Some time ago I read about a hiker that had fallen on the side of a mountain and was disabled from an injury. He had a cell phone but no signal. So.............he pulled out his aircraft transceiver, got on the emergency frequency of 121.5 mhz and hailed a passing FedEx jet. He gave the pilot his position from his GPS and requested the pilot notifiy the nearest SAR.
Shortly, a helicopter arrived and extracted him from the mountain. Case closed.

I have searched the net and looked at several radios that are affordable. I finally decided that the best bet for our needs would be an ICOM IC-A5 Sport. This radio weighs about a pound and uses AA alkalines. The more expensive version uses a NiCad battery with charger. The IC-A5 Sport covers all the aviation channels AND features all the NOAA weather channels as well. There is one or more channels that you can go to which is used for general chat between planes so once you made contact, you could get off the emergency frequency and talk further with the pilot on this "chat" channel. It would also be wise to have the pilot advise the SAR team what channel on the aircraft radio you will be standing by on. Then you can communicate with your rescuers. The radio puts out five watts and you should be able to hail any commercial plane and most private planes/helicopters within fifty miles or more from your location. I would prefer this radio over the one with the NiCad battery for the simple reason that you have no charger in the wilderness but you can carry spare alkalines although it seems that the use of this radio would be very minimal and it would not be turned on for very long.

If there are any pilots out there, would appreciate it if you would correct anything I have said and give me your thoughts on this method of "getting found".

The radio sells for $219 at this web site. It possibly could be found cheaper by using one of the Internet "best price" search sites. Anybody that finds a cheaper price, please post.

http://www.mypilotstore.com/mypilotstore/sep/2426

The radio weighs about a pound and measures 4 7/32 high, 2 9/32 wide and1 1/8 deep.

Let me have some feedback on this suggestion.

I cannot speak for any of the other SAR/Fire Department/EMS rescuers out there, but I know our radios will not allow us to go to a common “chat” channel that is not already programmed into our radios. Most of our radios have a standard Fire/EMS dispatch channel with additional Fire/EMS/Tactical channels for operations and a few mutual aid channels for communication with nearby jurisdictions.

Pete

Hi Pete,
Either you misunderstood what I meant or I didn't make it clear.
What I meant was after contacting the plane on 121.5, then switch to another aircraft channel that is used for general chat between pilots and conclude your business with the pilot on that channel. And then I said to advise the pilot what frequency (aircraft) you would be standing by on so you could talk with the rescue chopper. These frequencys are on the AM band and your frequencys are on the FM band.
Does that clear things up?

Thanks for your input.

Pete,

Here is a listing of most commonly used aircraft frequencys.

http://www.fly-ul.com/navfreq.html

It looks like 122.75 is used for general communication between fixed wing planes and 123.025 for general communication between helicopters.

It should be noted that anyone using one of these Icom radios would have to have an FCC license (no big deal to get). It should also be remembered that this radio should be used ONLY FOR EMERGENCYS. It is not a CB radio nor an FRS or GMRS radio for general blabbing. Use it only for real emergencys and keep your transmissions to a minimum. NEVER hail an aircraft just to see if you can.

There is nothing illegal about MONITORING these channels in a non emergency situation if you are bored and have nothing else to do while you are sitting around playing with your other survival toys.

Military channels are a whole new ballgame but I suspect they monitor 121.5.

Still looking for input from people more knowledgable than me. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

It's my understanding, that in an "emergency" (ie survival) situation, no FCC license would be required to use the radio. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.

In an emergency you are not required to have a license to use HAM frequencies...I am fairly confident this would apply to the aircraft frequencies also, but I cannot say for certain how the rules apply for frequencies outside of the HAM bands.

5 watts with the supplied antenna is not going to give anywhere near 50 miles of general coverage. A much better antenna AND a very good location would be required for that sort of coverage. 5 watts on the side of a mountain to an aircraft overhead is reasonable though.

All aircraft communications is done with VHF-AM signals. Miltary aircaft run on UHF-AM with their emergency frequencey of 243 Mhz. SARSAT is monitoring 121.5 as do many comercial aircraft. Light aircraft do not normaly monitor 121.5 but may be found on a local unicom frequencey. Most VOR's and towers monitor 121.5. If your are involved in an emergency 123.1 is set aside for SAR communications. If a ground SAR team is comming for you and they have DF equipment they will be able to hear you but will not be able to talk to you.

I remember seeing an article a couple of years back about a group of mountain climbers on Mt. Hood who carried VHF radios and had the state SAR frequency programmed in. Trouble showed up and they used their radio to reach the sheriff's office and to get rescued. After the rescue there was some complaining on the part of the sheriff's office about how the group had a VHF radio and used a state frequency they weren't licensed on. What they didn't realize is the climbers were fully justified to use the frequency. It's not illegal to own any sort of receiver or transmitter, as long as you only transmit on the frequencies you're licensed on (unless in an emergency). This is in the CFR radio section somewhere, I remember seeing a copy of it. The bottom line is they got rescued and lived to tell of their tale, versus being just another statistic.

While the air band radio isn't a bad idea for catching the attention of a passing plane overhead and getting rescued, you'd probably have better luck and usefulness with a ham radio.

I'm a licensed ham and on backcountry forays I usually carry my radio and monitor the nationwide calling frequency of 146.520 MHz. The ham radio would enable me to reach people in areas without cell phone reception. It also comes in pretty handy for non-emergencies, too (if you car was stuck at the trailhead, for example). You'll also get much better coverage going through ham repeaters on nearby mountaintops than on a simplex 121.500 MHz AM channel on the aircraft band.

Many 9-1-1 dispatch centers are also staffed by people who are ham radio operators for a hobby, and in many cases there is a ham radio in the 9-1-1 center for emergency use. There is NOT likely to be an AM aircraft radio transmitter. Also, most SAR teams probably have a few ham radio operators and will likely be listening.

The short answer to your question is no matter what radio you get (ham, aircraft, etc), don't just depend on the rechargeable battery that comes with it. You can usually purchase a higher capacity battery. I'd also recommend getting a "AA" battery adapter for the radio. Fill it with fresh batteries and you have a backup battery if you need it. Don't depend on just one battery.

My advice: get your basic "technician" ham license (no morse code, and only takes a 2 day class), buy a ham radio, buy a repeater guidebook (lists ham radios by area), and carry a backup battery. If you really enjoy it you can always join a local ham radio club.

Check out the ARRL at: www.arrl.org

If you want to check out prices of ham radios, there are a lot of distributors nationwide, but two of the biggest are:

Ham Radio Outlet www.hamradio.com
AES www.aesham.com

For around $150 you can get a good 2M handheld ham radio with a AA battery pack.

Good luck!

Yes.

I was only responding from a ground team perspective that does not have the ability to change to a general aviation “chat” channel to communicate or listen to the individual in trouble.

For example, if I want to talk with a Maryland State Police helicopter, they will go to the tactical channel we working on. They can program or change to any aviation channel necessary, but our radios cannot.

Pete

I guess that is a good idea, providing we are not subjected to an EMP attack and nothing is flying and no electronics that are not hardened against such an attack are working. I don't think most people are going to invest in such an item in my opinion.

Thanks for your response as well as Ward, Pete, Schwert and blkjeep. We are getting some knowledgable responses from people in the know. I don't know that much about ham radio. That might be the way to go. I was just going on the info I heard that at any given time, there are about 60,000 flights in progress over the United States. That sounds excessive to me but that's what I heard on TV news. If true, there is an unlimited number of "good samaritans" buzzing back and forth over you all the time.

Keep the responses coming and hopefully we will come to a consensus of the way to go. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Joe

The first tool is always a stout knife, then often fire making, then protection from the elements ( poncho, etc.) or water/ water gathering...

A radio is an execllent idea, but $219 buys a lot of prevention...add the radio after you've packed your kit and taken some time to train.

TRO

I agree, a good knife, a way to make fire and hydration of course

Even better than a good knife, good boots.

And better than good boot? A good brain. Books hold up better than computers, but if you loose your mind... well, you're pooched anyways.

Cedfire, which HAM radio do you carry and which do you recommend? I have considered the Yaesu VX-2R.

Actually right now I am temporarily "radioless". I had an Icom V-8 2M handheld. Worked really great but it had an internal interference issue on some ham frequencies. I'm considering a Yaesu VX-150 which is built on Vertex's (Yaesu's commercial name) tough radio chassis. The V-8 was also built on a commercial chassis, but it's Icom's.

The Yaesu VX-2 is a neat little radio but not much use in the field, in my opinion. It has a lot of bells and whistles and doesn't put out much transmit power (I think it's a max 1 watt, if that). There is no "AA" battery pack option. I used to have a Yaesu VX-1 (the precursor to the VX-2) and it required waaay too much opening of the manual.

If you're going to be in a rural area or out in the sticks, a 2M (aka 144 MHz VHF band) is a good bet. The 70cm (440 MHz UHF band) radios aren't bad, but if you're going to go that route I'd buy a "dual band" radio (2M and 70cm). That plain ol' VHF will, all other things being equal, reach farther than a UHF signal. VHF also, again all other things being equal, performs better in mountainous areas and in trees.

If you are interested, check out www.eham.net for user reviews of various radios.

I agree with the other members of the forum -- a radio is nice but it shouldn't come before the basic survival gear. It has the effect of a cell phone, temporarily luring you into doing what you probably shouldn't be doing in the backcountry.

Besides, money aside, I'd rather carry a PLB over a radio any day. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

As a pilot, I always have a handheld aviation tranceiver in my flight bag, to talk to ATC in case the airplane radio goes belly up (30 year old airplanes tend to have 30 year old radios in them). It occurs to me that I might want something more capable for emergency use. I've seen these multi-band tranceivers, but it looks like they only transmit on some of the bands. Is Aviation one of the bands they transmit on? That might be a lot more useful- if I can't raise someone on 121.5 or an ATC freq I know, HAM might be the next try.

The specs on the Icom IC-A5 Sport states that it will transmit and receive on all 760 channels from 118.000 kHz to 136.975 kHz in 25 kHz tuning steps. It is strictly an aviation radio only. As I said earlier, the price is $219.00. Output is five watts. The link to the radio is on my original post if you want to take a look at it. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

That is correct according to my past research on HAM licensing

Someone always answers "you brain" to these questions so I will skip that one and go right to tool number two which for me is the knife.

Having worked in the radio industry for some time, I would suggest foregoing the conventional transeiver and getting a PLB, or perhaps even an EPIRB. They don't cost that much more, and are dedicated to your rescue. It may be that you are unable to communicate using a conventional radio. The idea of quick, easy, one or two step deployment makes these devices far superior, and since you are not intending to use the radio except in an emergency anyways, might as well make it a truly dedicated unit. As we all know from reading the reviews here, these devices still have a ways to go, but I would still rather have a device that operates as part of a dedicated system, rather than have to wait for an aircraft to get near enough to reach over the two way.

Yep, knife and fire are still top dogs, and fairly foolproof in trained hands.

Unfortunately, here in Baghdad, no communications system is reliable, as the Army jams all usable frequencies often. If you want to be rescued here, you might have a better response shooting at the aircraft, although sometimes this has undesirable effects from a survival perspective. Still, it will get the attention of the right people.

Up here in Alaska we (Alaska Air National Guard) monitor 121.5 and 243.0 from all the FAA and military RADAR and Communications sites in the state. Small aircraft are used to supply the numerous villages and small settlements with goods and mail on a daily basis year around weather permitting. The right radio could really be a life saver in this environment. I am going to do some radio research using what I have read in these postings. It seems like a good investment in safety.

The thing to remember though is that a plane is 10,000 +/- ft in the air (and point to point may be a couple miles more/less) but there is usually nothing between you and the plane to cause interference. That same distance on the ground has a lot of interference possibilities.

As cedfire said, you can use any radio frequency to call for help in an emergency. Specifically written for ham radio but it is good for all:

“CFR Title 47 Sec. 97.403 Safety of life and protection of property.

No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station of any means of radio communication at its disposal to provide essential communication needs in connection with the immediate safety of human life and immediate protection of property when normal communication systems are not available.”

CFR title 47 has the rules for the FCC.

You can purchase ham radios that can receive AM aircraft band and allow transmission on ham bands. Most radios have the capability of being “opened up” to transmit on any frequency that it can receive. I do not condone this but I know that radios made for hams also will work, when modified, for other services like the Military Affiliate Radio Service (MARS). They use frequencies outside of the ham bands.


Getting your ham license is fairly easy and most clubs have classes that allow you to get your license in 2 days. Having a ham license opens up a lot more possibilities. A PLB only gives 1 (albeit good) level of communication. A minor problem that could develop into an emergency could be handled through ham radio before is becomes life threatening.

97.403 not withstanding (and yes I'm a ham) RE using ANY radio my anyone in a LIFE or DEATH situation, I'll use the old gun owners quote

"It's better to be tried by 12, than carried by 6"

aka - I'm going to do what it takes to survive, and worry about the law LATER

I should just like to point out that what you say is almost, but not quite true...

You CAN get a radio that will run on AA batteries, but you will likely get around 1W, if you are lucky. Many HTs feature 5W of transmit power, but those ALL have some sort of rechargable. The down side of this is that rechargable batteries self-discharge over time, so they are far from maintenance-free. If somebody knows of an HT that will pump out 5W an AA batteries, I would love to hear about it.

I carry a Kenwood TH-F6a, and I love it. It does everything. But it is expensive (over $300) and has to be recharged.

PLBs will be great one day. Like all new technologies they still have a way's to go before they are truely reliable, but I have no doubt they will be eventually. I am really looking forward to the days of a truely reliable PLB about the size of a Zippo lighter. I will certainly own one once we get the technology to that point.

Kevin, go to my original post and click on the link to Icom. The radio I mentioned is available with AA alkaline capability or, for a little more money, rechargable battery. If I didn't misread the specs, it says that it will put out five watts of power.

Speaking of power there was one or more posts that questioned the range of the radio. Perhaps fifty miles was an over estimate but you must remember that a commercial airliner directly overhead is between five and six miles from you. Further out and still visible the plane could be ten to fifteen miles from you. It just seems to me that in an instance such as that, as you are dealing with line of sight and no obstructions between you and the plane, that it would easily contact the plane. I could be wrong and if so, defer to those that know more than I do. I know in the past that I have talked over twenty miles ground to ground on a five watt police hand held so I didn't feel that fifty miles line of sight was unreasonable for the Icom mentioned. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Hi Harrkev,
Sorry if this is a little off post, but can you "open up" with a mod the Kenwood FT6a to transmit on aircraft and SAR frequencies?? I have been looking at this little radio for some time and wanted to be sure it would do that before investing a lot of money on it. Thanks, KG7IW

Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with you. If it is between life or law I will choose life by any means possible! I was just trying to help w/ the law question with my limited knowledge (very limited <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> )

As to batteries, it is always good to carry a spare (or 2) with you. Most radios do have an optional AA pack. You can always make one to use the external power connector on almost every HT.
BTW - I carry an Alinco dj-596 dual band w 2 battery packs

I think I've found a radio solution for you:

VXA-700

It's a handheld made by Vertex/Standard (Yaesu) that allows for both airband AND ham radio transmitting in one unit.

You'd be able to contact the planes overhead as well as the searchers on the ground.

Nice. That replaces the ICOM AC-23 on my christmas wish list.

This excerpt from the Toronto Sun was emailed to me in Jan. of this year. If their estimates are correct, we could all be wearing our equipment chargers on our collars in 5 years.

SUN-POWERED MATERIAL COMES OUT OF U OF TORONTO

Tara Brautigam
Canadian Press

Researchers at the University of Toronto have invented an infrared-sensitive material that's five times more efficient at turning the sun's power into electrical energy than current methods.

The discovery could lead to shirts and sweaters capable of recharging our cellphones and other wireless devices, said Ted Sargent, professor of lectrical and computer engineering at the university.

Sargent and other researchers combined specially-designed minute particles called quantum dots, three to four anometres across, with a polymer to make a plastic that can detect energy in the infrared.

Infrared light is not visible to the naked eye but it is what most remote controls emit, in small amounts, to control devices such as TVs and DVD players.

It also contains a huge untapped resource. Despite the surge in popularity of solar cells in the 1990s, we still miss half of the sun's power, Sargent said. "In fact, there's enough power from the sun hitting the Earth every day to supply all the world's needs for energy 10,000 times over," Sargent said in a phone interview today from Boston, where he is currently a visiting professor of nanotechnology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Sargent said the new plastic composite is, in layman's terms, a layer of film that "catches" solar energy. He said the film can be applied to any device, much like paint is coated on a wall.

"We've done the same thing, but not with something that just sit there on the wall the way paint does," said the Ottawa native.

"We've done it to make a device which actually harnesses the power in the room in the infrared."

The film can convert up to 30 per cent of the sun's power into usable, electrical energy. Today's best plastic solar cells capture only about six per cent.

Sargent said the advance would not only wipe away that inefficiency, but also resolve the hassle of recharging our countless gadgets and pave the way to a true wireless world.

"We now have our cellphones and our BlackBerries and we're walking around without the need to plug in, in order to get our data," he said. "But we seem trapped at the moment in needing to plug in to get our power. That's because we charge these things up electrically, from the outlet. But there's actually huge amounts of power all around us coming
from the sun."

The film has the ability to be sprayed or woven into shirts so that our cuffs or collars could recharge our IPods, Sargent said.

While that may sound like a Star Trek dream, venture capitalists are keen on Sargent's invention. Josh Wolfe, managing partner at Lux Capital, a New York City-based venture capital firm, said while such a luxury may be five years away, the technology knows no bounds.

"When you have a material advance which literally materially changes the way that energy is absorbed and transmitted to our devices ... somebody out there tinkering away in a bedroom or in a government lab is going to come up with a great idea for a new device that will shock us all," he said in a phone interview.

"When the Internet was created nobody envisioned that the killer app (application) would be e-mail or instant messaging."

Sargent's work was published in the online edition of Nature Materials today and will appear in its February issue.

Cedfire, I got really excited about your find on the VXA-700. I spent about two hours on the internet researching it and finding the cheapest price ($379 w/free ship). I was about ready to order it when I read some reviews which didn't say much for the radio. It apparently has too much crammed into too little space. Aircraft, ham, full FM broadcast band, NOAA weather, etc. As one reviewer said, if you want all this, better to buy THREE radios. I agree. See reviews:

http://www.avshop.com/prodinfo.asp?number=5135

At any rate, I appreciate your efforts in finding this radio. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Benton, in case you missed my recent post on this radio, read the sad reviews on it before you spend your money:

http://www.avshop.com/prodinfo.asp?number=5135

I was ready to order until I read these. Now, I don't think so. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Thanks, I was going to ask about the audio quality of it. Back when I bought my A22, there were 3 different aviation handhelds available- the Icom, Sporty's, and Yaesu. Icom's audio quality was far superior. In the pilot shop at St. Paul Airport, the other two could barely pick up ATIS on the same airport, while Icom's sounded loud and clear.

Dang, I really liked that it has a lithium battery, and is the lightest one out there. Maybe I should think about the aviation only version.

From my experience, there is no better radio made than Icom. It is the ultimate in quality although pricey. I agree on the lithium battery. That is the only way to go. I use lithium AA's in my iFinder Hunt Lowrance GPS and they last for MONTHS.
They cost about two bucks each but they are worth it. Getting where you can't get them at Wally World without undergoing a security check due to the meth cooks. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Know of any decent multi-band Icom's? Something that transmits on aviation and as many bands as it can, and also receives more bands?

Naturally, light weight is important, as well as rechargable batteries that last a long time and don't self discharge. And high transmit power. Oh- and it should induce peace and harmony amongst all who live in the middle east.

I'm not familiar with aircraft jargon. You should be able to find something here:

http://www.icomamerica.com/avionics/

Maybe this won't offend the middle easterners! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I'm aware of those, in fact the A23 is on my wish list.

I'm hoping that somewhere there is something that does a lot of other bands in addition to aviation. Transmitting on frequencies we're allowed to, such as HAM, family band, CB, etc, and receiving on others, such as weather, AM, FM, short wave, and police, so I only have to carry one radio. I know it's contradictory to get good quality and also a lot of frequencies in one unit, and especially one antenna, about as likely as peace in the middle east. But I can hope can't I?

BTW, COM is just COMmunications on 118-132 mhz, VOR is VHF Omni-Range on 101-117 mhz, a radio beacon used for airways since the late 50's. Pretty sucky compared to GPS, but still useful as a backup.

Nice ... now all we need are sunny days and nothing between our collars and the sun. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

How soon before I can get a sail made out of this stuff to run my GPS, autopilot, and watermaker??? Atlantic/Carribean, here I come!!! Adios, rising crime/drug rate. Go ahead and implode PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER., I'll be headed over the horizon.

Troy

P.S. Seriously though, wouldn't that be neat.... the power source, that is.

hey now there's a good plan! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Yes, you can open up the frequencies a *little* bit -- but this will let you cover FRM/GMRS, and possibly *some* police and public utility. The thing transmits FM only, so no aircraft band -- aircraft is AM only.


For this type of info, check out www.mods.dk. They have mods for every known amateur radio and scanner.

Yaesu makes a radio that is a combination air band transmitter, and a dual-band HT. And it is also waterproof. But you still have to keep it charged.