On the Airbands

“Sounds a bit of alright” said one of the chopper pilots to the other, after switching back to their chatter frequency, 123. 45 MHz, the “numbers” channel “Naw”, came the reply, “if it’s the same lady who was here last time I was through this area, she’s fat, and forty!” The first helicopter duly landed, with the pilot alighting from his machine to be confronted by a well built woman, no longer in the prime of youth, hands on hips, with a threatening scowl on her face. “Well, do I fit the picture?” she demanded of him. Averyred faced helicopter pilot was heard to mutter that it was his mate who had made the remark on the radio earlier.

Fortunately, the refueller was a good natured soul with a sense of humour to match, and they got their fuel and departed. Two suitably embarrassed and hopefully much wiser pilots! Qantas 44 returning to Sydney from Auckland around 6. 30pm local AEST, talking with Qantas Operations on 131. 7 MHz. QANTAS 44: “Qantas Operations, one of our flight attendants has locked his bar float inside his bar trolley. Can you have someone from the bond area meet the aeroplane to unlock the trolley and allow him to recover the float? They can then lock it up again”.

QANTAS OPS: “Qantas 44, you have two chances of getting them to do that. None, and Buckleys!” QANTAS 44: “Okay, I’ll break the good news to him!” (Monitored by your ever vigilant author. ) Peter Sweetten from Craigieburn in Victoria uses a Realistic PRO-32 handheld scanner which has worked really well ever since he purchased it in 1987.

Recently, while holidaying at a caravan park at West Beach in Adelaide, he had a commanding view of Adelaide International Airport, where he observed all aircraft movements during his stay. Standing on a grassed sand dune at the rear of the caravan park with a further elevated view, he watched Qantas’ (Australian’s) VH-TAK, a Boeing 737-376, which had just landed on RW 23. The aircraft is the first Australian 737 to be painted up in the striking Qantas “flying kangaroo” livery. It was taxying to the domestic terminal.

GROUND: “Have they called you Joey yet?” (No response from the aircraft) GROUND: “Have they called you Joey, the junior kangaroo?” VH-TAK: (chuckling, then an American drawl) “Not yet mate. . . you’re the first!” An anonymous correspondent, who likes listening to South Pacific region international HF air radio details a conversation he heard between Speedbird 11, a British Airways 747, and Auckland (Oceanic) Radio.

SPEEDBIRD 11: “Auckland, Speedbird 11, we’re at position RELIK at 1434, and request to be able to operate in the block, non standard Flight Level 395 through to Flight Level four two zero”.

AUCKLAND: “Speedbird one one, this is Auckland, can I have your SELCAL code and your groundspeed?” SPEEDBIRD 11: “Selcal is BRAVO PAPA CHARLIE DELTA, and our groundspeed is 573kts”.

AUCKLAND: “Ahh. . . Speedbird one one, for your information, and your passengers, the FA Cup final is still going. It’s One All, and is now going to extra time!” SPEEDBIRD 11: “Ohh. . . there’ll be penalties then, ohh. . . . (gushing unbelievably) that’s marvellous!” The very same night our correspondent heard Ansett 714 declare an emergency on board, and return to Christchurch with a fairly sizeable problem. All ended well, we’re pleased to report.

Here at the “On the Airbands” office we have tried out a great little HF receiver, the Lowe HF-225. This unit looks dowdy, and doesn’t excite at first glance. It is a trifle old fashioned to look at, but this is the worst thing we can say about the Lowe. Its performance is excellent. It has continuous coverage from 30 kHz to 30 MHz, in AM, USB, LSB and CW (morse code).

Unlike other receivers, the HF-225 comes complete with a comprehensive range of bandwidths, a 2. 2 kHz filter for SSB transmissions, a 4, 7 or 10 kHz filter for AM, and a 200 Hz audio filter for CW operation. Operation is refreshingly simple, and it has a large backlit liquid crystal display.

The Lowe HF-225 has 30 memories for storing frequency settings, and works from DC power. A high quality carry case is available with the Lowe, as is an active whip antenna (W-225). The radio is available from Emtronics Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Victoria Park in WA. Qantas are continuing to request your assistance with a very worthwhile project, involving the Coles “Apples for Students dockets. The airline has combined with the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) to collect the orange Coles supermarket dockets, build up the numbers, and win computers for outback school children in the Broken Hill School of the Air Network.

If you can help by sending in your “Apples for Students” cash register dockets, send them direct to Flight Operations, “Apples for Students”, Qantas JetBase, Mascot 2020. The Royal Flying Doctor Service will fly all computers won for the kids of the air to them, free of charge.

Qantas flight crews have been praised enthusiastically for the roles they played in two separate emergency situations which occurred recently.

The first incident involved a fire warning light in the forward hold of a Qantas 747-400 aircraft. The aeroplane was being operated as the Qantas 1service to London. Due to the warning light illuminating, the aircrew requested a quick diversion to Stockholm.

One of the passengers on board QF1 happened to be a senior British Airways executive, who was so impressed with the manner in which the passengers were treated and kept honestly informed by aircrew during the diversion, that he wrote a magnificent letter of praise to Qantas Airways in Sydney. Flight Service Director Peter Brose was singled out especially for attention by the BA executive. At the time of the incident, Peter Brose had been an FSD for only 6 months.

The second emergency situation centred around the crew of atuna boat operating about 1000km north of American Samoa. The vessel suddenly caught fire, and the crew abandoned ship into shark infested waters.

Luckily, an overflying Qantas aircraft, Qantas 11 to LA, was monitoring the international distress frequency 121. 5 MHz, and picked up a distress signal from the sinking trawler as the 19 crewmen went over the side into the ocean.

Qantas 11 relayed the mayday message to Honolulu Radio who passed it on to marine authorities. Another fishing boat was soon in the area, and the extremely lucky fishermen were all rescued. Later on, after being conveyed to San Diego, the crewmen loudly praised the efforts of the Qantas aircrew, saying they owed their lives to them.

The skipper of the sunken trawler Joseph Finette told the American media that “Qantas first heard our emergency signal, and they passed it on. Other fishing boats started looking for us a full 12 hours before the Coastguard began to search. The Qantas airline alert was the only indication that our boat was in trouble. Qantas set the ball in motion. If it wasn’t for that wonderful Qantas crew, it would have taken another 10 to 12 hours to rescue us, and I doubt we would have survived. There were too many sharks in the water. Qantas did more than their job. I want to thank them very much, from the heart!” Well done Qantas, as usual.

Some international HF frequency updates for the North Pacific, Caribbean, South Pacific and Central Western Pacific areas, as well as LDOC channels. NP1 2932, 5628, 10048, 13273, 17904, 21964 kHz NP2 2932, 6655, 8961, 11330, 13288, 17925 kHz NP3 5667, 6655, 8915, 13339, 17946, 21925 kHz CAR-A 2887, 5550, 6577, 8918, 11396, 13297, 17907 kHz CAR-B 3455, 5520, 6586, 8846, 11387, 17907 kHz LDOCF 3013, 6640, 11342, 13348, 17925, 21964 kHz NYCA 3016, 5598, 8825, 13306, 17946 kHz NYCE3476, 6628, 8906, 11309, 13354 kHz SFO1 3413,5574, 8843, 13354, 17904 kHz SFO2 2869, 5547, 11282, 13288, 21964 kHz SP 3467, 5643, 8867, 13261, 17904 kHz CWP 2998, 4666, 6532, 8903, 11384, 13300, 17904 kHz. Before we depart for another month, some military callsigns that may interest you, representing just a few of the military callsigns you will hear in Australian FIRS.

Baldock: Lear 35, Fleet Support; Burns: F/A-18, 77 Sqn; Civic: F-111, Unidentified; Cobra: F/A-18,3 Sqn; Cobra Raider: F/A-18, 3Sqn; Cobweb: Lear 35, Fleet Support, Cougar: MB-326, 76 Sqn; Dragon Combined: F/A-18, 707 Tanker, 77 Sqn, 3 Sqn; Eagle: C-12 Beechcraft, USAF Diplomatic; Falcon Sabre: F-111, 6Sqn; Firechief: F/A-18, 77 Sqn; Heritage 86: F-86 Sabre, Museum; Hunter Combined: F/A-18, 2 OCU; Kiwi Bronze: A-4 Skyhawk, RNZAF; Kiwi Cobra: F/A-18, A-4,3 Sqn, RNZAF; Kiwi Silver: A-4 Skyhawk, RNZAF, Mike: Black Hawk, Army, Odins: F/A-18, 77 Sqn; Otis: C-130, US Marine Corps, Panther: MB-326, 76 Sqn, Panther Cougar: MB-326, 76 Sqn; Possum Red Section: Kiowa Formation: 161 Reg (Army); Redback: Lear 35, Fleet Support; Sabre: F-111, 6 Sqn; Shadow: C-130, 36 Sqn, 37 Sqn; Shogun Combined: F/A-18, 77 Sqn; Shogun Warlock: F/A-18, 77 Sqd; Spider: Lear 35, Fleet Support; Springwood: 707, 33 Sqn, Stal- Hon Shadow: C-130, 36 Sqn; Stallion Thunder: C-130, 36 Sqn; Stingray: F/A-18, 2 OCU; Tester 916: F/A-18, RAAF ARDU; TrojanAntique: C-130, Caribou, 37 Sqn, 38 Sqn; Trojan Antique: DC-3, Museum; Trojan Black: C-130, 37 Sqn; Trojan Blue: C-130, 37 Sqn; Trojan Max: C-130, 37 Sqn; Trojan Warrior: C-130, 37 Sqn; Warhorse: Black Hawk Format. , Army, War- horse Blue: Black Hawk Format, Army; Wombat Brumby: Caribou Formation, 38 Sqn; Viking: F/A-18, 77 Sqn.

Thanks to Brett Louis and Andrew Celeban for their contribution. Re the numbers used after callsign rootwords, most now are “mission” numbers. Pilot numbers appear to be long-gone history. Can you help us by providing information re new military callsigns? If so, why don’t you drop us a line, anonymously if you wish. If you would like to contribute write to “On the Airbands”, PO Box 16 Georges Hall 2198.

Good monitoring, and see you in one month’s time.