ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area OT- B.727 Com Radio

It worries me too, but you could easily just build one (a jammer or Txer) if you know what you're doing. I'm actually a little worried about there maybe being a short somewhere that keys the mic. I wont actually have a mic on it, just a speaker, but keying it without a mic would silence the channel. Unfortunately, the only place I could test it with the right equipment is my college, a mile away from the airport. Niow that I think about it, it might not be such a great Idea to use this. I bought a handheld scanner to use, just in case the 727 com doesn't work, and the scanner seems to be working better than I hoped.

e57, there's plenty of aviation gear around for legitimate purposes. For example, ICOM and YAESU/VERTEX make relatively inexpensive portable and hand-held transceivers. See:
http://www.vertexstandard.com/?cmd=DivisionHome&DivisionID=2

If I were renting small planes, I'd probably want to keep one with my flight gear as a backup.

Boy that is an old radio! It will do OK for you if you just want to listen to what's going on around there. It was probably replaced when they mandated the switch to 25 KHz spacing in the early 90's. Back then, you had to pull out on one of the knobs to get to the 25 KHz (like the AWOS at Washington County 118.425). I learned to fly at AGC and ist solo was at Rostraver so I couldn't guess how many times I reported over the Elizabeth bridge, community college or Irvin Works.

It looks like you got this thing for not much more than a ticket to Kennywood Park, which you will probably be on a right base over in the future. Maybe you should hook it up at school or someplace where you can make sure it isn't putting out any spurious emissions, even in Rx mode, and disable Tx completely. I also hope that you will buy a good hand held for your flight bag.
Joe

Joe - I live 5 miles east of KAGC. I'm goin to CCAC, and I'm taking flying lessons from there in Summer 2007 (Dont have the money for this summer). I've always enjoyed the physics of aviation (Makin flying models), and spent a lot of time on the sim (game, not the training sim.)

You might want to take a careful look at what they're actually selling. As I read the description, it appears that it's just the control head for a radio, not the actual radio. This piece sits in the panel in front of the pilot, and controls a considerably larger radio that is mounted remotely.