PPL wannabe needs advice about hand held airband radio
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wirral
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
PPL wannabe needs advice about hand held airband radio
Hello all. Long time lurker, first time poster. 
I've been kicking around the idea of PPL training for some time and went up for a 1hr introductory last weekend flying out of EGGP. Loved it; really really loved it
but that's not the important thing atm.
What struck me immediately was the speed of communication between ATC and aircraft. I found it difficult to follow what was being said and caught maybe less than half of it.
Granted some of that would have been down to the impossibly bassy and unclear headset, which undoubtedly has suffered extensive abuse at the hands of many many hamfisted PPL newbs like myself.
As a taxi driver in my younger years, I found radio comms in the cars presented in a similar way. Couldn't follow what was going on, didn't know the buzz words and slang, couldn't make out what the operator was saying past the thick Birkenhead scouse accent, didn't know when to leap in meself etc. It took a while, but soon I was long bonneting and operating from my car with the best of them.
With this in mind, I've decided that rather than face an additional obstacle when I start my PPL training proper, it'd be an idea to invest in a hand held air band transceiver and spend some time listening in to comms to get the idea. I'm just over the river from EGGP so I'm well placed to earwig on comms from quite a busy international airport.
((NB: I am aware that I could make do with a receiver and that I'd be in a world of trouble thumbing the PTT key and getting in the way of ATC comms when not doing so from the cockpit of an aircraft, but I may be taking up paramotoring/microlighting so the transmit function would be handy to have in case.))
I've been having a look around and there are any number of radios available in various price brackets.
I'd appreciate some advice on what I should be looking for in the way of features and specifications and possibly a reccommendation or two from those of you more knowledgeable in such matters than myself.... which should be just about everyone I reckon.
I've been kicking around the idea of PPL training for some time and went up for a 1hr introductory last weekend flying out of EGGP. Loved it; really really loved it
but that's not the important thing atm.What struck me immediately was the speed of communication between ATC and aircraft. I found it difficult to follow what was being said and caught maybe less than half of it.
Granted some of that would have been down to the impossibly bassy and unclear headset, which undoubtedly has suffered extensive abuse at the hands of many many hamfisted PPL newbs like myself.
As a taxi driver in my younger years, I found radio comms in the cars presented in a similar way. Couldn't follow what was going on, didn't know the buzz words and slang, couldn't make out what the operator was saying past the thick Birkenhead scouse accent, didn't know when to leap in meself etc. It took a while, but soon I was long bonneting and operating from my car with the best of them.
With this in mind, I've decided that rather than face an additional obstacle when I start my PPL training proper, it'd be an idea to invest in a hand held air band transceiver and spend some time listening in to comms to get the idea. I'm just over the river from EGGP so I'm well placed to earwig on comms from quite a busy international airport.
((NB: I am aware that I could make do with a receiver and that I'd be in a world of trouble thumbing the PTT key and getting in the way of ATC comms when not doing so from the cockpit of an aircraft, but I may be taking up paramotoring/microlighting so the transmit function would be handy to have in case.))
I've been having a look around and there are any number of radios available in various price brackets.
I'd appreciate some advice on what I should be looking for in the way of features and specifications and possibly a reccommendation or two from those of you more knowledgeable in such matters than myself.... which should be just about everyone I reckon.
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Birmingham
Age: 30
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Air band scanner
Hi mate,
I purchased two from Maplin not so long ago. One was the Maycom AR-109, which in all honesty is a very good bit of kit for the price (35-40 quid), except you have to scroll through frequencies to tune into them. I also got an analogue scanner there as well, was around 10 pounds. I live just up the road from EGBB, all I could really pick up from it was the ATIS however.
If you're finding it hard to pick out words from ATC, listen to your Maycom for a while in the evenings & use a website called Liveatc. I listen to EIDW (Dublin) Tower a lot and it has helped.
I purchased two from Maplin not so long ago. One was the Maycom AR-109, which in all honesty is a very good bit of kit for the price (35-40 quid), except you have to scroll through frequencies to tune into them. I also got an analogue scanner there as well, was around 10 pounds. I live just up the road from EGBB, all I could really pick up from it was the ATIS however.
If you're finding it hard to pick out words from ATC, listen to your Maycom for a while in the evenings & use a website called Liveatc. I listen to EIDW (Dublin) Tower a lot and it has helped.
