• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

Radio Work

say exactly what is expected/written at least until after your solo, then you might start seeing some difference/relaxation. At least that was my experience.
Click to expand...

That's what I was getting at. Well said. Obviously it will depend on on-wing to on-wing. I was just trying to give the generic answer.

I remember on my Fam 1, while checking off w/ ATC to area 1, I gave a pleasantry on the radio to the controller. I remember my On-wing (who did a lot of civilian flying and knew I did as well) "hit" me on it, saying to follow the FTI for now, even though he knew it was an okay thing to do in the real world.
 
gatordev said:
I remember on my Fam 1, while checking off w/ ATC to area 1, I gave a pleasantry on the radio to the controller. I remember my On-wing (who did a lot of civilian flying and knew I did as well) "hit" me on it, saying to follow the FTI for now, even though he knew it was an okay thing to do in the real world.
Click to expand...

Ah, nothing like being hit for saying "good afternoon" to a controller to let you know you're in primary.

Play the game through fams then you're allowed to talk "off script" after that. The old men hate it when you don't use the FWOP scrpit. Generally though, the shorter the better. I try not to repeat only numbers if given both an altitude and heading. Usually comes out sounding like "C/S, 9000, right/left 170"
 
We have an ex-military controller at my local field...

Down in Las Vegas there was a controller who must have been ex-military because every time he cleared somebody to land it would sound like this;

"Cessna 7TA, check gear down, clear to land, 16"

I know it saved a couple of guys in an Arrow from a gear up landing...I was in the tower and saw the gear drop out on short, short final...
 
Wingnut172N said:
Down in Las Vegas there was a controller who must have been ex-military because every time he cleared somebody to land it would sound like this;

"Cessna 7TA, check gear down, clear to land, 16"

I know it saved a couple of guys in an Arrow from a gear up landing...I was in the tower and saw the gear drop out on short, short final...
Click to expand...

Nice, I can see the guys in the Arrow now ... "Damn it, I always forget that part!"
 
Agree with above, in Primary, learn it the way they teach, as not to un-necessarily skylight yourself as being a "been-there-done-that." There is always someone that's gone through Primary with more experience than you.........trust me....so just play the game, and once you get to Advanced, brevity will be more allowed and accepted, and only one Mr. F in the Sim building will say anything about your comm, mostly because he's about 20 years out of date.

As for reporting 3 down and locked, OPNAV requirement? Can't remember where it's at, but it is a requirement.

Good afternoons, Good evenings, all that jazz. I trained myself to use them in the civilian world because for some reason I'd key the mike and the words, UH, or AND, would always come out, just for a 1/10 of a second before making my radio call.

Here's a good one, VHF or UHF if you got both? Though the silence is nice on UHF, and everyone isn't hearing how awesome you sound talking through your O2 mask, I still think VHF always is the best way. You get global SA on who your're following, where other traffic is, and finally...you're not stepping all over the VHF traffic like when your on UHF, which in my opinion, makes us..the military...sound shiatty. As for the SA part, it's like flying in countries where all the radio calls are made in Spanish except for the ones directed towards you, you really lose that SA about where everybody is and such, especially IFR.
 
I still think VHF always is the best way.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. As long as it's working, I'll chose the VHF when en route.

Ah, nothing like being hit for saying "good afternoon" to a controller to let you know you're in primary.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's why I put "hit" in quotes. He just made the comment, and we both moved on. As annoying as they are at times, there are standards for a reason.
 
FLY_USMC said:
Here's a good one, VHF or UHF if you got both? Though the silence is nice on UHF, and everyone isn't hearing how awesome you sound taking through your O2 mask, I still think VHF always is the best way. You get global SA on who your following, where other traffic is, and finally...you not stepping all over VHF traffic like when your on UHF, which in my opinion, makes us..the military...sounds shiatty. As for the SA part, it's like flying in countries where all the radio calls are made in Spanish except for the one directed towards you, you really lose that SA about where everybody is and such, especially IFR.
Click to expand...

In VP-30 we use UHF for calls to military airfields, NAS Jax, Patrick AFB, etc, and VHF for dealing with approach, center, and civilian fields. Not much you can do about SA if you don't speak the language everyone else is talking on the radios. Just hope that controller in Costa Rica is really good and doesn't lead you into trouble.
 
On the tactical side, freq hopping on VHF is WAY easier to un-ass than Havequick on UHF. And if you want to talk to a helo on UHF you're screwed unless they're on top of you.

UHF antennas are way smaller, easier to deal with, and tougher to break though.
 
some things you'll hear outta my mouth.

good morning, c/s airborne passing 1 for 2.

*inhale*
socal, c/s, single 16 thousand loots, (atis identifier), overhead stop miramar.
*exhale*

center, c/s, cancel, switching

getting as much (useful) information out in one key of the mike is where you are gonna get 5's for comm. think about what you are gonna say and what you are expecting to hear back before you reach for the mike switch.
 
usmarinemike said:
On the tactical side, freq hopping on VHF is WAY easier to un-ass than Havequick on UHF. And if you want to talk to a helo on UHF you're screwed unless they're on top of you.
Click to expand...
This could spark quite the interesting discussion... First, I've almost never tried to talk to a ground unit via Havequick I/II. Single channel secure or SINGARS is the only thing I've ever used. I have used Havequick to talk interflight, and in our aircraft it's the opposite. Havequick is way easier than SINGARS. Unless there were good SOPs in place, talking SINGARS was painful at best (because our time is constantly downloaded from the GPS), because if the ground unit doesn't use a PLGR enough, we can't talk. As I'm sure you well know, the PRC-119 is notorious for losing time.

Of course, talking to a helo on UHF has its limitations, but it's all a factor of the radio/power. I'm assuming your reference to screwed is using a manpack radio. The PRC-148 is pathetic, not enough power without the amp. The PRC-113 is better (more power), and the PRC-117 is best for a manpack. Still have that pesky line-of-sight issue. Using the MRC-148 is a whole different ball game, I had no issues - could never see the aircraft, and could talk to them sometimes close to 15 miles away. Throw in the fact that I didn't have to walk anywhere, had UHF/VHF/HQ/SINGARS/SATCOM/HF, and an ass ton of power, and I was a happy man...

Brett327 said:
IMO, VHF enroute adds little to my SA - Busy terminal area is where I tend to use it.
Click to expand...
This was my rule of thumb for VHF/UHF:

Military Airfield/Terminal Area (other than Army): UHF
Army Airfield/Termina Area: VHF
Civilian Airfield/Terminal Area: VHF
Enroute when I'm bored: VHF
Enroute when I'm not bored: UHF

Why VHF when I'm bored? Because you occasionally hear some gems on the radio. Heard this one time while monitoring Center on a cross country:
"Center, Cherokee XX - ummm... I forgot my map, can you tell me where I am?"
"Cherokee XX, Center - I can tell you where you are, but if you don't have a map how can you find where you're going?"
 
Brett327 said:
IMO, VHF enroute adds little to my SA - Busy terminal area is where I tend to use it.

Brett
Click to expand...

I think your definition of en route and mine are probably a bit different (ooo, this is a long leg, better put the O2 on...). I just meant out of a military terminal area, for the same reasons Phrog gave: SA and entertainment.
 
I was flying into Pueblo the other day in an Arrow and tower told me my gear wasn't down when I was a couple miles out on final. It caught me off guard. It must have been an old military guy in the tower. There is an ANG helo group there and when I landed two Navy helos took off. The tower guy was the nicest ATC guy I'd ever talked to.
 
OK, I understand the tower saying "check gear down" has saved a few people in the past, but it is WAY overused by tower, and therefore kind of loses its effectiveness after you hear it a million times, half of which are uncalled for. For example, it is not uncommon to hear:

Aircraft: Tower, Shooter 123, 3 mile final gear down and locked for runway 23.
Tower: Shooter 123, check wheels down, cleared to land runway 23.

Honestly, I don't even hear it anymore when they say it because they use it so damn much. I can understand when either:
1. You haven't told them yet or
2. They observe your gear isn't down

I'm done bitching.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top