Stuck Mike

Coming back from Pella (near Des Moines) today we over-flew a poor sap who
was apparently sitting on his microphone. Worse, he had the incredible
misfortune of being the last person in a flight of three to land, and while
they landed ahead of him he gave a long, critical, and quite profane running
review of his "friend's" landings to his co-pilot -- and also, unknowingly,
live on the air, to every pilot in the Midwest.

After he landed, we could hear the guy shut down, and someone yelling at
him. Then the mike went dead. It was quite hilarious.

Aside from the obvious lessons to be learned from this (like, always be
careful what you say, in case you're transmitting!), we just could NOT
believe the number of pilots who tried to call the guy with the stuck mike!
For some strange reason, half a dozen folks, both on the ground and in the
air, somehow believed that a radio that is transmitting could also receive
at the same time, so they were broadcasting stupid stuff like "AIRCRAFT WITH
THE STUCK MIKE, PLEASE CHECK YOUR MICROPHONE..."

Obviously (or so I thought) anyone with a basic knowledge of how a 2-way
radio works knows that the receiver is necessarily cut off during
transmissions -- but apparently there are a fair number of people who don't
have a firm grasp on this concept.

This isn't the first time I've heard this type of thing. Back in the 70s,
during the CB radio craze, it was pretty common, and I've heard this happen
once or twice while flying -- but it never fails to amaze me.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:jPFcd.410304$Fg5.66323@attbi_s53...
Coming back from Pella (near Des Moines) today we over-flew a poor sap who
was apparently sitting on his microphone. Worse, he had the incredible
misfortune of being the last person in a flight of three to land, and
while
they landed ahead of him he gave a long, critical, and quite profane
running
review of his "friend's" landings to his co-pilot -- and also,
unknowingly,
live on the air, to every pilot in the Midwest.

After he landed, we could hear the guy shut down, and someone yelling at
him. Then the mike went dead. It was quite hilarious.

Aside from the obvious lessons to be learned from this (like, always be
careful what you say, in case you're transmitting!), we just could NOT
believe the number of pilots who tried to call the guy with the stuck
mike!
For some strange reason, half a dozen folks, both on the ground and in the
air, somehow believed that a radio that is transmitting could also receive
at the same time, so they were broadcasting stupid stuff like "AIRCRAFT
WITH
THE STUCK MIKE, PLEASE CHECK YOUR MICROPHONE..."

Obviously (or so I thought) anyone with a basic knowledge of how a 2-way
radio works knows that the receiver is necessarily cut off during
transmissions -- but apparently there are a fair number of people who
don't
have a firm grasp on this concept.


At work, we carry radios to communicate with each other.

Half of those goofballs do the same thing. "Hey Don... You mic is stuck!"
Like he can hear them! haha

The best one so far was when my boss was taking... well... a number two. I
guess that his radio had hit the ground or his boot or something, but
anyways, you could hear all of the sounds associated with a number two as
well as him carrying on a conversation while he was sitting on the toilet!
What a putz!


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There are times when transmitting "you got a stuck mic" works, as
odd as it may seem. if I'm near the airport, I have both radios
tuned to the same freq while in the pattern - why? Because it's
habit. Before I replaced both radios, I had problems with
reception. Depending on the distance and location within the
10 m radius, I might have one of the radios cut out on me. So
having another available saved me the time of changing freqs when
close by.

Now that I've got 1 new radio and 1 "kinda new" (refurb) I can
have 1 live and 2 additional freqs monitored. Lots of
information when you live under Class B, and within 5 nm of both
the USAF base *and* the class B airport is really important.

There are times when transmitting "you got a stuck mic" works, as
odd as it may seem. if I'm near the airport, I have both radios
tuned to the same freq while in the pattern


I'd be surprised it would work in this case because your stuck transmitter
would way overpower any other received signals. All you'd probably hear
would be beat tones at best.

There are times when transmitting "you got a stuck mic" works, as
odd as it may seem. if I'm near the airport, I have both radios
tuned to the same freq

Wouldn't you be blasting the receiving radio with overwhelming power from
the transmitting radio?

It seems like this would eliminate any chance of you hearing anyone else, in
the case of a stuck mike.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Worse, he had the incredible
misfortune of being the last person in a flight of three to land, and
while
they landed ahead of him he gave a long, critical, and quite profane
running
review of his "friend's" landings to his co-pilot -- and also,
unknowingly,
live on the air, to every pilot in the Midwest.

OMG! Busted.

--
Ben
C-172 - N13258 @ 87Y

My brother, a former clergyman, tells the story of the guest preacher who
was fitted with a wireless mic before the service, but who was taken short
just before he was due to preach and slipped out to have an emergency bowel
movement. He completely forgot about the microphone, but when he slipped
back into the sanctuary just in time to take the pulpit, he realized his
mistake. The entire congregation was shaking and red faced, desperately
trying to keep from laughing, having listened to the whole performance. My
brother swears that this is true and happened to a friend of his, but of
course the same story appeared later in one of the Naked Gun movies. I
doubt that it's true, but it makes a good story.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to love
America

"Chuck" wrote in message
m...

The best one so far was when my boss was taking... well... a number two. I
guess that his radio had hit the ground or his boot or something, but
anyways, you could hear all of the sounds associated with a number two as
well as him carrying on a conversation while he was sitting on the toilet!
What a putz!

I wonder why no aircraft manufacturers or mod manufacturers have come up
with a nice, big, XMIT light mounted dead center on the panel.

It should be very cheap to do on a new aircraft, inexpensive when done in
connection with other radio installs, and not worth it as a stand-alone mod.

And it would also provide a helpful visual cue for the folks who can't seem
to manage to hit the PTT until they are halfway through their message!




"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:jPFcd.410304$Fg5.66323@attbi_s53...
Coming back from Pella (near Des Moines) today we over-flew a poor sap who
was apparently sitting on his microphone. Worse, he had the incredible
misfortune of being the last person in a flight of three to land, and
while
they landed ahead of him he gave a long, critical, and quite profane
running
review of his "friend's" landings to his co-pilot -- and also,
unknowingly,
live on the air, to every pilot in the Midwest.

After he landed, we could hear the guy shut down, and someone yelling at
him. Then the mike went dead. It was quite hilarious.

Aside from the obvious lessons to be learned from this (like, always be
careful what you say, in case you're transmitting!), we just could NOT
believe the number of pilots who tried to call the guy with the stuck
mike!
For some strange reason, half a dozen folks, both on the ground and in the
air, somehow believed that a radio that is transmitting could also receive
at the same time, so they were broadcasting stupid stuff like "AIRCRAFT
WITH
THE STUCK MIKE, PLEASE CHECK YOUR MICROPHONE..."

Obviously (or so I thought) anyone with a basic knowledge of how a 2-way
radio works knows that the receiver is necessarily cut off during
transmissions -- but apparently there are a fair number of people who
don't
have a firm grasp on this concept.

This isn't the first time I've heard this type of thing. Back in the 70s,
during the CB radio craze, it was pretty common, and I've heard this
happen
once or twice while flying -- but it never fails to amaze me.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I wonder why no aircraft manufacturers or mod manufacturers have come up
with a nice, big, XMIT light mounted dead center on the panel.

Our year-old Narco 810+R (a digital flip-flop slide-in replacement for the
venerable Narco 120 com radios) has exactly that.

I routinely check to see if I'm transmitting when I've pushed the PTT.

Now, of course, I'm going to be checking it all the time! :-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

OMG! Busted.

I don't think so, Ben. The guys we heard seemed to be landing at or near
Grinnell, Iowa.

But, if you wish to confess, they say it's good for the soul...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"