Watching a number of hot air balloons float gracefully past recently, the question arose as to whether or not they used radio to communicate with the ground and, indeed, whether they used radios to communicate with air traffic controllers. A bit of digging around revealed that they do indeed carry aeronautical radios with them, and what's more they have a special 'balloon to ground' frequency. Not just that, but the same is also true of gliders, parachutists, microlights and hang- and para-gliders.

Below are all the commomn frequencies (in MHz) which are set aside, in the UK, exclusively for these special purposes, including a frequency set aside for fire services at airfields:

120.900, 130.100, 130.125 and 130.400 Gliders
129.975 Gliders (to mobile field units)
122.475 Hot Air Balloons
130.525 and 129.900 Parachutes
129.825 Microlights
118.675 Hang/Paragliders
121.600 Ground Fire Services

The very observant amongst you may note that the frequency for Hang/Paragliders is just 25 kHz away from the Heathrow Airport (arrivals) tower frequency of 118.700 MHz. Typically, frequencies this close are not used in the same area so that any Hangglider flying near to Heathrow may cause disruption to the tower communications (and indeed the governing body for aero frequencies, ICAO, does not allow such clashes). The exceptionally observant amongst you will realise that if a hangglider got close enough to Heathrow airport to cause interference, it would have greater things to worry about than radio! So by simple spatial collision avoidance, interference is likewise stopped.

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