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This was posted to Europg list by a new pilot in UK - I've replied as best I can from a UK perspective - can any US pilots add anything from their experience?
I see you're at Sheffield, by your address - me too! (living, not at the Uni)
Er - well, there is A legal frequency in the UK -approx 118 Mhz in the Airband - (I forget the actual spot freq) - but you'll be badly advised to try and use it - you'll be talking to yourself!
NO one I know of uses airband radios for HG/PG in the UK - they're too expensive, the speech quality is poor (they're AM, not FM), and there is only ONE channel you can use legally. Imagine a crowded day on a busy site - 40+ pilots around - and all trying to use one channel? Chaos.
That's why, for many years, ALL HGPG pilots have used 2 metre equipment.
This equipment is set to operate from 144.00 - 146.00 Mhz, and can be used legally by licenced radio amateurs (although not while flying!).
Pilots 'open up' the frequency range.
(the makers build in a trick 'trapdoor' in software so that this can be done AFTER the set has been legally imported in it's 2M mode - usually, it's a funny combination of key presses - sometimes you have to unsolder a link inside). The set will then work above 146 Mhz and below 144 Mhz.
In the UK, I must stress that it is important NOT to use frequencies above 146 Mhz, or below 143.8 Mhz - there are other services around, such as ambulances, police, etc, and you can spoil their transmissions without knowing that you are doing so.
The frequencies used by HG/PG are in the range 143.800 - 143.975, in 25Khz jumps. The common 'calling frequency' is 143.950. No one else uses these frequencies in the UK.
These 2 metre sets are cheap, reliable, and perform well, with good range, and clear speech. Unfortunately, they are totally illegal!
However, that needn't worry you - there is no record of prosecution of a pilot in the UK. This piece of band is empty of other users, and anyway, there aren't any vans with spinning roofracks at 3 grand in a thermal......
On the other hand, if a PG pilot approaches you with a flashing blue light on his helmet - fly away!
I repeat; NO ONE uses the legal 118 Mhz frequency (go on, someone, surprise me!), and if you buy a legal Airband AM radio, you'll have no one to talk to on it.
So, for use in the UK, 2 Metre it is, or nothing. The gubmint have promised, some time in the future, an allocation in the 137-138Mhz band (which 2M gear will often tune down to, not that they care) - but it depends on Europe (what doesn't, for Gawd's sake?) and will take, no doubt, many years to arrive.
In the US, it's a mixture. Some pilots use 2 Metre also, and I think (but may stand corrected) that it's the most common mode. However, the USHGA have negotiated a frequency or two in the Business Radio band, which is, I believe around 155 Mhz. (Which a 2M set can also be expanded to cover if you're over there.)
However, I have heard US pilots complain that, as these are shared frequencies with other business users, and as a HGPG can pick up signals from many miles away when at height (like 150 miles+), the 'official' USHGA frequencies are unusable in some parts of the US.
Therefore, I suspect that US pilots, like us, use 2 metre gear mostly.
So, if I were to advise you to do anything, it is:
Buy a 2 metre set that can be expanded - and ask the store to do it for you before purchase, otherwise you may be fobbed off with a non- expandable model.
These, like most things, may be cheaper in the US than here. Whether US models can be expanded in the same way as European models, I don't know. Any US readers of the list care to comment?
- Rod Buck - Rod Buck
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