Hand held Radio
 

I'm at the stage of my training where I'll be spending less time in the circuit and more time away from my home base.
I'm considering investing in a hand held radio as a back up, Particularly as my home airport is in a control zone that requires permission to enter.
I have a few questions,

1) how common are comms failures? I mean actual failures not just the muppet on board has dialed the volume down ( yes I've done it!), given that I have two radios on board, should a backup hand held be a priority?

2) If I do get one, what features am I looking for. I've browsed a bit online and all I can see difference-wise is that some are more expensive than others. What are the must haves? Nice to haves? avoid at all costs?

Appreciate any thoughts

Good morning!

That entirely depends on the aircraft you are flying and it's maintenance. And how much redundancy is built into it (dual radios, dual alternator, ...). I have had two radio failures in about 3000 hours on light types, both were caused by total loss of electrical power.

Transmit and receive I would say. :) The cheapest (certified) unit will do the job. A long battery shelf life is nice to have, so you do not need to think about charging the unit too often. All the other gimmicks (e.g. VOR receiver) have long been obsoleted by our GPS equipped smartphones or tablets.

Personally, for flying light types at low altitudes (say below 5000ft AGL) I do not carry my handheld radio any more. The cellphone is good enough for calling the control tower, just make sure the numbers of frequently visited airports and airfields are stored.

Don't forget the impending requirement for 8.33 band spacing. Buy a new radio without that facility and it'll shortly be "unusable" :mad:

Will 8.33 apply in Canada? OP is in Toronto.
I've had an Icom for over 22 years as back-up. All my radio failures were in the same aircraft, (which I part-owned) - except for one after maintenance. If renting, you can probably rely on the equipment. I've known of someone (USA) contacting the tower with a mobile phone after an electrical failure.

Go with the icom handheld. They now do a 8.33 version. Also if it is your own plane consider getting an extra com antenna fitted with a cable to a Bnc plug put into the panel or sidewall. You can then connect a handheld to this. This will improve transmission and reception from a hand held which only has a transmit power of 5 watts compared to the 15-25 of most built in radios.

I've had an Icom for many years, it came with a headset adapter and works. Used it twice following total electrics failure, which is more probable than a comms failure. It's also useful for picking up ATIS, can't do that on a mobile phone. Get one with NiMH batteries not NiCAD

Hi, I had one comms failure whilst climbing out of the circuit for a cross country flight. The ATC could hear my transmit carrier but no voice.
Tried swapping headsets with the passenger, but still no good.
So as my flight would have been going through a danger area, and I would need a clearance, I had to land and give the plane to the engineers.

I have an Icom 24 Handheld, but as soon as the engine is running, it is very
difficult to hear the radio, or to make a clear transmission. I only use I to
listen to the circuit traffic whilst doing my pre-flight checks.

I bought my Icom handheld many years ago, and carry it on every flight.

The only time I've ever used it in anger is to call for start clearance on an IFR flight plan - to save turning on the master and the main radios.

Agree with the icom. Agree with at least having a T connector to the present COM antenna installed, so you get the range. I don´t know if they still make the King with a built in GPS......it was TERRIBLE! All the icoms I have had (have sold them on when I delivered aircraft) were excellent.

I used my own all the time for ATIS, picking up clearances etc without having to use aircraft battery or even having to get in, put the headset on etc.

Even being in the hotel near the airport and listening to the ATIS was sort of useful at times. I did call the tower once from the hotel to delay a flight plan and it REALLY freaked them out, as they had a DF on their receiver and it was indicating a completely wrong direction from where my aircraft was parked....(oops)

Also useful if you have a club or company freq to check arrival times, alter parking positions "The aircraft is going out again, please park up at the fuel station" sort of thing.

I tried the then new Icom some years ago and it wouldn't work with a headset. Any headset! I was in the dealer's showroom and we tried several radios and many makes of headset, but none were usable. They may well have fixed that now, but do check any potential purchase will work with your head set before you buy it.

I was flying a Chipmunk with none-too-reliable radio out of Liverpool John Lennon so the hand held was a nice backup to have. I only had to use it in anger once.

I went for the Vertex Pilot 111 which worked fine with headsets and is well made. Great bit of kit!

8.33 will probably start migrating slowly across the world so if you're getting something to last 10+ years then I'd go for one with it.
Get something with a headset adapter. Different models need different adapters.
The SP-400 from Sporty's includes an ILS view along with VOR - up to you whether you'd find that useful (how long does the GPS battery last?). Difficult to buy within the UK but you might be fine. It also runs on normal AA batteries. I'm thinking about a purchase myself...

If you're going to be using it for listening in to others while on the ground, think about some way to plug it in (although not necessarily a desk stand). You may have a suitable transformer / cable already but they do eat batteries. Older ICOMs use a large NiCd battery which has all the normal Nickel Cadmium characteristics (drain over time, memory effect, large for the capacity), so worth checking and making sure what you're looking at uses a more modern technology.

However - during training you really don't need one. Talk to your instructor about what to do in the event of a radio failure. Many airports have radio failure procedures anyway (such as orbiting at a specific point at the edge of, or even within controlled airspace, or use of a mobile phone...). BTW - don't expect a mobile phone to work above 1500 feet. You might be lucky (or you may have to orbit to keep a consistent signal) or you might not be...

Good idea but don't forget that all the new Icom handhelds are illegal to use in Europe.

I'm intreagued by this use of mobiles from the cockpit. In the Chippy or the Yak youd have no chance of hearing it unless it was somehow wired into the headset.

I'm just going to back up a bit. You're doing PPL training, and you're finally getting away from the circuit. That's great, but honestly you will not be doing x-countries of hundreds of miles just yet. In fact, you'll probably make less than 10 or so flights that will take you over 100 mile away from home base in the course of your PPL training. And once you get the PPL you'll want to expand your range slowly.

If you happen to be very unlucky and get that radio failure when you're far away, you can just land at the nearest uncontrolled airfield, phone the school what happened, let them sort it out and hire a car or something to be home for dinner anyway. In other words: It's not a necessity, but an extra, to have a handheld radio, given the type of operations you're going to be doing in the near future.

If you have budget to buy extras such as handheld radios, I would prioritize things differently. First, I would buy a good headset. Maybe one of those ANR ones, or an in-ear headset. Second on my list would be a good GPS, or (like I have) an iPad with a decent navigation app (SkyDemon is the best option in Europe, I don't know about Canada).

If you fly over hostile terrain a lot (which I can imagine in Canada) my third choice would probably be a PLB and possibly some other survival kit. And in very busy airspace, a PCAS such as the Zaon MRX/XRX or PowerFlarm. A handheld radio would probably come in fourth or fifth place on my list of priorities.

If your main worry is a comms failure, then your priorities may be different of course. If so, the Icom seems to be the most popular, and I can only endorse the tips others gave (headset adapter, 8.33 kHz spacing, some sort of hookup to an external antenna, and maybe a means of hooking it up to the aircraft electric system as well). Don't worry about them possibly being illegal - nobody is going to question you about that if you just had a for-real comms failure.

But another alternative would be to get one of those mobile phone-headset adapters, which allows you to use your mobile phone with your headset. Some ANR headsets even have such an adapter built-in. A lot cheaper than an Icom, smaller so easier to stow in your flight bag, and doesn't need batteries.

I have bluetooth connectivity with my LightSpeed Zulu to my phone, but don't turn on the bluetooth in the air. I don't want someone distracting me while on short final... However it would be available in the event of a problem.

Now buying headsets.... that's a different thread topic talked about many times before!

As said below - mobile phone is only as good as the reception it has. No good in the middle of nowhere and variable reception over towns above 1500 feet (some people seem fine up to much higher, others don't). But a hand held with its internal aerial wont have a huge range either - but it would be enough to contact a commercial jet going overhead at 20 000 Feet who could relay a message.

But as Backpacker says - its almost certainly not required at the moment. Talk to your instructor about what they would recommend.

appreciate the replies, lots to think about.

Should have expanded on my "needs" a little. I may be a student pilot but my other half has a PPL so we fly at least once a month together for fun. A handheld radio may(?) come in useful there.

We rent , not own so anything requiring structural modification is out. I am aware of the procedures for lost comms. My home airport is in a class C control zone so prior permission needed to enter. Options available to me are indeed phoning the tower on my cell phone ( I have all the numbers of local airfields stored) or landing at an alternative field ( there is one I think that isn't class C or D in the vicinity)
With that in mind, maybe Backpacker's advice is the one to go for.


I did wonder about how easy it would actually be to use a handheld while the engine is running.

Still in two minds about whether to shell out for one or not.

I bought an Icom in '86 to use in my Monnet Moni. I made my own headset up using a pair of ear defenders in which I inserted 'Walkman' type earpieces and used the Icom hand mike.
All of the microlights I've flown used Icoms as their sole radio either with a battery or running off the aircraft electrical system.

While I can't hear the mobile phone in the Jodel cockpit, people who have called me say they could clearly hear my reply saying when I'd be on the ground. With an earphone in position it'd be possible to use it.
I bought my Icom with a headset adaptor and have never had a problem with it. Without a headset it is useless with the engine running.

Hi- the Icom is good but I think overpriced. Vertex Standard make a new model which is much cheaper and has more features. You don't need to spend much for a backup tx'r

"Agree with the icom. Agree with at least having a T connector to the present COM antenna installed, so you get the range. "

Not sure how you were intending to do this. If you we're simply thinking of getting a BNC T piece, and plumbing the handheld in with your regular com/nav stack coax, please read the following...

Speaking as an RF Comms engineer and designer, there are a whole bunch of reasons not to do this.

The most important one is that when you transmit with either radio, you will almost certainly blow up the front end of the receiver in the other one. This will happen in a very short time (sub second).

Secondly, whether or not you've blown up at least one of your receivers, using a simple T connector will ruin the impedance matching to the antenna, and quite possibly blow up your transmitter's PA stage too. Even if it doesn't blow up your transmitter, protection circuits possibly in existence in the transmitter on the unit may well fold back output power when detecting the mismatch, limiting the effectiveness of your transmitter.

Either or both scenarios could most certainly mean a bad day at the office.

I apologise if I've misunderstood what you were suggesting, but that's how I interpreted it.

Many thanks, Howard