air to air radio

[g zero]

What frequency to do use for air to air when flying with your freinds ? I see 122.75 is Air to Air , 122.85 is Multicom ,123.3 & 123.5 are flight schools. We have been using 122.85 and often get told by the local big box flight school that we are on "Their" frequency. We monitor 122.85 when I go out and play so we know where the students are practicing their manuvers.

[painless]

Used to be 123.45 (aka the idiot channel) but now sop is 122.75.

[cropdusterdave]

123.45 is what we use. Everyone seems to.

[Ron Lee]

Locally 122.75 is too congested so often will use 123.45.

Having said that, any frequency is not for idle chatting.

[DCat22]

Originally Posted by g zero

What frequency to do use for air to air when flying with your freinds ? I see 122.75 is Air to Air , 122.85 is Multicom ,123.3 & 123.5 are flight schools. We have been using 122.85 and often get told by the local big box flight school that we are on "Their" frequency. We monitor 122.85 when I go out and play so we know where the students are practicing their manuvers.

For 122.85 I found this written by someone else online...thought it was interesting:

Apparently, this is one of those things where the FAA and FCC are not connecting. The FCC is very specific about the use of 122.85 and none of those specific uses are for a general air-to-air frequency (unless you?re around the Grand Canyon). When the AIM lumped it in with 122.75, they did so under the heading of "air-to-air / private airport". The 122.85 freq (according to the FCC reg) would fall under the heading of a private airport and requires a licensed ground station. If you ask the average pilot or the average FSDO, they?ll tell you that both frequencies are available for general air-to-air. If you ask the FCC, you?ll likely get a different answer (if they refer to their own regs). What we have here is a failure to communicate.

Worth noting that TBL 4-1-3 in the AIM no longer lists 122.85 at all (just 122.75): http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publi...4/aim0401.html

[jbDC9]

Originally Posted by g zero

We have been using 122.85 and often get told by the local big box flight school that we are on "Their" frequency.

Sounds like that flight school needs to call a Waaaambulance. I'd tell 'em to just stick it up their.... no wait, can't say that, this is a family show.

Keep on using 122.85, it's no big deal and the flight school has no claim to it. Back when I was hauling checks as a night freight dog, 122.85 was the "company" frequency for air to air and calling ops at the big hubs... but we certainly didn't own it.

[AX-O]

I got my back side chewed out by a Master Guns (USMC) that is a local flight instructor because we were using 123.45. After that I did a search and found this link. http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/mtcivair.html

[cropdusterdave]

just use 121.5 like the Southwest guys do......

[rvmills]

Originally Posted by cropdusterdave

just use 121.5 like the Southwest guys do......

Hey now...

Originally Posted by AX-O

I got my back side chewed out by a Master Guns (USMC) that is a local flight instructor because we were using 123.45. After that I did a search and found this link. http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/mtcivair.html

Hey Axel,

What was the Master Guns beefed about...the Viper Demo team?

Here's another link to a frequency allocation table: http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Aircraft

I've seen the follwoing freqs used by groups for air to air comm (listed use from the above referenced wiki in parens...not that a wiki is authoritative, just additional info), also...[nickname I've heard for the freq in brackets, if applicable]:

122.75 (Fixed wing aircraft air-to-air)
122.85 (Multicom)
123.15 (Flight Test)
123.45 (Air to Air-Unofficial) ["Fingers"]
130.30 (Operational Control) ["Winchester"]

Just an opinion, but seems if we use discretion and common sense in air to air freq selection, and courtesy in using the freqs we'll be OK out there (listen first, and if a team or another group is using a freq, move on...if its clear, have at it). All FWIW and just IMHO (any more acronyms I can use! )

Oh, and Duster Dave...please note the absence of 121.5!

Cheers,
Bob

[AX-O]

Originally Posted by rvmills

Hey Axel,
What was the Master Guns beefed about...the Viper Demo team?

He said I was not following THE RULES. Just left it alone because we were in a group. By the way we call 123.45, "fingers" as well.