Regarding Eric's comment below, if a glider pilot called on the radio
every time he lost sight of his flying buddy, he'd be drummed out of
the soaring community for over-use of the frequency -- especially in
areas like Minden where there are alot of other gliders. Even in less
crowded areas, if you're at high altitude, your radio signal will
interfere with other gliders over 100 miles away.

While we all agree that "Better some unintentional noise on the
frequency than the noise of a collision," the problem is that there
are literally thousands of times we lose sight of a buddy before a
collision occurs. I think that's what's so deadly about this
situation. It breeds a false sense of safety (aka complacency).

How many of us can truly say that he/she has called on the radio every
time they've lost sight of a friend -- especially when the last time
you saw him, he was half a mile away and headed away from you? But
that sounds like just what happened in Washington.

That's why I think we need to put some energy into several areas:

1. Getting more glider pilots to use the FRS or GMRS band for
air-to-air. Clearly useful for two or more flying buddies, but if
enough of us start to use it, we might be able to settle on a standard
"glider" or "aircraft" frequency, much as we now tryon 123.3 and 123.5
when we see another unknown glider.

2. Alternatively, getting more glider pilots to get their ham licenses
and use the 2 meter band for air-to-air communications. Opens up a lot
of frequencies and 2 meters is close enough to the aircraft band that
you can even use your COM antenna for the ham unit, with a relay to
switch between. (ICOM sells such a device.) Getting your license only
takes several hours of study of the Technician question pool,
accessible at

http://www.remote.arrl.org/arrlvec/pools.html

Make sure you use the current question pool, not an obsolete one or
one that is going into use a few months from now. (They change every
so often, maybe once every few years.) The times and locations for
taking ham exams is listed at

http://www.remote.arrl.org/arrlvec/examsearch.phtml

3. Getting flying buddies to use Rino's for proximity warning. Again,
if enough of us do that, we could settle on a standard frequency and
privacy code so we could pick each other up even when not known before
hand.

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Eric Greenwell wrote in message ...
I suggest you use the radio in this situation. You and your friend are
so close, he'll hear you, even if another glider a few miles away is
transmitting. Better some unintentional noise on the frequency than the
noise of a collision.