Winch Signals

Our ground operations are managed on a dedicated frequency - I've never
heard any other traffic on it. No, I don't know what the frequency is
except its almost certainly outside the air band. We have a separate set
of handhelds which are locked to this frequency and don't have a
frequency display or a channel switch. I have no idea how we got the
frequency allocated.

--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

Martin,

This sounds like a common set of commercial walkie talkies, they are
used by businesses all over the world as comms in hotels, resorts,
Security personnel, construction sites, and by IT personnel stringing
cable, etc. Only the person that set them up to start with knows the
freq or channel they're on, which can be one of a great many bands
dedicated to this commercial service. The providers of this service
normally advise the buyer which band/frequency is not used in a
specific area.

This sounds like an excellent use of this service, once you're away
from city areas that will possibly have a great many of them being
used throughout the day.


I've been following this thread with great interest since our club,
AGCSC has been re-invigorated by the complete overhaul of our 1940's
era Barrage Balloon Winch which now has a large block Chevy V8 engine,
improved drum drive, and Spectra line. Much, much better than the old
steel cables we used before.

Right now we are flying out of Torrey Pines Historic Gliderport in San
Diego, CA under a temporary permit good till the end of April.
Normally we fly out of remote airports in the east county, well away
from anyone else and power traffic.

We use the local Unicom, or CTAF, at these locations, as it is the
best way to inform approaching aircraft of our operations while giving
us excellent control of the launch operations. THIS WILL NOT WORK IN A
BUSY AREA! because of the large amount of traffic found in that
environment.

The pilot uses his radio to announce, "All Ready (type of plane, # of
persons aboard if dual)" to inform the winch driver, who acknowledges
"Ready", to standby for launch, "Take up slack", and then "Go, Go,
Go!," for starting the launch, at this point the winch driver
"Listens' for the PIC to inform him if Too Slow, Too Fast, or give him
AirSpeed of Plane if the PIC wishes to do it that way. Emergencies are
announced "Stop, Stop, Stop" by either end of the launch.

This system works very well as we only have very experienced pilots
driving the winch. Training as a winch driver is a very big deal, and
involves a lot of instruction and 'Dual" control before an individual
is allowed/qualified to drive the winch. This system works well for us
and has been in use for over 10 years, before we used a flagman on a
"Lookout" stand where he had little feed back from the pilots or winch
drivers, a big improvement for sure.


I think the most important aspect of communications here is the use of
"Standard" phrases throughout the Launch Cycle. This helps to keep it
very clear, and confusion to a minimum. While I find some of the above
phrases 'Quaint' to say the least, "All Out" means the end of the
cable to me!, as long as they are understood by all parties and
included in the training for PIC, Flight Marshall, and Winch Driver it
will work properly.


Thanks again to everyone for all the great information on Winch Ops,
it's been very helpful,

Wayne