PLT OF SINGLE PLACE SMA MUST CLIMB THROUGH THE OVERCAST TO OBTAIN CONTACT WITH ATC AND RECEIVE HIS IFR CLRNC.

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AFTER TKOF FROM HBZ; I TRIED TO CONTACT ATC TO PICK UP MY IFR CLRNC. I FLEW OVER THE LAKE THAT WAS W OF HBZ ARPT AND STAYED BELOW THE CLOUDS WHILE TRYING TO PICK UP THE CLRNC FROM ZME. I TRIED ON THE FREQS GIVEN TO ME BY THE CURRENT APCH CHART AND GPS; WHICH HAD A CURRENT DATABASE. A CALL BACK FROM HBZ UNICOM SUGGESTED THAT I CALL LITTLE ROCK APCH CTL FACILITY. I TRIED; BUT GOT NO ANSWER. SOON I BEGAN TO SEE YELLOW TERRAIN FEATURES ON THE GPS TERRAIN PAGE; INDICATING THAT I WAS WITHIN 1000 FT OF THE GND. THINKING THAT IT WAS SAFER TO CLB INTO THE CLOUDS THAN REMAINING VFR; I STARTED CLBING WITH HOPES OF PICKING UP MY CLRNC WHEN I REACHED A HIGH ENOUGH ALT. AT 3100 FT; I BROKE THROUGH THE TOPS OF CLOUDS AND INTO THE CLR. AT SOME POINT ABOVE THE CLOUDS; I COULD HEAR THE APCH CTL AND CTR RADIOS TALKING. I PICKED UP AN IFR CLRNC SOME TIME LATER. I BELIEVE THE SITUATION COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF AN OUTLET RADIO FREQ WERE AVAILABLE ON HBZ ARPT; BEFORE TKOF. I ALSO COULD HAVE MADE A BETTER DEP BY CALLING ANY FSS ON THE CELL PHONE AND PICKING UP A VOID TIME BEFORE DEP.