Worked an AIRBUS at 39,000 feet! - KC1CXC/AM

It seems like there is almost always some exciting DX contacts to make on the HF bands.  But sometimes I forget how exciting some of the local contacts can be as well.

The last few days have been miserably rainy.  I've noticed some intermittent SWR issues during heavy rain.  Probably just moisture in my balun, but none the less a high SWR means I'm not transmitting.  Around 8:15PM, I had been working on some stuff in the shack and decided that I'd check my SWR and see if it was back to normal.  I tuned over to 20m and to my surprise, I saw a signal on the bandscope. I checked my SWR and it was good, and then tuned over to the frequency that was showing the signal.  There, I heard a station identify as "Kilo Charlie 1 Charlie X-ray Charlie stroke Aeronautical Mobile".  I figured it was somewhat unusual to hear an operator on an airplane and I wanted to get it in the log!

I called for KC1CXC/AM and he came back instantly.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out he was on a commercial air liner flying at 39,000 feet above Atlanta!  My son (6 years old) was sitting there in awe.  They said hello to my son and then we signed and let them work other stations.  

There's always something cool going on in ham radio!  

73 de KG4LST sk

Airbus

KC1CXC

Aeronautical Mobile

Did you see that I recently worked a cruise ship via Ham Radio?