KD0JKM Amateur Radio Blog

2013-05-25

Aeronautical mobile on A340-600 ?

Just boarded the LH428 flight from MUC to CLT, an Airbus A340-600. I inquired with the stewardesses who asked the Pilot if I could possibly operate / aeronautical mobile. Regrettably it seems that Airbus airplanes cannot switch the Pilot's radio to one of the cabin phones, so no on board operation possible. The pilot did however inform that this was technically possible on Boeing Aircraft!

2013-05-14

Unable to operate /aeronautical mobile on 767-300

I am on flight UA906 from ORD to MUC in a Boeing 767-300 and inquired with the cockpit crew if there was a possibility for me to operate /aeronautical mobile.

I had read about operating /aeronautical mobile on various blogs, but reports were for the most part not with a current date.

Both the pilot as well as co-pilot were very receptive to the idea, and informed that I could very well listen in to one of the cockpit radios from one of the cabin phones as they had the technical capability to do this, but informed me that they had no technical possibility of switching transmit control from the cockpit of a 767-300 to one of the cabin phones.
They did however encourage me to inquire with the cockpit crews of other airplane makes and models, as these may indeed have such technical capabilities.

I would appreciate feedback if any HAM were to identify such an airplane make & model.

DO/KD0JKM

I planned to take and pass the Extra Class exam before leaving on vacation, but unfortunately misread the testing schedule in the greater Little Rock area and thus was unable to upgrade. I will thus operate DO/KD0JKM on 145.500 FM and APRS on 144.800.

2013-04-30

N4KGL QRP: Down to Earth Antenna

N4KGL QRP: Down to Earth Antenna: I had seen a post on Markus KD0JKM's Blog about a grasswire antenna. So why not give it a try. I had some left over ribbon cable to mak...

If you are into Loop Antennas, please also look at the article by VK5ABN, which you can find here:
http://hamradio.ping.net.au/downloads/vk5abn_ale_antenna.pdf
or here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/88487109/Vk5abn-Ale-Antenna

73 de KD0JKM

2013-04-26

iron fence antenna

So today I thought I'd give a fence antenna a try... Went down to the apartment complex pool - no one around - rolled out my 80m wire, just layed it along the iron fence and clipped the end to the fence, no counterpoise (since I had forgotten to bring one along), tuned up and got an SWR 2.3:1. And what did I hear? N3QL as Netcontrol for the Razorback Net coming in loud and clear :) Usually don't hear him that well with lots of static via the rainpipe antenna solution. But the fence antenna - MUCH better S/N. Also the rest of the check-ins came through mostly loud and clear tonight - best check-in session I've had until now. Seemed as if my signal was not any different to normally, I checked with N2QL, but it sure made a difference for me.
Thus - if you have no place to lay or hang an antenna - think about what else might work and give your tuner a try. All in keeping with the RaDAR spirit.
All usual precautions apply - as always - for yourself and everyone else. Safety is never to be compromised, don't give anyone an RF burn or worse!

73.