Speaking on this subject, is there a conglomeration of hams that meet
at OSH? What about freqs for the HT?

On Fri, 04 Jul 2003 17:31:17 -0700, Jim Weir wrote:

There was a question the other day about an amateur radio (or any other two-way
radio, for that matter) aboard the airplane. At least for amateur radio (part
97) I got an answer back from an old time FCC person who was in this business
for a whole bunch of years. Names are omitted for reasons of privacy.

Herewith the exchange...my questions, his answers.



97.101(b) says that an amateur station aboard an aircraft must be
"...independent of all other radio equipment...".

I've been having some discussions about this, especially my PERSONAL
discussion because of what I do for a living (manufacture aircraft
electronic devices).

My interpretation of RADIO devices means that I can't run my 2-meter ham rig
audio through a RADIO (transceiver) or use the RADIO audio to modulate the
rig.

That is about the extent of the "separation". It's not a real
problem for most small aircraft where the aircraft (VHF) radio is AM
and the 2 meter rig is FM. Where it becomes a problem is when the
a/c is equipped with a HF rig and it gets tuned to the ham bands.
More than one ham-licensed air transport pilot has done that and
openly bragged that that's what is necessary to relieve the boredom
of flying a large plane over the ocean.

It does NOT preclude me from using my aircraft headset and microphone, even
if that headset and microphone goes through an audio switching device (audio
panel) to switch select between the aircraft RADIO and the ham rig.

That's how I see it as well.

As a matter of fact, it would seem to me dangerous to design a system where
I would have to pull the headset plugs out of the aircraft radio and plug
them in to the ham rig. This, of course, prevents me from monitoring any of
the aircraft radios while using the ham rig. Not good, especially in a
crowded environment where monitoring the aircraft radio is an item of
safety.

Agreed.

I guess the question really is where the aircraft RADIO equipment stops and
the rest of the aircraft systems start. Battery? Audio?

The common sense definition of "the radio" would include the COMM
transceiver(s) and any NAVAID devices. Electrical and audio panels
should be excluded.



Jim



Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com