[ARC5] hf?vhf

[Alan Morriss]

thank you ken. well , i started operating hf when an army cadet in 1949 . i loved it then and still do. when i started flying in 1958 of course it was all vhf with a 4 channel set . in DC3s we had a 9 channel one and had to change xtals if necessary. this involved plugging a light bulb in and tuning for max ! 
i got an aircraft hf licence , and in those days this involved little more than knowing how to tune up an 1154 . hf was always a bit problematic in those days on account of using am and the type of equipment . the best was the collins 18S4 . on christmas day 1963 we were flying from hong kong to osaka in a DC4. out over the china sea we soon lost contact as the HF set would not tune properly . i was the most junior crew member and more or less took it to pieces , however we never did get contact. we could hear the search and rescue being contacted , and were in a mood of desperation. 
eventually i found an american long range vhf frequency "stargazer" on something like 132.9 . where it was based i have no idea, but they answered and all was ok. it is horses for courses ! alan