On 18 Aug 2006 18:41:54 -0700, wrote:

Hey folks,

I just bought a Luscombe 8A and am launching tomorrow to fly it home.

The problem is the handheld transceiver I'm using to communicate. It
works fine on the ground. But as soon as I get 100-200 feet off the
ground it gets overwhelmed with static, like the squelch is wide open.

It's a Vertex VXA-300 attached to an external antenna.

I' ve tried turning the squelch to max. I haven't checked whether it
occurs on all frequencies because that didn't occur to me until I had
put the plane back in the hangar.

Any ideas what's going on here? All help is appreciated.

Try using the antenna that came with the radio. I know it sounds
counter-intuitive, but it can eliminate one device in the problem.
You might not have the range with the rubber ducky antenna, but it
will be enough to get you home if the external antenna is bad.

I had a similar problem years ago, but with the radio stack in a
Cessna 172. I squawked it and got another plane. The first plane
was back on the line the next day, so the problem couldn't have been
too bad. I didn't think to ask at the time what was wrong.

Ron Kelley