[Milsurplus] parachute mobile

[boeing377 at aol.com]

Been having a lot of fun with this, see the video of our RadioFest 2010 parachute mobile operation in Monterey CA from two weeks ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWimbrpGF14

I am a mil radio nut and still want to use a surplus radio during skydiving. What about those helmet radios, PRR9? (6 meters?) or something like that. Would they work for jumper to ground comms? Any suggestions? I need something lightweight and reasonably small.

On my last jump I exited at 18,000 ft from a King Air 200, freefell to 16,000 to get down quickly to more oxygen rich air, deployed and was under an open canopy at 15,300 to start comms. Got 31 QSOs, some as far as 107 miles with 1 watt on 146.46 FM simplex.

73,
AF6IM
ART 13 (being restored) , ARR 15 (fully operational)