Narrative:

During climbout approaching 11;000 ft; 'left electrical hydraulic pump overheat' light illuminated. QRH action items executed. (Overheat light remained illuminated until turning final in ZZZ.) several attempts to reach ZZZ operations for a phone patch to maintenance control went unanswered. Considering the limited number of divert airports enroute and the destination weather; I was concerned that if the issue escalated; compounded by the fact that communications to the company were not present; it appeared the safest course of action would be to return to ZZZ since we were still in the terminal area talking to departure; under maximum landing weight and had maintenance right there. Due to the one manning the radio; we were not able to contact the station until we were approaching the gate area. This appears to be an unintended consequence of remoting operations. (I suggest a radio unit at the ticket counter that is manned.) if we would have been able to talk to maintenance control sooner and partake in the use of that resource; I would have considered continuing. But; it appeared that 'the holes were starting to line up in the cheese' at a very busy time. I declared an emergency and returned to ZZZ. Stations need to have adequate radio communications with the crews and vice versa. A handheld unit does not suffice. As suggested; place a reliable unit at the ticket counters and have a person assigned to monitor that radio. Or; at maintenance stations; have maintenance assigned to monitor the flights until they are clear of the area.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737NG Captain experiences LEFT ELECT HYD Pump OVHT during climb out. QRH procedures are complied with and crew elects to return to departure airport when communications cannot be established with maintenance.

Narrative: During climbout approaching 11;000 FT; 'Left Electrical Hydraulic Pump Overheat' light illuminated. QRH action items executed. (Overheat light remained illuminated until turning final in ZZZ.) Several attempts to reach ZZZ Operations for a phone patch to maintenance control went unanswered. Considering the limited number of divert airports enroute and the destination weather; I was concerned that if the issue escalated; compounded by the fact that communications to the company were not present; it appeared the safest course of action would be to return to ZZZ since we were still in the terminal area talking to departure; under maximum landing weight and had maintenance right there. Due to the one manning the radio; we were not able to contact the station until we were approaching the gate area. This appears to be an unintended consequence of remoting operations. (I suggest a radio unit at the ticket counter that is manned.) If we would have been able to talk to maintenance control sooner and partake in the use of that resource; I would have considered continuing. But; it appeared that 'the holes were starting to line up in the cheese' at a very busy time. I declared an emergency and returned to ZZZ. Stations need to have adequate radio communications with the crews and vice versa. A handheld unit does not suffice. As suggested; place a reliable unit at the ticket counters and have a person assigned to monitor that radio. Or; at maintenance stations; have maintenance assigned to monitor the flights until they are clear of the area.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.