It's extremely unlikely that, for example, a ship in distress calls on a ham frequency. It would be possible if there was a ham onboard maybe. And anyway the safest bet would be to call on the officialy monitored frequencies. Maritime operators are not even used to think in frequency terms, they see their bands as a number of numbered channels.
So, in short. It's illegal to use a ham transceiver onboard a ship to communicate on the maritime mobile frequencies.
Actually English is mandatory for the aviation exam, it is the official ICAO communication language. If you don't have the aviation English exam, you will not be able to fly abroad and to the larger airports where the majority of the communication is in English. May not be an issue for ultralight pilots or similar that stay around their home club, but most pilots take the English exam anyway.
If for nothing else then for your own safety - that big 747 on approach flown by a foreign crew may not understand from your German/French/.../etc chat with the controller that you are on a conflicting trajectory, so they will have no spatial awareness of you unless the controller tells them where you are (few small planes carry TCAS-capable equipment). Which they should, but the controllers are only people too and can forget, be overloaded or just miss something, especially a small plane. This has led to some near misses and even accidents in the past and is the primary reason why English is mandatory today as the communication language in aviation.
I am pretty sure that one can fly to a German general aviation airport without having the exam in German language, only with English. Otherwise no foreign pilot would have ever been able to fly to Germany outside of the big airports.
Here is the list of what you will have to learn/obtain for a German private pilot license:
http://www.aerotours.de/en/lapla-leichtflugzeugpilot-699.html
And actually Wikipedia has a good summary of what you need for the radiotelephony license:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprechfunkzeugnis_(Luftfahrt)#BZF_I
For a private pilot license you need at least the BZF1 or 2. The testing is done in German but there is a part where the candidate must demonstrate English communication capability, unless doing only BZF2 exam (German only, but then not allowed to fly outside of Germany).
Then to actually be able to communicate in the given language the candidate needs also a separate language proficiency certificate (ICAO-4 level or higher).
The list also shows that there is no HAM license prerequisite for the aviation radiotelephony certificate.
I didn't search for the marine radio requirements but they are most likely similar.
Yes, basic English literacy is part of both the general ham exam and the aviation exam. However, having the [light VFR pilot] exam in German confers some extra rights.
Regarding airports, I've been told that there are significantly more airports that you can land on with the specific license compared to the English one one. There is a distinction between airports (117 of them in Germany) and aerodromes (550). So that's where my terminology was wrong.
The exam is always in German, from what I can see. However, it is clearly said that the language of the exam has no bearing on the languages you are allowed to communicate in on the air - for that you must obtain the corresponding language proficiency certificate in addition to the radiotelephony certificate.
I believe the issue between "airports" and "aerodromes" is more about that the former can accept even international traffic, the latter not necessarily and little to do with whether you speak English or German. If you look in that list, you will see that many don't even have an ICAO code assigned. Usually these are small strips used by factories, aeroclubs, crop dusters, etc. The "airport" list contains only those which have the code and thus are larger fields.
If you have BZF1, you can go anywhere, because you are allowed to use both English & German (modulo those language proficiency exams). If you have BZF2, you can go only to German speaking places. There is also BZF-E that is English only, but I believe that one is only for special cases. And then commercial transport pilots have to do first one of the BZF certificates and then the AZF one.
There is another reason contributing to the reduction in ham radio. An introduction to shortwave radio was frequently through listening to national stations from 'far off' or 'exotic' lands, this then led to listening to ham operators by adapting an existing receiver or buying one with a BFO.
The reduction in shortwave broadcast stations (now streamed on the internet) means that it is only us 'greybeards' with existing receivers that forlornly look through the shortwave bands missing those wonderful days.
Hiya
There is another reason contributing to the reduction in ham radio. An introduction to shortwave radio was frequently through listening to national stations from 'far off' or 'exotic' lands, this then led to listening to ham operators by adapting an existing receiver or buying one with a BFO.
The reduction in shortwave broadcast stations (now streamed on the internet) means that it is only us 'greybeards' with existing receivers that forlornly look through the shortwave bands missing those wonderful days.
Cheers
Maybe we should try to revive number stations!
If you are a really good solderer, its probably easy. Basically the additional parts needed are a toroid core and a tiny bit of wire and some capacitors. You could also use pogo pins to make the connection.
>Quote from: cdev on 2017-08-22, 21:50:36If you are areally good solderer, its probably easy. Basically the additional parts needed are a toroid core and a tiny bit of wire and some capacitors. You could also use pogo pins to make the connection.
It's not that bad, actually. and there are fewer birdies than when using an upconverter, at least for me.
However, I now use a soft-rock type receiver for HF and its MUCH much better.
No comparison.
It's not that bad, actually. and there are fewer birdies than when using an upconverter, at least for me.
However, I now use a soft-rock type receiver for HF and its MUCH much better.
No comparison.
I have both the dongle+upconverter and a 40m SoftRock with the Si570 VFO and each is good for something else.
For me the dongle also seems to be more sensitive than the SoftRock (which is really really basic), but I have only an indoor magnetic loop as an antenna. If you have a proper antenna, the Softrock could well be better. Also not all the dongles are made equal.
Well, I am also interested in getting licensed, but as my interest is more in the higher bands, the novice license for 2m and 70cm only is really not in my interest either. I'd recommend you going straight for the full. I'd do the same.
Okay, let me be blunt. The reason I don't have my ham ticket is because I don't drive.
Would it be too weird to ask local hams for a ride getting to the exam so I can take the frigging test. Ive been wanting to do this since I was a little kid.
If I do do that, how should I put it so it looks less pathetic? You see, ever since I was 18, I made it a point to live in places where there was good public transport. But I no longer do. My SO drives, but she is busy and frankly, she is not so excited about anything that will lead to my acquiring more "junk". Also, I could be there a while, as if I can pass the first test I want to keep taking the others until I fail. I think I might do well. I don't want to be nervous about imposing on her.
Its kind of embarrassing because where I live now, everybody drives. Everybody, even teenagers.
Okay, let me be blunt. The reason I don't have my ham ticket is because I don't drive.
An interesting bit of history.. why Europe is still eco-friendly and the US is enslaved to oil and gas.
An interesting bit of history.. why Europe is still eco-friendly and the US is enslaved to oil and gas.My mother had an aphorism which I never really appreciated until my first visit to Europe.
She said: "In America 100 years is a long time. And in Europe, 100 miles is a long distance."
I have heard from European visitors that they have the same surprise upon visiting the US.
When we were arranging a tour for 40 visitors from Romania and South Africa, they asked
if they could land in San Francisco and could we just come and pick them up (from Portland, 630mi/1030km)
Or whether they could take a day-trip down to Los Angeles. (1020mi/1640km)
The entire country of England fits into my median-size state (Oregon) with a bit of room to spare.
You can visit three or four countries in Europe before you cross the county line where I live.
I was very impressed by early tales of entire countries like Luxembourg being 100% wired for internet.
Until I realized that the entire country fits into the eastern half of my county.
OTOH, they refer to the "new part of the city" as the portion that was built 500 years ago.