Sareval & cell phones

[Eclipse]

All my comms training has taught me that it is forbidden to use repeaters from the air. Is this incorrect, or is it just my Wing's policy? I also don't think that our aircraft are programmed for repeater usage. If someone has different information, or if other wings allow repeater usage from the air I would like to know that. (I am of course referring to ground based repeaters, not high-bird usage)

First I've ever heard of it.  My wing has no issue and routinely briefs using repeaters from the air.

I personally keyed them up from 10K during Ardent Sentry, and we had all of our aircrews using them as necessary during our last eval.

[EMT-83]

CTWG does not allow use of repeaters from aircraft, due to potential interference to adjacent Wings. It's not unusual to hear simplex traffic from 2 or 3 different states without lighting up repeaters.

The repeaters are programmed in the aircraft radios, for use if they're really needed. Otherwise, it's climb up and establish communications. We had to do that several times during a photo mission for Irene, where we couldn't contact mission base at 1,000 feet. Fortunately, the state is small enough that you can pretty much talk from one end to the other at 3,500 feet.

[SarDragon]

The standard channel plan for the A/C radios has all the repeaters programmed in. I don't think the 100 Hz tone is in use any more, so using a repeater while airborne in most areas is no big deal.

[JeffDG]

All my comms training has taught me that it is forbidden to use repeaters from the air. Is this incorrect, or is it just my Wing's policy? I also don't think that our aircraft are programmed for repeater usage. If someone has different information, or if other wings allow repeater usage from the air I would like to know that. (I am of course referring to ground based repeaters, not high-bird usage)

First I've ever heard of it.  My wing has no issue and routinely briefs using repeaters from the air.

I personally keyed them up from 10K during Ardent Sentry, and we had all of our aircrews using them as necessary during our last eval.

Pretty common here.  One of our route surveys for the New Madrid scenario was about 120 miles from the base I operated out of and another 60 from our ICP.  At 1,000' AGL flying the route, not a lot of chance of comms back to base without an airborne repeater.  Even with the airborne repeater, we had some comms gaps.

[argentip]

Before the latest change in CAPR 100-1 (28AUG09) and the introduction of the new repeaters and channel plans, airborne use of ground-based repeaters was not allowed.  This was because of a couple factors.  One was that every repeater was programmed with a universal PL access tone (100Hz), and the second was that the distinct PL tones were often re-used within close proximity to other repeaters with the same tone.  Re-using these tones was not an issue for ground-based radios, but because the coverage area is much greater when airborne, it could cause an issue there.

With the change in regulation and channel plan, the PL tones are now more diverse, and planning took place to make sure that repeaters with the same tone were placed far enough apart to not cause a problem.  The 100Hz tone was also eliminated (much to the dismay of many operators).

Aircraft are now authorized to use any CAP-assigned frequency (with the exception of Wings with Border Zone Restrictions), including ground-based repeaters..

If your specific Wing still does not allow aircraft to utilize the repeaters, that is a question you would need to ask them individually.  There is nothing in the regulations that prohibits it anymore.