HAMming it up at 6,500 ft......

Two weeks ago there was a nation-wide event called "Field Day" which is an event that tests the operating skills and emergency preparedness of amateur radio ("HAMs") operators to perform their skill in a sustained emergency network. Field Day is run like a contest in which operators try to make as many contacts around the country and overseas as possible in a 24-hour period. Various categories are established and different operating environments are encouraged by which the HAM uses emergency power, generators, homemade antennas, and various other kinds of equipment in order to test the maintenance of communications networks in emergencies. Cell phones, land lines, twitter nets, computers and internet can and will fail, hopefully not all at the same time, so the challenge is still there to at least maintain emergency comms through HAM radio operators.

This Field Day was a bit different for a couple of us. My friend, Eric, and I thought it would be fun to try to hook up something totally different this time and see if we could push the envelope a bit. Eric owns a small aircraft and had been toying with the idea of doing something where we could create an air mobile platform and do our emergency HAMming from 6,500 feet. Of course all Eric has do do is mention flying and I'm in, so we talked about the possibilities and "theory" and he came up with a rig that would work. The antenna was going to be the tricky part along with the step-down transformer that would allow us to power up the HF rig (12 volts) from the plane's power system (28 volts). Eventually we/he got everything worked out, got the antenna worked out, and off we went. If you click on the picture of us in front of the plane, you can see the antenna wires which ran from the back of the plane to the tie-down hook on the strut.

We were able to talk to people on both coasts and pretty much everywhere in between. Once he started making contacts and using our identifier as "air mobile" there were lots of people trying to contact us. In fact, we got jammed up a lot of the time because everyone was stepping all over each other trying to get to us.

We made one contact with the Amateur Radio World HQ (ARRL/W1AW) in Newington, CT. and they talked to us for a while. In the background of their station, we could hear one of their guys saying "Air mobile.......How do we log that one in?" Eric said you are the headquarters guys, you figure it out.

We had another HAM, Joe, with us to help with the logging. Eric ran the radio and I flew the plane. What a great way to spend a summer afternoon.

Try not. Do or do not, there is no try. (Yoda)

Hooah