Radio Check

Who out there does a radio check in flight

  • Yes I do a radio check

    Votes: 7 35.0%

  • No I never check radios in flight

    Votes: 13 65.0%
  • Total voters
    20
AKBill

AKBill

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AKBill
Who out there does a radio check during their flight? I normally call a RCO or ask for a radio check on the posted CTAF to test my radio's.

I have had more than one failure of a radio. I normally ask for a radio check 30 to 40 minutes in to a flight.

My plane has 2 NAV/COM's and I carry a hand held radio just in case. It's part of my check list for a typical flight.
 
I do if I suspect something is wrong. If I'm departing a deserted airport, I assume the radios are working but do a very careful scan of the sky before I enter the runway just in case they aren't. Once in the air I'm usually calling somebody right after leaving the airport area, either approach, center or FSS.
 
Sure, if it's too quite, I'll squelch, then do a radio check. 9.9/10 it's "gotcha 5/5, just a quiet night"

Still of you feel you should do something, probably should have already done it 5min ago.
 
If the FBO is closed when I depart or there's no other traffic at the airport than I'll usually ask approach for a radio check, but only if I'm already in their airspace.
 
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Droning through the midnight skies listening to what seems like an inactive frequency, I will ask for an altimeter setting. Serves the purpose.

Bob
 
Flying late into the night in the south west it can get mighty quiet. It is not unusual to hear, "still there?" on the air, followed by a "Still here".
 
What's fun is when you answer a requested radio check with, "Reading you five by three" and they have NO idea what you mean....

Ron "I wrote a $250 radio check for my ICOM" Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
What's fun is when you answer a requested radio check with, "Reading you five by three" and they have NO idea what you mean....

Ron "I wrote a $250 radio check for my ICOM" Wanttaja
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The old reply on another radio service was to tell folks asking for a radio check that they were handed out on some random (other than the current one) day of the week. Not nice, but... :)
 
Whenever someone asks for a radio check, I always reply... "I have mine!" :)
 
denverpilot said:
Whenever someone asks for a radio check, I always reply... "I have mine!" :)
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Never done it yet, but when the controller says " say altitude" I'm always sorely tempted to respond with...

"Altitude!"




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
jimhorner said:
Never done it yet, but when the controller says " say altitude" I'm always sorely tempted to respond with...

"Altitude!"
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And the correct response to "say position" is "behind the yoke" it also works for last known position though number one for takeoff is classic.
 
I've used it 2-3 times when I wondered if I'd been forgotten. Otherwise, no.

Of course the only two radio "failures" I've experienced were both "instructor induced". First one was returning from my dual long cross country and the instructor had bumped something on the audio panel. I never figured out what. He got out his handheld and could hear but the transmission from inside the plane was weak. So he acknowledged by using IDENT (as requested). The second was on my second night flight. We flew east from KORL (Orlando Exec) to KTIX (Spacecoast Executive) and he'd turned down the volume on COM1 so we could talk uninterrupted. He forgot and tried to contact KTIX on COM1. No answer. Several calls and getting pretty close to their airspace, he figured it out. They were a mite testy. To say the least.

John
 
Ryanb said:
If the FBO is closed when I depart or there's no other traffic at the airport than I'll usually ask approach for a radio check, but only if I'm already in their airspace.
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You might as well ask for flight following from approach at that point.
 
I did once, middle of the day on flight following heading from Flagstaff to Albuquerque. I think I was on the same frequency for about 90 minutes without hearing another plane, made worse by the fact that the controller was trying to regain radio contact with another plane when I had checked on.

There's not much chance for that kind of silence up in the Northeast!
 
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