Calling home (or a tow truck)

[craig]

Being relatively new to Amateur Radio, I'm wondering what options are available for "calling home". This doesn't have to be using the traditional phone system (although that is ideal). I am a licensed amateur, but my wife is not. Related to this interest is understanding what methods I have of contacting a tow truck.

Some options I have to date:
- E-mail sent via APRS
- Voice - contacting another HAM and having them relay the message.

 

[crawler#976]

Nuther option - check for phone autopatch repeaters. My local system has two open autopatches that will work with local #'s. Most don't allow long distance calls. It's also a great option for dialing 911 when cell service may not be available.

Here's how it works on the Arizona Repeater Assc. repeaters:

Autopatch sequence: Key up, announce your call sign, then, without unkeying, press the * key followed by the 3-digit area code + 7-digit number. Keep the radio keyed for about half a second after entering the last digit, then, unkey. The repeater will announce "autopatch" and place the call. When finished, key up, announce your call sign, press the # key, then unkey. The repeater will respond with "call complete" and the time. There is a 3 minute limit per call.
( 911 calls have a 15 minute timer. )

Proper Autopatch Operation
1) LISTEN BEFORE YOU TRANSMIT, ESPECIALLY ON AN AUTOPATCH FREQUENCY! What sounds like a clear frequency may actually be in use, with someone on the patch on hold or waiting for the line to ring. Look at the meter on your radio. If there is a signal indicated, the patch is probably in use. When in doubt, ask before controlling the patch. If you are the one that gets put on hold, it would be wise to announce that fact periodically while waiting for your party, "KE7XYZ on hold on the patch".

2) WAIT FOR THE COURTESY TONE! You can listen on many busy frequencies and hear people doubling with each other, and then blaming the interference on someone or something else. Some of us take a little longer than others to compose our thoughts, and what sounds like the end of a transmission may just be a pause while the brain catches up with the mouth.

3) IDENTIFY S L O W L Y AND CLEARLY. The FCC requires you to identify at least every 10 minutes, and at the end of your conversation, in plain English. IN ADDITION, ARA requires you to identify BEFORE initiating a phone patch. This additional ID helps guard against unauthorized use. Also, the repeater controllers need a little time to get the DTMF decoder ready to accept your input, so giving your ID first, helps insure you have the controller's attention before you begin dialing. If you rattle off your call sign so fast that it cannot be understood, you have failed to properly identify, and your call may not go through. These failures have often been blamed on malicious interference when in reality either the controller was not ready, or the call was disallowed because the controlling party had failed to identify in an understandable manner.

4) WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE! (This one isn't really interference related, but needs to be addressed.) Amateur radio is a family hobby. New licensees tend to pattern their operating habits after what they hear on the air, and many of them are not even teens yet. Language that is acceptable at a bar or truck stop is often unacceptable on Amateur radio. How would you like to be showing the 12 year old potential ham down the street and his mom about your favorite hobby and tune in on phrases like: "Where the hell are you going?." "The food there really tastes like crap." "Oh s..., look at this traffic." Think about who may be listening and learning before you blurt out those profanities, racial and ethnic slurs.

 

[craig]

Thanks Crawler. Autopatch is a great option.

At risk of hi-jacking my own thread... Do you know why calling my wife (w/o an amateur license) or calling AAA to get help via autopatch isn't illegal?

Seems like a natural extension to Autopatch would be to link autopatch repeaters using VOIP/Internet to another autopatch repeater to allow for long distance calls. Similar to IRLP, only for voice... a la Vonage. Anyone doing this that you know of?

Craig

 

[crawler#976]

Seems like a natural extension to Autopatch would be to link autopatch repeaters using VOIP/Internet to another autopatch repeater to allow for long distance calls. Similar to IRLP, only for voice... a la Vonage. Anyone doing this that you know of?

Craig

good question!

 

[gary in ohio]

Thanks Crawler. Autopatch is a great option.

At risk of hi-jacking my own thread... Do you know why calling my wife (w/o an amateur license) or calling AAA to get help via autopatch isn't illegal?

Seems like a natural extension to Autopatch would be to link autopatch repeaters using VOIP/Internet to another autopatch repeater to allow for long distance calls. Similar to IRLP, only for voice... a la Vonage. Anyone doing this that you know of?

Craig

Actually calling your wife or AAA may or may not be legal. If your in the US an d calling your wife in the US via autopatch she is considered 3rd party traffic and legal. If your wife was in a non-third party tready county and you called or "linked" to her then that would be illegal.


An autopatch and linking via VOIP are completely different issues also. Calling your wife via a autopatch or calling AAA are also very different. One issue you might have with AAA is the amount of personal info you need to provide over the open air. Name,address, AAA card number. The fact you might get put on hold with music which would require you to drop the call.

Calls via VOIP for linking purposes is just that a link.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Actually calling your wife or AAA may or may not be legal. If your in the US an d calling your wife in the US via autopatch she is considered 3rd party traffic and legal. If your wife was in a non-third party tready county and you called or "linked" to her then that would be illegal.


An autopatch and linking via VOIP are completely different issues also. Calling your wife via a autopatch or calling AAA are also very different. One issue you might have with AAA is the amount of personal info you need to provide over the open air. Name,address, AAA card number. The fact you might get put on hold with music which would require you to drop the call.

Calls via VOIP for linking purposes is just that a link.

My understanding is that the grey area with autopatches comes in when dealing with businesses. So calling your wife (particularly in an emergency), there really is no question. But calling AAA might invoke the business transaction provisions. I dunno, maybe not. But as long you (or at least a licensed ham) remain in control of the radio, there is pretty much nothing illegal about a personal or informational call via autopatch. Like Gary says, international phone patches also need to be treated carefully, although generally most all autopatches don't allow long distance and so this is probably less of a problem.

 

[craig]

Actually calling your wife or AAA may or may not be legal. If your in the US an d calling your wife in the US via autopatch she is considered 3rd party traffic and legal. If your wife was in a non-third party tready county and you called or "linked" to her then that would be illegal.


An autopatch and linking via VOIP are completely different issues also. Calling your wife via a autopatch or calling AAA are also very different. One issue you might have with AAA is the amount of personal info you need to provide over the open air. Name,address, AAA card number. The fact you might get put on hold with music which would require you to drop the call.

Calls via VOIP for linking purposes is just that a link.

I'm either not understanding you, or not explaining what I'm thinking of clearly.

I'm thinking of an extension to the current autopatch setup.
- Radio calls into an autopatch repeater
- Radio call get keyed in
- IF it is local the autopatch repeater would just dial the number
ELSE it connects to an autopatch repeater that IS local to the number (via the internet)
- Repeater 2 would then make the local call and the call would be carried out via a VOIP connection.

This is essentially the way Vonage works and is why they can offers such low rates. It seems like a natural extension to Autopatch to make LD calls possible w/o introducing any cost to the club running the local Autopatch repeater. Basically IRLP and Autopatch fused together.

Like I said... I'm hijacking my own thread with my geeky rambling.

Craig

 

[craig]

My understanding is that the grey area with autopatches comes in when dealing with businesses. So calling your wife (particularly in an emergency), there really is no question. But calling AAA might invoke the business transaction provisions. I dunno, maybe not. But as long you (or at least a licensed ham) remain in control of the radio, there is pretty much nothing illegal about a personal or informational call via autopatch. Like Gary says, international phone patches also need to be treated carefully, although generally most all autopatches don't allow long distance and so this is probably less of a problem.

Playing devil's advocate here (Not trying to be argumentative. Just exploring the legal issues.)

So, if I'm controlling my radio can I let my unlicensed son talk on it?

I had the same concern with calling AAA. I guess if I need it, I'll probably call my wife and have her call AAA for me. A broken serpentine belt probably doesn't qualify as a life or death emergency.

Craig

 

[DaveInDenver]

Playing devil's advocate here (Not trying to be argumentative. Just exploring the legal issues.)

So, if I'm controlling my radio can I let my unlicensed son talk on it?

I believe that as long as you remain in front of the radio and can understand everything that is discussed (i.e., no foreign language or code that you don't understand), then this is OK. Don't go around quoting me, but that I think is acceptable.

I had the same concern with calling AAA. I guess if I need it, I'll probably call my wife and have her call AAA for me. A broken serpentine belt probably doesn't qualify as a life or death emergency.

Craig

The autopatch does not need to be a life or death emergency to be used. I think with AAA you could argue that such calls are really sort of the point of a autopatch. I think you'd have the worst time explaining to the operator that you are talking to her over a radio-to-POTS link and that would probably be confusing. But as long as the call is informative and sufficiently brief, I really sort of doubt you'd get much slack over it.

BTW, ARRL page on autopatches:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/phone-patch.html

 

[craig]

Thanks Dave. I'll look into autopatch some more.

I'm guessing that I'm more likely to hit an APRS repeater in the middle of the mountains than an autopatch repeater, so that is probably still my best option.

I'll have to get my friends SMS e-maill addresses.

Craig

 

[ntsqd]

One of the early things I read about ham radio is that in the FCC codes is the caveat that in the event of an emergency there are no rules, do what it takes to resolve the emergency. I've no idea where the exact wordage might be in the codes, it was in a general description on a page like QRZ or ARRL.

Yet I keep seeing people saying "that isn't" or "that may not" be legal.
Keep in mind that I'm only referring to life or health threatening emergencies and I'm not including one's SO's threat of maining you if you are late for dinner, AGAIN, in that class.

So who defines what an emergency is, and who gets to declare one? If I, as John Q. declare an emergency and break some rule in resolving it, am I likely to face prosecution?

 

[DaveInDenver]

One of the early things I read about ham radio is that in the FCC codes is the caveat that in the event of an emergency there are no rules, do what it takes to resolve the emergency. I've no idea where the exact wordage might be in the codes, it was in a general description on a page like QRZ or ARRL.

Yet I keep seeing people saying "that isn't" or "that may not" be legal.
Keep in mind that I'm only referring to life or health threatening emergencies and I'm not including one's SO's threat of maining you if you are late for dinner, AGAIN, in that class.

So who defines what an emergency is, and who gets to declare one? If I, as John Q. declare an emergency and break some rule in resolving it, am I likely to face prosecution?

There have been threads here about this and it's certainly something that is debated ad nauseum amongst hams. The rules IMO say that you are allowed to use any amateur band or mode in the event of an emergency. The FCC codes do not give you freedom to do anything you want. Thing is, depending on the severity of the situation the outcome may or may not matter. I mean if it's WWIII and the bombs are flying, who cares, right? Basically if you come across an inured hiker and are only a licensed tech, you would be pretty safe in using a HF rig to contact someone, for example. You would be breaking the law if you called on a public service frequency. However, in this mock scenario you would probably not be thrown in jail or anything. The FCC has the power to revoke your license, confiscate your gear and fine you. The fine can be substantial and that's really the part that would hurt in the end. But unless you are being malicious in jamming police bands or running a pirate station, the threat of harsher-than-fines punishment is pretty unlikely.

 

[ntsqd]

Went digging a little & turned up this:

"§ 97.403 Safety of life and protection of property.
No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station of any
means of radiocommunication at its disposal to provide essential communication
needs in connection with the immediate safety of human life and immediate
protection of property when normal communication systems are not available."

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/...s.gpo.gov/cfr_2006/octqtr/pdf/47cfr97.403.pdf

That seems fairly concise to me, but I'm sure that some Strict Constructionist will have a different reading.

 

[DaveInDenver]

"§ 97.403

Is oft quoted, but to my knowledge that only time it was actually tested and not punished was when a fella down in New Orleans successfully coordinated with a Coast Guard helo with a modified 2m HT. If there are other examples, I would like to know. There is a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about this provision. It is presumably there for a poop hits the fan event, so in any case you should not plan on invoking it without being able to explain yourself.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Found the other thread where this was discussed: https://expeditionportal.com/xenforo_live/index.php?threads/7628/