146.520 Abuse

[MUTNAV]

His conversations would bore a 50 year certified member of the ol' Ragchewer's Club. Nothing technical or radio related, just club personalities and anything else under the Sun that is less exciting than watching epoxy set. No callsigns, no breaks in dialogue or feedback, it honestly reminds me of listening to the old Mike Douglas talk show with an hour plus monologue.

Wasn't that more common on HF, if I remember right, certain frequencies were always just doing a long diatribe. Oc course VHF interferes a lot less than HF.



Thanks
Joel

 

[mrweather]

Does anyone hear of any use on 446.000? It's dead here.

I had a rare QSO on 446 once and it was actually enjoyable because the noise floor was much lower than VHF.

 

[nd5y]

Does anyone hear of any use on 446.000? It's dead here.

I use it occasionally. Usually it's somebody testing antennas or something and wants to compare results on 2 m & 70 cm but it's mostly dead, just like the rest of 70 cm and 2 m here.
I have heard people passing through town several times in the past few years. No callsigns and not sure if they were even hams.
Sometimes I hear SOTA ops from Mt. Scott, OK.

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

.

I have an Alinco DR435 in my kitchen, on top of a refrigerator that's parked on 446.0

Its nothing serious-- but from my location it looks down an awesomely long valley clear to New Mexico, with a pretty-much full quieting signal the whole path.
Its basically a mission-poor radio that's all dressed up but no rodeo to attend.

99% of the time that its on its forgotten; but that 1% ?
Every blue moon there is an inversion or such and it comes alive briefly.

"the 'Fridge is talking, Lauri"

That's when the DX makes it worth while..... that, in addition to the mountain goats that want to try a 446 confirmation for SOTA.

.

 

[footage]

I hear 446.000 occasionally in San Francisco and have had some neighborhood QSOs. And mountaintopping west of Portland (Oregon) will sometimes also flush out stations in that city or proximal Washington state.

 

[chrismol1]

.52 can get sometimes someone wanting a quick chat thru but nearly all nights 52 is almost never used over main hangout repeater so when it is, its always the same guys get on .52 when they don't want the "wide area" repeater to hear some stuff, plus its not streamed online by anyone. Hey they use good practice and put out lowest power to make sure everyone in the round table can hear "i'll swing the beam you're way" .Sometimes it gets interesting when it turns into some trash talk. They'll get on .52 when someone boring or crude is hogging the repeater and trash em on .52 haha

 

[ladn]

so I was wondering, you say that you do hear a call sign, what information do you gain when you look that up in the database and do you think it's worth it to at least go on the record with your local FCC office?

The callsign that "Little Saigon" gives matches to a female extra class licensee in Mariposa, CA (on the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas near Yosemite) which is several hundreds of miles north of Orange Co. "Little Saigon" is definitely a male voice. It is entirely possible I'm not hearing his callsign clearly and accurately. I'll try to listen closer (painful as it is) and see if I can catch it.

Until these two lids started hogging the channel, "52" was pretty quiet, especially during the week. A few quick calls and radio checks, SOTA activations, etc. It got a little busier on weekends.

I used to monitor 446.000 in town, but it was mostly a vast wasteland of silence. I've had a few long distance (but not DX worthy) QSO's on 446 when I've been out in the high desert.

I've never monitored 146.580. It's (unofficial) designation as the North American Adventure frequency (https://www.k0nr.com/wordpress/2021/01/north-america-adventure-freq/) is relatively new. It's in my radios' codeplugs as a local ARES or CERT channel, but I'll probably add it to my simplex zone as "NAAF58". When I'm 4wheeling with friends, we use 146.535 and have for years.

 

[MTS2000des]

There was a time when it was considered poor practice to operate contests on the calling frequencies as well, but those days are gone. What you are experiencing are the stages of grief. You are passing through from “denial” to “anger”, over the death of common courtesy, specifically as it pertains to ham radio. I am at the “acceptance” stage, and as such have moved on from ham radio. We will always carry the memories of how things used to be, but there is no looking back.

Amateur radio is a direct reflection of today's selfish society. It's all about ME ME ME. Entitlement attitude is prevalent everywhere.

Used to be, operators cared about technical excellence, LISTENED more than talk. Understood that repeaters are others' property and to respect others' property. Didn't blabbermouth on calling frequencies, kerchunkerbate (kerchunk masturbate) repeaters incessantly, butt into QSOs with nothing relevant to add, but alas, just as society is filled with selfish people buried in a smartphone tweeting everytime they cut a fart, all while ignoring those around them, can one expect the amateur community to be immune from such similar behaviors on the air?

Think about how our society has devolved since the advent of social media, and the endless need for those to CONSUME versus PRODUCE and how this has impacted our hobby. Much less productive participation. Much less of "We" and more of "Me".

 

[k6cpo]

I have dual band radios in my vehicles and I like to monitor 146.52 MHz for SOTA activations in the local mountains and whatever while driving. My home QTH is in the northeast San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles and my work QTH is just off I-10 east of downtown LA.

Over the past few months, I've been hearing one station pretty much nonstop throughout the day. He identifies with a callsign and claim to be in in "Little Saigon" in Orange Co. Recently another station has joined him and advertises his QTH as "near Knotts Berry Farm". Both say they are base stations.

Little Saigon monopolizes the channel by calling CQ and doing radio checks. I hardly ever hear him have a real QSO. Knotts rambles on, and on, talking about how 50 watts of power isn't enough and how he wants to upgrade to 400 watts and use a beam antenna. His voice quality, along with his syntax, is sadly reminiscent of a CB operator (strong signal, slightly muffled voice quality).

I'm not the radio police and both stations are probably operating legally, but certainly pushing the limits of good operating practices. 146.52 is supposed to be a calling frequency but that's only common use and practice. There's no actual requirement that it be used as such. These stations have made it the equivalent of CB Channel 6, aka "the Superbowl".

My radio has a channel selector and volume control and I usually just go off channel or turn down the volume when I hear these clowns. I realize there's nothing more to be done, and like most of the other lids, they will eventually find another shinny bobble to attract their attention.

I feel better, now, after venting.!

Well, this is a switch. Most of the time it's people complaining about the LACK of activity on .52, not too much activity...

 

[MUTNAV]

Amateur radio is a direct reflection of today's selfish society. It's all about ME ME ME. Entitlement attitude is prevalent everywhere.

Used to be, operators cared about technical excellence, LISTENED more than talk. Understood that repeaters are others' property and to respect others' property. Didn't blabbermouth on calling frequencies, kerchunkerbate (kerchunk masturbate) repeaters incessantly, butt into QSOs with nothing relevant to add, but alas, just as society is filled with selfish people buried in a smartphone tweeting everytime they cut a fart, all while ignoring those around them, can one expect the amateur community to be immune from such similar behaviors on the air?

Think about how our society has devolved since the advent of social media, and the endless need for those to CONSUME versus PRODUCE and how this has impacted our hobby. Much less productive participation. Much less of "We" and more of "Me".

I've never heard of amateur radio as you describe it. Except for the smartphone stuff... that is relativly new.

I have a (relatively) old book on radio direction finding, and many of the behaviors that people wanted to RDF were acting like the ones you talk about...

One of the best pieces of advice I got from it (and this is NOT directed at you) was to not get too wound up about it.

Thanks
Joel

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

.

"........(do) not get too wound up about it........"

Good advice Joel

“Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”

― Mark Twain

There are over 770,000 licensed radio hams in the US. What are the chances of you running across an unbalanced clown in that mix ?
Save your energies to fight the windmills you can beat.


"Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with his experience"

_____ Lauri

.

 

[AK9R]

Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with his experience

Cute. I like "Never argue with [fill in the blank]. They like it and you'll just get dirty."

 

[MUTNAV]

Cute. I like "Never argue with [fill in the blank]. They like it and you'll just get dirty."

or the VERY old one, that is actually relevant. (and I paraphrase this, I don't want to mess up a 2,000+ year old saying.)

Don't throw pearls (of wisdom) at a swine, they'll trample them, and then turn on you.



Thanks
Joel

 

[ladn]

The callsign that "Little Saigon" gives matches to a female extra class licensee in Mariposa, CA (on the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas near Yosemite) which is several hundreds of miles north of Orange Co. "Little Saigon" is definitely a male voice. It is entirely possible I'm not hearing his callsign clearly and accurately. I'll try to listen closer (painful as it is) and see if I can catch it.

I was able to park on high ground on the way home today which gave me a chance to listen to a clear signal without distractions.

"Little Saigon" is a General class operator with a postal address in Silverado, CA.
"Knotts" is an Extra class operator with a postal address in Ceritos, CA.

Now it's time for an adult beverage to help get the sounds of lids out of my ears!

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

"............I was able to park on high ground ...."

Its always good to take the high ground in matters like this
(sorry, I just couldn't resist )

____________________________________________________________________________________

"Don't throw snow balls from your canoe at people on shore
who have nothing but big rocks to throw back"***

Hmmmmmmm.... some how that doesn't quite fit here, does it?
Never mind.... its one of my favorites bromides ---- the wine is talking

-------------------------------------------

***a true life lesson

 

[mmckenna]

____________________________________________________________________________________

"Don't throw snow balls from your canoe at people on shore
who have nothing but big rocks to throw back"***

Hmmmmmmm.... some how that doesn't quite fit here, does it?
Never mind.... its one of my favorites bromides ---- the wine is talking

-------------------------------------------

My uncle had a saying that aligned with this pretty well:

"Never spit in a man's face, unless his beard is on fire."​

So far, it's served me well, but I haven't run into anyone with their beard alight.


Back on topic, I think Riley Hollingsworth had some saying about "Spinning the big dial" if something offended you.
Driving through LA, I heard some of this crap. Easy to turn down the volume on the VHF and turn up the tunes.

 

[6079smithw]

A visit from him and his sons would quickly settle the matter without the need of any "badges."
(a la an episode of Yellowstone )

I usually just shut off all the radios (other than the scanner) when passing by/through
most large cities for exactly that reason... St. Louis being the worst of the bunch.

"Badges?" The original from " The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948)
Still, it does appear this person is a prime candidate for a ride to the Train Station...
(USN Westpac x3 1965-1969)

 

[MUTNAV]

I was able to park on high ground on the way home today which gave me a chance to listen to a clear signal without distractions.

"Little Saigon" is a General class operator with a postal address in Silverado, CA.
"Knotts" is an Extra class operator with a postal address in Ceritos, CA.

Now it's time for an adult beverage to help get the sounds of lids out of my ears!

Just a question, what database has "calls" like "Little Saigon" or "Red Rider" unless these are really peoples names ?
I get Knotts, that's really a plausible name, and if he owns a berry farm, then knotts berry farm would be reasonable.

Thanks

Joel

 

[trentbob]

Just a question, what database has "calls" like "Little Saigon" or "Red Rider" unless these are really peoples names ?
I get Knotts, that's really a plausible name, and if he owns a berry farm, then knotts berry farm would be reasonable.

Thanks

Joel

I personally never see handles like that around where I am other than maybe "net control", that's what people do on Citizens Band.

I'm surprised these Jokers even use their legitimate call signs. At the very least they're showing poor etiquette and disruptive conduct, whatever that means anymore.

 

[chrismol1]

I get Knotts, that's really a plausible name, and if he owns a berry farm, then knotts berry farm would be reasonable.

Thanks

Joel

sure, at one time it was a farm