I don't know about that. My club uses handhelds for the field crew,
and at 4,000 to 5,000 feet 2 to 3 miles away from the field you cannot
hear the field radios at all (although they can easily hear a glider
radio from that distance and height).

-John

Chris Ruf wrote:
I figured that a 5w handheld radio would have a pretty good range to
reach airliners at cruising height.