Using radio to contact persons on ground while flying?

"steve" wrote in message
. ..
Hi Everyone,

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I purchased a backup handheld
radio
for cross country flights, etc. and was wondering if it is permitted to
use
it so I can contact my family while flying over the local area.

I would use a frequency not used locally for any other purposes.

Your thoughts?


There are no airband frequencies used for contact for other than official
communications. The only exception is for people that hold special
liscenses for research and development.

One problem is, that while you are airborne, your signal will carry for
many, many miles, so you can not predict what is an unused frequency.

I would suggest that you use a small family band radio, like they sell at
WallMart, or where ever. While they are probably not technically allowed to
be used in the air, there is little chance anyone will put up a fuss.
--
Jim in NC

Good advice from Morgans. One problem you are going to have is that the
ground station is going to have a hell of a time understanding what you are
saying due to the cabin noise. One way to overcome this is to get your
"ham" or amateur radio license, which gives you the right to "diddle" with
your radio to get the noise-cancelling aircraft headset microphone to
modulate the radio.

Jim



"Morgans" wrote in message
...

I would suggest that you use a small family band radio, like they sell at
WallMart, or where ever. While they are probably not technically allowed
to
be used in the air, there is little chance anyone will put up a fuss.
--
Jim in NC

One problem you are going to have is that the
ground station is going to have a hell of a time understanding what you are
saying due to the cabin noise.

Actually I have used an FRS radio quite successfully air to ground.
It's great line of sight and works quite well. You don't have fifty
mile range, but for short distances it's worth a go.

Jose
--
The monkey turns the crank and thinks he's making the music.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Jose wrote:

One problem you are going to have is that the ground station is going
to have a hell of a time understanding what you are saying due to the
cabin noise.


Actually I have used an FRS radio quite successfully air to ground. It's
great line of sight and works quite well. You don't have fifty mile
range, but for short distances it's worth a go.


I have seen some with external mic and antenna connections.

well you could always tune to 123.45. But i would be carefull and
always take pilot lang.

wrote in message
ps.com...
well you could always tune to 123.45. But i would be carefull and
always take pilot lang.

That is the assigned freq for my facility so don't be using it around here!
We already listen to nonstop crap on it all day from the airliners flying
over.

That's also the frequency for my facility and we have sued (and won) where
engineering time, aircraft time, and technician time were trashed by some
yoyo yakking to wingman charlie about the restaurant they were headed to.

123.4 and 123.45 are assigned to aviation manufacturers strictly for testing
aircraft and aircraft components.

Jim



"Allen" wrote in message
.com...

That is the assigned freq for my facility so don't be using it around
here! We already listen to nonstop crap on it all day from the airliners
flying over.

Use of any frequency within the band ascribed for aviation use for
other than aviation purposes is a violation of federal law. The US
Marshals may be knocking on your front door.
If you would like to contact your friends on the ground use a fequency
set aside for that purpose.

The fed has a site showing all feqs and their legal use.

RST Engineering wrote:
Good advice from Morgans. One problem you are going to have is that the
ground station is going to have a hell of a time understanding what you are
saying due to the cabin noise. One way to overcome this is to get your
"ham" or amateur radio license, which gives you the right to "diddle" with
your radio to get the noise-cancelling aircraft headset microphone to
modulate the radio.

All of my handheld FRS radios (Kenwood & Motorola) have external mic &
speaker connections. If my headset mic didn't modulate the radio
properly, an FRS handheld mic could be used, and the audio could be
patched into an aux input of the headset or an aftermarket cell phone
adaptor.

No license required.