[Milsurplus] HF radio ops by paratroopers under canopy?

[Greg Mijal]

The only Airborne/Halo radio ops done under canopy that I know of was the 
little radio Uncle Sam loaned me for my first jump at the Ft. Benning jump 
school in 1971.  It was a Radio Shack 4 transistor cb walkie talkie stuffed 
under one of the stretchy straps of the reserve pack on my chest.  It was 
used to bark landing information to the jumpers approaching the ground for 
the very first time.  The instructors, the Black hats, would say stuff like 
"Check canopy",  "Slip away from fellow jumpers", "Prepare to land" stuff 
like that.  The little radios disapperared after the first jump and my class 
did four more jumps and we all graduated.  As a side note, at jump school I 
saw a guy go up instead of down for about a minute.  Wow, what a sight.  He 
got caught in an up draft about 300 feet from the ground. We nick named him 
the flying Navajo.
I was later stationed at Ft. Bragg home of the Army's Golden Knights and the 
HALO school.  I never heard of either organization using radios during free 
fall or when the canopy was open.  Perhaps they were too busy whipping thru 
the air to chat it up.  After landing I can see lots of radios in use as the 
HALO team reassembles itself, particularly after a 15k ft jump at night.
Here's a question for Mark, what is there to talk about on a BC 611 for the 
45 seconds or so that it takes to float down from a C 47 at 1,200 feet? 
Also, why would I risk dropping my only way to communicate before the 
fireworks start?
73's
Greg
WA7LYO
Kinston NC
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <boeing377 at aol.com>
To: <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2009 4:46 PM
Subject: [Milsurplus] HF radio ops by paratroopers under canopy?


>
> I (Mark AF6IM) and Michael (KF6WRW) have been making HAHO (high altitude 
> high opening) jumps recently over Byron CA from 14,000 ft using VHF and 
> UHF ham HTs. We are planning to operate HF HAHO from a higher altitude in 
> October, somewhere between 18,000 and 24,000 ft depending on FAA 
> clearances and traffic. These lower altiude jumps are practice jumps to 
> work out the gear kinks with mics, noise, radio mounting etc. We will be 
> using oxygen gear for the October jumps.
>
>
>
> We are trying to study the history of radio comms under parachute, 
> especially HF. I have heard (but have no solid info) that WW 2 
> paratroopers operated BC 611s under canopy. Does anyone on this list know 
> aything about this subject?
>
>
>
> I am a long time surplus radio?fan and have a PRC 74A. Anything else I 
> have would take a cargo chute.?I would consider using it on a HAHO jump in 
> October (perhaps earlier) if I could get some folks to work up a schedule 
> for wrong sideband (USB) contacts on 80M. DX would be a gamble but if some 
> SF Bay Area "green radio" hams wanted to try line of sight comms it should 
> be?doable from our altitudes.
>
>
>
> We will be making 14,000 ft radio HAHO jumps this Sunday Aug 23. I plan to 
> operate on 1280.225 FM W6RLW repeater and on a subsequent jump, K6MDD 
> DSTAR repeater 146.580 Michael will operate on the N6NFI repeater 145.230 
> FM.
>
>
>
> Monitor 145.230 for pre jump announcements.?Jumps will be made most likely 
> between 1 PM and 6 PM.
>
>
>
> Mil radio parachute mobile anyone?
>
>
>
> 73,
>
> Mark
>
> AF6IM
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