john graesser wrote:

"Bill Turner" wrote in message
...
On 01 Jan 2005 19:25:09 GMT, Bert Hyman wrote:

What's "better" mean?

Check your dictionary.


How much better is "good enough"?

Good enough for 100% reliability.


How much more will
the "better" stuff cost?

Doesn't matter when lives are at stake. Get it.

One of the local hams here is also a pilot instructor, while flying one day
the mic on his aircraft radio broke. Being a long time brass pounder he took
the mic apart and made a key out of it.

Luckily one of the people in the tower that day knew morse and was able to
understand Mike's messages to the tower.

Lucky for them that aircraft band was still am so Mike had a carrier to turn
on and off.

Nothing is 100% reliable. You never know when you will be faced with using
broken or impaired equipment so you have to be prepared to improvise.
thanks, John.
KC5DWD

Sounds like a good story, except:

Why would he need to take the mic apart when he could just use the push
to talk switch?

If the "radio broke", how was he able to transmit at all?

If what really broke was the mic or the modulation section of the only
comm radio on board, transmitting a long carrier on a regular basis
would get the attention of ATC personnel and resulted in a call to the
aircraft.

If he was an instructor, or a pilot at all, he should know the
procedures for communications failure as described in FARs 91.126, 91.127,
and 91.129, none of which call for using morse code.

FAR 91.185 wouldn't apply since he couldn't be flying IFR with just one
radio.


--
Jim Pennino

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