Programming suggestions?

[7wt]

I am trying to organize my programmable memory in my VX6. Here is what I am thinking, I am making a spreadsheet of all the freqs in CT organized by region. Every region will have 2M, 220 and 440 in ascending order. Then I plan to go back in and organize the regions in separate banks so when I am driving around I can just select the appropriate bank and scan for activity. I also plan to have a bank for all the simplex channels. If I do it this way I know I will be programming freqs that aren't used that much but that doesn't bother me as I have 900 channels to screw around with and 24 memory banks for different states and trips. Does that sound reasonable or is there a better way to do this?

 

[crawler#976]

What ever works best for you is the way I'd do it :sombrero:

I have my FT-7900 programmed in a similar fashion. I have all my local repeaters on one memory bank, all my club repeaters on another (the Arizona Repeaters Assc. has state wide repeaters), and specific local and LE freq's on another. I keep one bank as a temporary mem for trip frequencies both simplex and repeaters in the area I'm heading to.

Mark

 

[gary in ohio]

Whatever works best is what you should use. I prefer to have one bank with my day to day frequencies. What do I use on a given day on my normal drive to work or on the weekend. Toss in some RX only local channels and thats my bank one (or low channels if you dont have a bank). After that is just whatever I can fit into the remaining memory banks. I dont have any MEGA memory radios (100-200 max) so I cant get all the state freq with PL defined, but with some of the new 1K+ channel radios it should be easy.

I know some people will have "day to day" channels in one bank, ARES in another, and arrange them by use/function.

 

[Cabrito]

Memory banks are your friend

Sounds right to me.

If you use a software you can do this easily.

I do it all manually for the most part and it keeps my programming skills fresh for when I need to do it on the fly.

I don't have as many as you want to program though so I would use the programming software for sure.

 

[7wt]

Thanks for the replies guys. After my evening to and from tonight I may have to rethink the bank for each major region of the state. The reason why is my radio scans pretty quick as it is. It only took a few seconds to scan about 90 channels. The only downside of not adding the regions to banks is I won't know what freqs to start looking at when I get in certain areas but if I do the banks, I may miss out on a strong active repeater in another region that isn't on the bank I am looking through. (decisions decisions)

I have all the 2M and a 220 freqs programmed so far, tonight I will add 440. Having 90+ programmed channels made it really nice, I was able to pick up a lot more evening drive action that I would normally miss. Before I had all sorts of crap programmed in like the police departments and other things that didn't need to be in the scan. It made a mess of the whole thing.

I am slowly but surely learning my way around the radio and I am having a heck of a lot of fun doing it. I could kick myself for putting it off as long as I did, I first started looking into and studying for the tech over five years ago. I just figured I wouldn't have anyone to talk to but I realize that was so wrong. Now that I am learning more and having more fun, it's time to add a radio to my truck. This HAM thing is turning into a hobby it's self instead of just a means to communicate offroad. The cool thing about it being a hobby is I can take my time and address every little detail instead of just throwing it in. Learning about how to get the best performance and all the little bits is just as fun as using it so I plan on taking my sweet time. Besides, the HT will hold me over until. I am so glad I started with the HT as it is always useful for hiking and taking when I am in my fiance's car.

Thanks for all the help and insight guys.

 

[rambrush]

It also depends if you have to manually load the frequencies in or utilize a computer software to load.
On my 706 I just load it up with my area and my usual trip frequencies.
I also assumed that I would just throw a radio in the truck for back country needs Wrong! figured out the 706 and AH-4 with a 102" whip was not cutting it on hf so upgrade antennas. hopefully I will get done spending soon.

 

[gary in ohio]

It also depends if you have to manually load the frequencies in or utilize a computer software to load.
On my 706 I just load it up with my area and my usual trip frequencies.
I also assumed that I would just throw a radio in the truck for back country needs Wrong! figured out the 706 and AH-4 with a 102" whip was not cutting it on hf so upgrade antennas. hopefully I will get done spending soon.

The 706 and AH4 and 102" are a good combo if you dont want 80 or 40m. Its usable on 40 and will load on 80 but will not radiate worth a darn. It works a little better if you can 9-10ft whip on it, but it really wants 23ft on 80m to work well.

The SGC (I use a 237) is a nice tuner and will tune a 102" but it also like 9ft+ whips.

Also DONT use the fiberglass 102" whips, use only stainless, You will burn out the fiberglass pretty quickly with a tuner. Also you DX engineering has short whips 2-3-4ft long that can put put inline with a 102" to streach it out a bit.

I have a military 16ft whip, that I ran at 9ft most of the time and its served me well on my 80m SSB net mobile.