Tim Wescott wrote:

I believe that a helicopter pilot's nose starts bleeding at 1000ft -- at
least that's what my fixed-wing pilot friends tell me.

I doubt it. I am not a pilot - I was in the Italian airborne, and heli
pilots would take us as high as 6000ft for jumping. Our nose wasn't
bleeding, and neither was the pilots'...

Back to radio, I took a couple of times hand helds with me and at 3000 -
6000 ft. and you go a looooong way even with poor antennas...

--
AB