Amelia Earhart HF Radio

[Piloto]

For those interested in early aviation radios here is a good description of what Amelia used in 1937. Not too far from my first ham radios (Hammarlund and Hallicrafters). I built my first CW transmitter out of an old TV set steel chassis. Later got a Collins 32V transmitter. No internet on those days but the ionosphere. Texting was done thru a telegraph key to any one that replied to your CQ call. 

https://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Research/ResearchPapers/ElectraRadios/ElectraRadios.htm

José

KP4DAC

Edited November 2, 2016 by Piloto

[Raptor05121]

Jose, what bands are you on? I just put up a 40/20/15/10m vertical in my back yard. We should chat sometime

KK4EYX

[Piloto]

Just now, Raptor05121 said:

Jose, what bands are you on? I just put up a 40/20/15/10m vertical in my back yard. We should chat sometime

KK4EYX

When airborne on 20 (14.280 KHz) meters and 2 meters (146.52 MHz). At home on 40, 20 and 17 meters but I have to fix my palm tree antenna tuner. I wrapped a wire around a 25ft palm tree with an antenna tuner at the base. I can work from 160m to 10m with this setup. In my county they do not allow visible ham antennas. Will let you know on this thread when I am in the "air"

73 KP4DAC

[N201MKTurbo]

I used to be KB7XE but I let it lapse. 

Wow, I just googled it and it seems it still belongs to me!

http://www.fccbulletin.com/callsign/?q=KB7XE

what are the rules for renewing? Or am I screwed?

Edited November 2, 2016 by N201MKTurbo

[Tony Armour]

N4VFG

Extra class

[Raptor05121]

15 hours ago, Piloto said:

When airborne on 20 (14.280 KHz) meters and 2 meters (146.52 MHz). At home on 40, 20 and 17 meters but I have to fix my palm tree antenna tuner. I wrapped a wire around a 25ft palm tree with an antenna tuner at the base. I can work from 160m to 10m with this setup. In my county they do not allow visible ham antennas. Will let you know on this thread when I am in the "air"

73 KP4DAC

 

What radios do you use while airborne? Portable or do you have them mounted?

[Piloto]

57 minutes ago, Raptor05121 said:

What radios do you use while airborne? Portable or do you have them mounted?

I use an Icom 706 MKIIG with the SGC antenna tuner and a 15ft wire antenna on top of the fuselage. Also a VHF antenna on the belly. Besides ham bands I use it as a COM 3 for aviation and marine frequencies. On HF I have contacted hams in Europe and Shanwick Oceanic from Florida with 59 reports. The 706 is connected to the KMA 24 audio panel so I can use it with my headset and yoke PTT. I found better signal propagation at altitude than on the ground. On 2 meter you have to be cautious on the repeater frequencies since more than half the time you activate multiple repeaters. I mostly use the simplex channels. 

José 

[Raptor05121]

Did you have an A&P install it?

[Piloto]

1 hour ago, Raptor05121 said:

Did you have an A&P install it?

I did it myself. If you are a licensed ham operator you are allowed to install it and operate it yourself. I don't think you will find a qualified A&P on ham HF radios.

Here is how mine is installed:

http://ad4c.us/ICOM HF manuals/706 in Mooney4.pdf

José

 

[MarkC]

Nice installation Jose.

W4ZF here.  I sense there may be a Mooney HF net about to get started...

Mark

 

[tony]

We should start a Mooney net on 40.  Jose can be net control. 

[Raptor05121]

I'm all for it!

 

[Raptor05121]

On 11/2/2016 at 6:15 PM, Piloto said:

I did it myself. If you are a licensed ham operator you are allowed to install it and operate it yourself. I don't think you will find a qualified A&P on ham HF radios.

Here is how mine is installed:

http://ad4c.us/ICOM HF manuals/706 in Mooney4.pdf

José

 

 

So how does installing electrical equipment on an aircraft, regardless of what it is, override an A&P needing to do it?

[NotarPilot]

12 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

So how does installing electrical equipment on an aircraft, regardless of what it is, override an A&P needing to do it?

Asking scary questions may produce scary answers. 

[Piloto]

12 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

12 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

So how does installing electrical equipment on an aircraft, regardless of what it is, override an A&P needing to do it?

So how does installing electrical equipment on an aircraft, regardless of what it is, override an A&P needing to do it?

An A&P is not always required or qualified to install equipment in aircraft. Radar and other more sophisticated equipment is normally installed by an avionics shop, the manufacturer or someone qualified on the equipment with no A&P rating. In fact at Boeing most of the workers building the plane are not A&Ps. 

José

[Andy95W]

1 hour ago, Piloto said:

An A&P is not always required or qualified to install equipment in aircraft. Radar and other more sophisticated equipment is normally installed by an avionics shop, the manufacturer or someone qualified on the equipment with no A&P rating. In fact at Boeing most of the workers building the plane are not A&Ps. 

José

The FAA disagrees with you.

Avionics shops work under a repair station license, manufacturers operate as manufacturers (although many have their own repair station licenses as well.). They have their own internal means of inspecting and certifying their work that the FAA inspects and verifies.

Sorry, José, but you are neither of those.  I'm sure you do nice work, but that doesn't make it "legal".

[Piloto]

9 hours ago, N1395W said:

The FAA disagrees with you.

Avionics shops work under a repair station license, manufacturers operate as manufacturers (although many have their own repair station licenses as well.). They have their own internal means of inspecting and certifying their work that the FAA inspects and verifies.

Sorry, José, but you are neither of those.  I'm sure you do nice work, but that doesn't make it "legal".

I am just a PMA/STC holder.

José

Edited November 5, 2016 by Piloto

[kerry]

I thought you can do any work on a certified aircraft as long as a A&P or IA inspects and signs it off.

[Andy95W]

2 hours ago, Piloto said:

I am just a PMA/STC holder.

José

José, I have a TON of respect for the work you did getting the STC for your long range fuel tanks and everything you had to go through getting all of the FAA approvals.

But unless that STC includes the installation of that HF radio, you still need an A&P signature in your logbook to make the installation legal to the FAA.

I don't care what you, or anybody else, does to their own airplanes so long as you don't ask me to sign off your annual.  But you sound like you are giving official guidance on this site that simply isn't true.

[Andy95W]

1 hour ago, kerry said:

I thought you can do any work on a certified aircraft as long as a A&P or IA inspects and signs it off.

Absolutely!

The FAA inspectors will say that it needs to be done under the supervision of a qualified mechanic, but they do not have a problem with it so long as it is logged properly.

[Piloto]

There are more aeronautical hams than just me:

 http://www.eham.net/articles/10144

Check this out Andy. Get your ham radio license.

José

[Piloto]

Aeronautical Mobile Ham Nets Freqs

HFPACK supports Aeronautical Mobile operators on HF with all Upper Sideband net frequencies.

The Flying Ham Club shares the same calling frequency 14342.5 kHz USB (14342.0) with HFpack.

HFpack has many pilots who operate on the HFpack Frequencies and enjoy contacts with base, mobile, portable, bicycle, and backpack operators.
=====================================================
HFPACK AERONAUTICAL MOBILE CALLING FREQUENCIES - kHz
3791.0 USB
3996.0 USB
7065.0 USB
7185.5 USB (7185.0)
7296.0 USB
10145.5 USB (10145.0)
14342.5 USB (14342.0) PRIMARY
14346.0 USB
18157.5 USB (18157.0) SECONDARY
21437.5 USB (21437.0)
24932.0 USB
28312.5 USB (28312.0)

(Airplane radio HF 1kHz channels)
The most active frequencies are in BOLD.

[BCrystal]

Brian Lloyd, WB6RQN, will be flying Round The World in his Mooney M20K 231 in June-July 2017 for Project Amelia Earhart, 80th Anniversary 1937-2017. The flight traces the historic equatorial route, starting on the same date (June 1st) and ending up at 2017 EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh Wisconsin USA on Monday 24 July.

A Micom 3 HF SSB ALE radio has been installed in the Mooney with a new under-fuselage "belly" HF antenna with ATU. Brian Lloyd designed the system and antenna; he will utilize HF radio for ATC as well as ham radio.

 

Edited March 15, 2017 by BCrystal

[thinwing]

Hey I like the belly antenna...K6Zk

[aviatoreb]

What does a ham talk about on ham radios while flying?  Is it to talk to other airborn hams or is it maybe for better range to land born hams?