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It was night time. Titanic's radio transmitter could work on both 500kHz and 1MHz, pretty advanced stuff for the time, and the bands were far quieter.

It would have been hard *not* to hear it on both sides of the Atlantic, even with the primitive receivers of the day.

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Plus, lower frequencies generally have an easier time traveling long distances, especially over saltwater (and at night, hence the first part of your response).

And to answer the question about why we can't use lower frequencies on planes, part of the answer lies in antenna length, which is related to wavelength. Lower frequency = longer wavelength, which in turn means larger antenna (yes, I know this is a very broad generalization, and also not the complete/only reason). Look up the antenna required for 1Mhz.

The lowest band my amateur radio licence allows me to use is 136kHz, which would require a dipole about 1km long and at least 50m off the ground.

You wind a loading coil on a plastic dustbin.

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