HAM Operators- Post up here
- Thread starter shane4x4
- Start date
expedition4x4
Explorer
Forum Name: Expedition4x4
Name: Shawn
Call Sign: KD0VSN
Radio: Ordered a Baofeng for HT and in market for mobile Tranceiver
Name: Shawn
Call Sign: KD0VSN
Radio: Ordered a Baofeng for HT and in market for mobile Tranceiver
1911
Expedition Leader
Congratulations Jason!
If you just want a 2 meter radio for trail commo you have some great and pretty easy options. I put mine on the ceiling, but if you want to go with an external speaker and remote faceplate you can put one under a seat or about anywhere. Be happy to show you mine if you want.
Lee
nuclearmonkey
Observer
Figured I should finally post up considering I just got my mobile installed...
Aaron
KK4MIX
Yaesu VX8gr, FTM-350
2m, 70cm
As an aside, being very new to HAM radio (and I'm guessing a lot of the people posting at the end of this thread) - I was wondering what some of the more experienced HAM'ers do for organization with respect to radio memory, etc. Looking mostly at 2m & 70cm (not really HF). Are there common Simplex channels that you guys have stored? Aside from local repeaters, do you keep other specific repeaters stored, or just temporarily store them before trips? Kind of an open jungle of frequencies out there... Was trying to figure a way to effectively narrow it down to a useful strategy.
Not sure if this should have been a new thread, so feel free to move if so.
Thanks in advance!!
Aaron
KK4MIX
Yaesu VX8gr, FTM-350
2m, 70cm
As an aside, being very new to HAM radio (and I'm guessing a lot of the people posting at the end of this thread) - I was wondering what some of the more experienced HAM'ers do for organization with respect to radio memory, etc. Looking mostly at 2m & 70cm (not really HF). Are there common Simplex channels that you guys have stored? Aside from local repeaters, do you keep other specific repeaters stored, or just temporarily store them before trips? Kind of an open jungle of frequencies out there... Was trying to figure a way to effectively narrow it down to a useful strategy.
Not sure if this should have been a new thread, so feel free to move if so.
Thanks in advance!!
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
For VHF and UHF I store simplex frequencies, generic pairs and local repeaters with tones.
On simplex here in Colorado we have to be aware that bordering states do not follow the same band coordination, so I keep simplex 2m to cover both 15KHz (Colorado for example) and 20KHz (Utah for example) spacing.
Repeater-wise, I keep the local and most used state-wide and will add new ones if I think about it before a trip. I carry an ARRL repeater handbook and will put them in manually otherwise.
There really aren't that many frequencies, especially on 2m. What gets confusing is matching a repeater pair with the right tone. In reality (again using Colorado as an example) there are only 79 2m repeater pairs available and 26 simplex FM voice channels using 15KHz spacing. So in theory you only need to program in 105 memory locations to be able to receive the bulk of FM traffic on 2m. You will almost always have overlap, so a repeater that you use at home will match a repeater pair someplace else.
The problem is there are 42 PL tones, which means that 79 pairs and 42 tones constitute 3,318 combinations to actually be able to talk into a repeater (assuming it's using a tone, most do though). But just to listen you only need the 79 pairs programmed in. I've been able to figure out a tone a couple of ways. Some radios will test or listen for tones to find one that works or you can sometimes call out on 146.520 and ask.
On simplex here in Colorado we have to be aware that bordering states do not follow the same band coordination, so I keep simplex 2m to cover both 15KHz (Colorado for example) and 20KHz (Utah for example) spacing.
Repeater-wise, I keep the local and most used state-wide and will add new ones if I think about it before a trip. I carry an ARRL repeater handbook and will put them in manually otherwise.
There really aren't that many frequencies, especially on 2m. What gets confusing is matching a repeater pair with the right tone. In reality (again using Colorado as an example) there are only 79 2m repeater pairs available and 26 simplex FM voice channels using 15KHz spacing. So in theory you only need to program in 105 memory locations to be able to receive the bulk of FM traffic on 2m. You will almost always have overlap, so a repeater that you use at home will match a repeater pair someplace else.
The problem is there are 42 PL tones, which means that 79 pairs and 42 tones constitute 3,318 combinations to actually be able to talk into a repeater (assuming it's using a tone, most do though). But just to listen you only need the 79 pairs programmed in. I've been able to figure out a tone a couple of ways. Some radios will test or listen for tones to find one that works or you can sometimes call out on 146.520 and ask.
1911
Expedition Leader
146.520 MHz, the national 2 meters calling frequency. I tend to monitor this when I'm on the road, alternating with scanning the local repeaters.
Any simplex frequencies that your club or group uses (Rising Sun uses 146.460 MHz I believe).
I program in permanently the repeaters in southern Utah for example because I keep going back there. For less frequent trips, a really nifty option is getting the ARRL TravelPlus For Repeaters disc, which includes their entire U.S. repeater database, and software that allows you to pull all the data for every repeater within a given radius of your travel path. It puts out a spreadsheet/table of the offsets and PL tones that most radio programming software can accept as input. You can custom program your radio for every trip, and erase or change them when you get back.
http://www.arrl.org/shop/TravelPlus-for-Repeaters-CD-ROM
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
The Rising Sun does use 146.460 as the primary simplex but we designated four simplex frequencies that we can use if the primary one is in use. I think it's useful to explain why we did this and why we only have four. As I mentioned Colorado does not use the same simplex channel spacing as Utah and since we spend a lot of time in Utah as club we picked the only four simplex frequencies that aligned in both band plans along with 146.520, which you generally don't want to sit on to leave it open for other hams to make calls.
RS1 - 146.460
RS2 - 146.580
RS3 - 147.420
RS4 - 147.540
Ramjet
Explorer
Thanks, Lee. I appreciate that. I will let you know. I'm headed to California and then on to Utah and CO over the next month. So I will send you a PM when I get back. Cheers.
nuclearmonkey
Observer
Thanks for all the input!! Really simplified the way to look at the frequencies, and got me to research all the surrounding states to see who used what. Really interesting to see that GA uses 147.585, but FL and TN stop at 147.570. One question tho.. what are "generic pairs" as mentioned above?
Thanks again!!
Thanks again!!
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Good job, congrats!