High Frequency Radio

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robottwo

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RobotTwo
Does anyone know what equipment one can get to meet the High Frequency Radio requirement for a flight over open water to Bermuda?

Thanks!
 
robottwo said:
Does anyone know what equipment one can get to meet the High Frequency Radio requirement for a flight over open water to Bermuda?

Thanks!
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I should say, this is for a light twin aircraft.
 
robottwo said:
Does anyone know what equipment one can get to meet the High Frequency Radio requirement for a flight over open water to Bermuda?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I don’t know. But I’m wondering where did you get that HF was required?
 
https://www.aopa.org/travel/international-travel/bermuda :

"Maintain continuous contact with the controlling agency. This can be through VHF, HF, data link, SATCOM Voice or Selective Call (SELCAL). The range of VHF is approximately 200 NM; communication beyond that distance requires HF or SATCOM data link." Bermuda is 560 miles from the North Carolina coast, so HF radios are required. Bermuda Air Traffic Control does report U.S. pilots whose aircraft are not so equipped to New York Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) and NY ARTCC does investigate the reports.​
 
Do people get SatPhones instead? Anyone have a reccommendation?
 
jordane93 said:
Bermuda is out of VHF reception and controlled by NY Oceanic.
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Yeah. I'd have thought a hard 'HF Radio Required' rule would have been replaced by a 'means to communicate with ATC' rule today. There are many other ways to do it nowadays
 
FWIW, the link above leads to ham radios for HF, which if modified can technically be used on HF aircraft bands, but not legally in the US. Radio is also less than $1k, and the package shows it with one of the cheapest 12v power supplies made. Now....maybe that's not a problem if you're operating it outside the United States?

All that said, if you try to do HF radio in an aircraft, you might find the antenna situation more challenging than the radio. The radio part is pretty easy.
 
Years ago (pre-Arrow) I used the ADF "long wire" antenna on my C-172 with an antenna tuner along with my ICOM ham transceiver. It worked ok and that's what most biz jets use for antennas to keep the length manageable. A long "trailing wire" antenna was used years ago but that could be tough to install in a light plane.
 
Arrow76R said:
Years ago (pre-Arrow) I used the ADF "long wire" antenna on my C-172 with an antenna tuner along with my ICOM ham transceiver. It worked ok and that's what most biz jets use for antennas to keep the length manageable. A long "trailing wire" antenna was used years ago but that could be tough to install in a light plane.
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I can't find it now, but I saw a YouTube video a while back in which the guy ran his trailing wire antenna out the storm window of his plane while he was in the air, then cranked it back in when no longer needed.
 
If you have a good tuner, I think either could work. If it's a steam gauge plane, I think you'll be fine. No idea if HF radio with a weird antenna would screw around with a glass panel. Automatic tuners are great, but not sure all of them could deal with a random wire in a plane, depending on the band. Disclaimer - not an avionics tech at all, have a bit of experience with HF ham radio.
 
Yeasu/Vertex Standard and ICOM make HF radios suitable for aviation use. The ICOM F8101 is specifically designed for SELCAL, which is the mode used when communicating with the ARINC or ARTCC facilities: https://radio.arinc.net/static/data/ARINC HF-VHF Voice Coverage Atlantic-Carribean.pdf

A wire suspended between one or both wingtips and the vertical stabilizer can be matched to the impedance necessary to work with an HF radio and the radio will make the fine tuning for each frequency.

Learning the procedures and phraseology takes some practice, but is not difficult.
 
You can buy a hf radio from any amateur radio store. I like www.dxengineering.com. Then google MARS conversion to enable ATC frequencies.

I would look at a Zepp style antenna (basically a long wire antenna) and find a way to extend and retract from the cockpit. I’ve seen folks open a window and play out the wire. those were singles and I don’t know how the motor on the wing would interact with the wire and slipstream.
 
Seems like a lot to go thru just to fly to Bermuda. Unless the pilot is familiar with HF rigs, wire antennas and radio procedures, just buy a couple first class airline tickets.:)
 
One would want to be sure any trailing wire could not under any circumstances interfere with control surfaces (like wrap around or lodge in a rudder or elevator).
I assume the OP aircraft is metal or has enough metal for a counter-poise.
Antennas for the 75m band will be over 60 feet long. With a tuner maybe you can run a shorter antenna.
 
robottwo said:
Do people get SatPhones instead? Anyone have a reccommendation?
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No recommendations on where to get one, but it sure seems like a simple Iridium Satphone would be much simpler than a HF rig.
 
HF in a small airplane is problematic. With an end fed longwire antenna, the counterpoise area of a small aircraft could result in very high RF voltages which do not play well with modern VHF radios and electronics. Can it be done? Yes, but you will need some professional design help. Simply buying an off the shelf ham radio and modifying it is going to result in a lot of problems. How will you power it? 120 watts is going to require upwards of 20 amps at 12 volts. You are going to need a good ground and an antenna that is the proper length for the frequency you plan to operate on. You will need a tuner and a lot of ground plane engineering. Good luck!
 
HF radios are bad choice. Look at most international nav charts and you will see satcom numbers for almost all ATC facilities. You can rent a unit for a trip as well. Also, if you plan using busy airways, you can relay through another aircraft that has HF or digital com, such a ADS or CPDLC which they can send a text mesg via satcom for you. I’ve helped a number of small aircraft out this way over the oceans and South America… we were happy to help and were bored anyways. Simply transmit on guard or 123.45, ask if anyone can relay mesg to the ATC facility you need (most will be working with same facility anyways). Smaller HF radios don’t typically have what’s called SELCALL that beeps when ATC is calling you so you don’t have to continually listen to static, which get fatiguing quick. You can advise ATC if they need to get you to relay through another aircraft by VHF, either guard or 123.45.

save you money and weight. I’d suggest satcom phone with maybe a plug adapter so you can use headset.
 
Seems like SatCom is the way to go. Thanks!
 
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