Ham contacts at high altitude

[dxer2_2000]

HiWith my recent high altitude FM DX from an aircraft, it made me wonder if many Ham operators have tried contacts from 'up on high' using 6m, 2m, 70cm or higher?dxer2_2000

 

[4dude]

Hmmmmmmmm,I would imagine a 500Mile 2m simplex contact @ 30 thousand feet would be quite possible!

 

[JasonW]

Hmmmmmmmm,I would imagine a 500Mile 2m simplex contact @ 30 thousand feet would be quite possible!

The late South Florida radio talk show host Jerry Wichner, who was also a Ham operator and a private pilot, did this quite often using a 2 meter handheld. He said that just keying the microphone above 5,000 feet or so triggered 2 meter repeaters for miles around.One day in the days before cell phones, his plane was struck by lightning and he lost the aircraft radio and his instruments. He took his 2 meter handheld out of his briefcase and called the airport control tower via a repeater telephone autopatch. The Air Traffic Controller almost hung up on him, thinking it was a prank phone call ("How the hell can you be in an AIRPLANE but you're calling me on the PHONE?!"). -- Jason

 

[JasonW]

HiWith my recent high altitude FM DX from an aircraft, it made me wonder if many Ham operators have tried contacts from 'up on high' using 6m, 2m, 70cm or higher?dxer2_2000

Another thought: How about going lower in frequency? There are quite a few air cargo and aviation fuel transport companies (especially here in Alaska) which use DC-3, DC-6, DC-7, and C-46 aircraft that have the old-style (but seldom used) low frequency trailing wire antennas, which were used for long over-water flights. With an antenna tuner, the trailing wire antenna would make an excellent 40 meter, 80 meter, or 160 meter TX/RX/DX antenna. There's no need to worry about lousy RF ground at these low frequencies, as the aircraft itself is the counterpoise for the trailing wire antenna. -- Jason

 

[dougw9wi]

Another thought: How about going lower in frequency? There are quite a few air cargo and aviation fuel transport companies (especially here in Alaska) which use DC-3, DC-6, DC-7, and C-46 aircraft that have the old-style (but seldom used) low frequency trailing wire antennas, which were used for long over-water flights. With an antenna tuner, the trailing wire antenna would make an excellent 40 meter, 80 meter, or 160 meter TX/RX/DX antenna. There's no need to worry about lousy RF ground at these low frequencies, as the aircraft itself is the counterpoise for the trailing wire antenna. -- Jason

I spoke just this afternoon with an aeronautical mobile on 20 meters. He was only about 50 miles away but his previous contact was much better DX. Wasn't able to learn what kind of gear he was using as he hit some turbulence & had to set the radio aside...

 

[JasonW]

Another thought: How about going lower in frequency? There are quite a few air cargo and aviation fuel transport companies (especially here in Alaska) which use DC-3, DC-6, DC-7, and C-46 aircraft that have the old-style (but seldom used) low frequency trailing wire antennas, which were used for long over-water flights. With an antenna tuner, the trailing wire antenna would make an excellent 40 meter, 80 meter, or 160 meter TX/RX/DX antenna. There's no need to worry about lousy RF ground at these low frequencies, as the aircraft itself is the counterpoise for the trailing wire antenna. -- Jason

I spoke just this afternoon with an aeronautical mobile on 20 meters. He was only about 50 miles away but his previous contact was much better DX. Wasn't able to learn what kind of gear he was using as he hit some turbulence & had to set the radio aside...

Hmm...the cabin roof-to-vertical stabilizer wire antennas I've seen on some single-engine Cessnas look about the right length for 20 meters (or reasonably close using an antenna tuner). -- Jason

 

[xdj]

I havent done any HF work from a plane but I started a pileup on 146.52 one morning years ago. I was at about 3800 feet in a cessna 172 around 50 miles north of Mobile, Alabama. I remember working a station in North Mississippi and one in East Georgia and then there were so many stations calling I couldnt understand anything. All this from a 5 watt HT, but its antenna had 3800 feet under it. I tried packet onetime also. Not much luck with it.

 

[JasonW]

I havent done any HF work from a plane but I started a pileup on 146.52 one morning years ago. I was at about 3800 feet in a cessna 172 around 50 miles north of Mobile, Alabama. I remember working a station in North Mississippi and one in East Georgia and then there were so many stations calling I couldnt understand anything. All this from a 5 watt HT, but its antenna had 3800 feet under it. I tried packet onetime also. Not much luck with it.

In a situation like that, you might be able to filter out all but the nearest or strongest stations/repeaters by holding the HT horizontal. The cross-polarization might eliminate unwanted signals from more distant and/or weaker stations.

-- Jason

 

[BigRoxx]

A good friend of mine, and flight deck officer on Air Force II would hop in on 20M when he had free time...worked him mid-Atlantic from NC with 100 watts. His signal was huge---but also only 100w. Must be nice to have the antenna at 33,000'.

73

ROXX