an extra tax to use the airwaves. I use my GMRS radio all the time without a license, as should everyone
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GMRS police! GF was leading a small group in Moab using GMRS radios. Fucking GMRS Karen starts bitching her out about leading on a trail and if she is a commercial operator. Ass hole ask for her call sign, she squaks if out and ask the Karen for his. Crickets...

WTF???:mad3::mad3::mad3::mad3:
 
billdacat said:
GMRS police! GF was leading a small group in Moab using GMRS radios. Fucking GMRS Karen starts bitching her out about leading on a trail and if she is a commercial operator. Ass hole ask for her call sign, she squaks if out and ask the Karen for his. Crickets...

WTF???:mad3::mad3::mad3::mad3:
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I had a guy in my former off-road club lecturing me about needing a license. I asked him can they arrest me? "Well theoretically" "how would they find me?" "Well i don't know, you should just pay for the license" "no".
 
I don need no stinking license.

No one here would understand my reasoning for this as 90% are just too stupid!



billdacat said:
In an emergency you CAN use a Ham radio without a licence. No HAM is going to ignore or snub you for not having a licence in an emergency. Many times I have heard a kid get on a Ham radio... We will ask if there is an emergency and if we can help. I can ignore you if you are just fucking around. FCC will take care of you....
IMHO: Get a licence, you will have a much better chance of getting help with knowing how to use the radio.
Click to expand...
 
billdacat said:
GMRS police! GF was leading a small group in Moab using GMRS radios. Fucking GMRS Karen starts bitching her out about leading on a trail and if she is a commercial operator. Ass hole ask for her call sign, she squaks if out and ask the Karen for his. Crickets...

WTF???:mad3::mad3::mad3::mad3:
Click to expand...
Reply that it's Golf Foxtrot Yankee Sierra
 
ScottRS said:
Likely yes, but really, depends on what else is near you, more specifically, who's listening. To be useful, you need somebody else listening to whatever you can transmit on. I have some unlocked radios that will do 136-600, a good bit has some traffic, most of it I can't legally transmit on, but if there's nobody else on that frequency, I could put out 1.21 gigawatts and nobody would know but the power company (and they'd only know if I draw on the grid to do it, or step on their linemens' dispatch frequencies).

Most "race" radios are actually operating in commercial 151-157 or so, since you're not stepping on the ham nerds, generally, nobody looks for unlicensed operations in that realm in normal times beyond a bit of cussing-out from somebody who's legit, if you step on their ops. Upside is, there's often commercial operations on those frequencies in most major metro, industrial, utility, and mining areas, downside is, big enough disaster, nobody's at work in the area, and few to none will take a "work radio" home to monitor in their off hours. They're generally limited to line of sight (ish) so if you're on a mountaintop, good chance of reaching way out; if you're in a valley, not likely to hit the next valley over.

Many of the cheap race radios are really just clones with software limitations applied so that they have "race" frequencies preprogrammed with "race" names, and in reality, the radio is capable of typically 136-171 operations in VHF (maybe also 440-490 UHF and FRS/GMRS). Personally, I'd try to open them up software-wise and see what they can do, and once I had them as open as they could be, I'd start poking around and listening to whatever they can, make a note of where there is traffic, google up the ham radio designated calling frequencies, and note whatever of those that the radio can listen or talk to. With that info, calling frequencies and where there was traffic during normal times, would be the first places I'd start trying to talk to people in disaster times. Kind of a rabbithole of a thing, but it's potentially better than shelf ballast. If you aren't familiar with it, google CHIRP radio software and start down the rabbithole if you want. Or post what info you have and see how bored-n-nerdy I and the various other ham nerds here, feel.
Click to expand...
I have the nice ones as well. Two with alligator clamps for a battery and 3’ antenna. They were programmed for races. Can I self program them. I know at some races we accidentally had the fire station or ambulance channels. So I should hook them up, get the manual and figure it out? I thinking PCI used software to load my channels in
 
I wonder if this logic will prevail...

Yes, a license was required to operate a Citizens Band (CB) radio in the United States in the past, but the requirement was dropped when the devices became popular. The FCC no longer issues or renews CB licenses, and anyone can operate a CB radio station without one.


The FCC dropped the license requirement because it was ineffective and expensive. The commission found that there was no correlation between licensing and compliance with the rules.


CB radios are a two-way, short-distance voice communications service that can be used for personal or business purposes. They can operate on 40 channels between 26.965 MHz and 27.405 MHz, with a maximum output power of 4 watts. The range is typically 1-5 miles.


CB radios can experience interference and lack of privacy because of the limited number of channels. The FCC continues to monitor CB channels and enforce the rules of operation.

I remeber when CB was fucking all the rage... There was so much chatter in town it was useless. Long haul on an interstate and it would keep you informed. Now days the fucking Mexicans have taken it over. I trashed my CB's years ago....Long whip antennas makes for a nice trail flag.
 
Good chance you can self program them with CHIRP and the right cable, radio make/model would be the first thing to look up and see about a cable. If you don't have that, a pic of whatever connection they have for programming would be another start.
I'd be surprised if they can transmit on 120something, not surprised if they can be reprogrammed for 144-157 or wider.
 
SomeGuyFromOlympia said:
what are you going to do?
call an aircraft in ?
there is enough happening on those radios, they don't need another uneducated panicked person messing up the chat

just be prepared to take care of you
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While I agree you should be prepared to take care of yourself, being able to communicate is a pretty essential part of survival.

I see no reason not to be prepared to communicate with aircraft.
 
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Had some ham nazi actually send email, certified letters to and contact the FCC with all my info regarding using a modified ham radio on GRMS and FRS frequencies. The freak was hell bent on literally getting me arrested for this. He followed me around on pirate and a couple of other BB's and tried to have my ham license pulled. Finally had a lawyer friend send cease and desist letter to him and file a restraining order when I found he was local to me. FCC never did a single thing. Never heard from or had a visit from them, as there literally only a handful of enforcement agents for the FCC.

Karma being a bitch, read that his ham tower/shack got destroyed by one of the monsoon storms that rolled this summer
 
mongosd2 said:
Had some ham nazi actually send email, certified letters to and contact the FCC with all my info regarding using a modified ham radio on GRMS and FRS frequencies. The freak was hell bent on literally getting me arrested for this. He followed me around on pirate and a couple of other BB's and tried to have my ham license pulled. Finally had a lawyer friend send cease and desist letter to him and file a restraining order when I found he was local to me. FCC never did a single thing. Never heard from or had a visit from them, as there literally only a handful of enforcement agents for the FCC.

Karma being a bitch, read that his ham tower/shack got destroyed by one of the monsoon storms that rolled this summer
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HAM radio bootlicking autists are the worst!!
 
I was involved in the TRW swapmeet Ham club you wouldn't believe how many of those bastards thought they were unpaid FCC snitches.

Like OMG he has a 1K watt Linear, rat him out!

So you do stand up comedy ?

Wheelerfreak said:
I am a HAM and can't believe how shitty some of them are:shaking:
Click to expand...
 
Mirror is my go to when I have to look down a 6" well. Works better than any flashlight I have. I've been carrying one in my backpack and go bag for decades.



.
 
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