Our local group hangs out on 147.555 simplex. There is repeaters in the area that are used sparingly. Our club has one on 146.790. This past weekend, a lot of us used 146.520 after leaving the Orlando Hamfest on the way home.
146.520!
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k3td
Member
52.525 MHz
Don't forget 52.525 MHz - long live 6 FM ... and SSB/CW and digital for that matter.
Don't forget 52.525 MHz - long live 6 FM ... and SSB/CW and digital for that matter.
rapidcharger
Member
Hey, I'm just keeping with tradition. Have fun using those frequencies with with all the P25 and motoTRBO on it.
Since it's not an FCC rule and nobody seems to mind, I think I'll create an echolink node with a P25 radio and an IRLP node with a DMR radio connected full time to the busiest reflector I can find and I'll put one on 146.52 and the other on 446.
Hey, I'm just keeping with tradition. Have fun using those frequencies with with all the P25 and motoTRBO on it.
I won't hear you, so have at it...
73,
n9zas
Token
Member
I have 146.52 programmed in all of my radios and scan it whenever I am traveling (and 29.6, 52.525, 446, etc, and 50.125, 144.200, 432.1 in the rigs with SSB). When traveling across country you often have a 5 – 20 minute window for contacts, particularly if the other station is west bound on 40 while you are east bound. In those instances I do not move off .520 for the contact.
Here locally we periodically light up 146.520 with local chatter. No, it is not our primary talk around 2M freq, but if we do not use it it is not uncommon for the frequency to be empty for days. I am 100% sure there are often hams on the road, with 146.520 programmed in, passing through. But because of the remoteness here they may not think anyone is monitoring .520. So, we occasionally move to 146.520 and carry on a short conversation, and when we do we quite often get people passing through the valley joining in. It’s pretty simple, when we don’t use it there may be several days in a row when the radio does not stop on 146.520 during scan, when we do use it we seldom go 1 full day without someone, not local, commenting into the discussion.
If it is a call only freq and discussions are never allowed then you might as well give the freq back in remote areas like this. What good is it to program in the freq, have it in scan, and no one ever use it? By the same token, I really dislike long winded people keying down for 20 minutes at a time on the calling freq. We had one guy we called “horizon-to-horizon Bob”, pretty much every time he ever keyed down he held the key long enough for a mobile to enter our valley, completely traverse it, and exit, before he unkeyed. More than one time he started a QSO with a mobile, and the mobile station got in exactly one transmission, the first one. If you are going to use any calling freq in a remote location keep in mind others may want to make a call, allow longer pauses.
In crowded locals I like the idea of a calling freq, a place to establish contact and move your party off freq. But normally if it is someone you know and talk with regularly that is not going to happen, as you are probably just going to have a freq you use all the time and call them there.
T!
Here locally we periodically light up 146.520 with local chatter. No, it is not our primary talk around 2M freq, but if we do not use it it is not uncommon for the frequency to be empty for days. I am 100% sure there are often hams on the road, with 146.520 programmed in, passing through. But because of the remoteness here they may not think anyone is monitoring .520. So, we occasionally move to 146.520 and carry on a short conversation, and when we do we quite often get people passing through the valley joining in. It’s pretty simple, when we don’t use it there may be several days in a row when the radio does not stop on 146.520 during scan, when we do use it we seldom go 1 full day without someone, not local, commenting into the discussion.
If it is a call only freq and discussions are never allowed then you might as well give the freq back in remote areas like this. What good is it to program in the freq, have it in scan, and no one ever use it? By the same token, I really dislike long winded people keying down for 20 minutes at a time on the calling freq. We had one guy we called “horizon-to-horizon Bob”, pretty much every time he ever keyed down he held the key long enough for a mobile to enter our valley, completely traverse it, and exit, before he unkeyed. More than one time he started a QSO with a mobile, and the mobile station got in exactly one transmission, the first one. If you are going to use any calling freq in a remote location keep in mind others may want to make a call, allow longer pauses.
In crowded locals I like the idea of a calling freq, a place to establish contact and move your party off freq. But normally if it is someone you know and talk with regularly that is not going to happen, as you are probably just going to have a freq you use all the time and call them there.
T!
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Nope, amateur radio operators are really no different then CB. When I was licensed as an CB operator, 9 was an emergency channel, 11 a monitoring channel and 14 and 19 were talking channels. Then along came everyone with their particular agenda. And chaos occurred on all the CB band. Now this is happening with 146.52 and all other simplex frequencies. Everyone and their dog has their own agenda which is quickly leading us down the path of CB chaos. Without coordination across the country, we may as well throw it into the ocean as I have with CB.
rapidcharger
Member
The nice thing about having a designated calling frequency is so that on the perhaps rare occasions you need to contact another station, 146.52 gives you a nice clear and quiet place to make your call.
If a conversation is going on, even far away, a weak low power station can't get in there.
Yeah it may be quiet for days on end... that's the point.
If a conversation is going on, even far away, a weak low power station can't get in there.
Yeah it may be quiet for days on end... that's the point.
Token
Member
No, the point is to be able to establish communications there if needed or desired, either with someone you want to contact or with someone in general. Since there are no active repeaters in the area and people traveling through our area have no idea what our local talk around freq might be how are they supposed to raise anyone? If we are on 146.48 in a QSO and radios not scanning, sometimes ever active operator in the valley, what good is it to have a 2M calling freq if no one will hear it?
That is why I said long pauses when using a calling freq for a talk around. Give other stations a chance to grab the freq if needed or to raise a station to help if needed. People should give a pause anytime in a QSO, so many people quick-key it is not even funny, but any conversation on a calling freq should pay special attention to potentially weak stations or to anyone who desires to break in / comment.
Remember, I am talking about a remote area near Death Valley and I am especially talking about when we are in the next valley over. The more populated the area the less I support using calling freqs for a talk around. But in our situation if we are not on freq talking your chances of actually finding anyone, unless you know our talk around freqs, are pretty small.
T!
Irregardless, how cb was used in your day, there never was a legal designation for any particular channel other than ch.9, just like there is no legal designation for 146.520, or any of the calling channels. These are only regional opinions, nothing more.
I have no problem with a qso on a calling channel, but cb doesn't exist anymore as far as I'm concerned.
73,
n9zas
As there is nothing in the FCC rules about what frequency is used for what, on CB or ham.. Who cares?
Everything starts as gentlemens agreements and evolves from there. Times change, needs change..
No need to sit here and argue about it.. Unless you thrive on the conflict, then please, by all means continue. I'll unsubscribe from the thread and let you all duke it out..
Everything starts as gentlemens agreements and evolves from there. Times change, needs change..
No need to sit here and argue about it.. Unless you thrive on the conflict, then please, by all means continue. I'll unsubscribe from the thread and let you all duke it out..
TheSpaceMan
Member
Activity on 52 has picked up quite a bit lately in the NY and CT shoreline areas. Usually hams will chat for a brief time on 52, then bounce over to another simplex frequency.
146.52 is pretty active in my area during certain times of the day and on Saturday. Combination of shorter rag-chews staying on frequency, others start out there and move to another freq., and lots of mobile operation. Unfortunately there is some drama at times, but just having people talking seems to draw in some travelers and outsiders who actually heard people talking and knew that they were close to them and wanted to talk. Some are people that travel back and forth through the area and know they have a good chance of contacting someone. I've listened to about 5 different QSOs as I typed this reply.
Like someone said, the way the channel operates here is a local tradition more than meeting a fixed guideline and seems to work OK most of the time. What is considered acceptable here evolves and changes somewhat over time as people come and go. Most of the time I leave my radio in a scan mode that will pick up on any 52 traffic if I'm here working on my computer or other projects.
Like someone said, the way the channel operates here is a local tradition more than meeting a fixed guideline and seems to work OK most of the time. What is considered acceptable here evolves and changes somewhat over time as people come and go. Most of the time I leave my radio in a scan mode that will pick up on any 52 traffic if I'm here working on my computer or other projects.
To me there is no problem with using 52 for QSO's as long as longer breaks are left for mobile stations, etc. to jump in. In larger areas where traffic is heavier this may not be as practical--then I would think that calling and moving would be wiser. However we hardly ever hear traffic on 52 in this area, the only stuff I ever hear is a group of hams that chat there regularly from Canada. (We're on the shore of Lake Erie.)
I kept 52 on my radio on my last road trip--I could have called CQ there all day until I was blue in the face, I heard not 1 station there the entire 7-hour ride in the car.
I kept 52 on my radio on my last road trip--I could have called CQ there all day until I was blue in the face, I heard not 1 station there the entire 7-hour ride in the car.
Well said and exactly what I was thinking. I'm sure if I were in a big city where .52 was always busy, I'd make contact and switch to another frequency but around Montana, and I suspect in the "Mountains of PA," there can be nothing for days so I fail to see the problem with a two-minute conversation. It seems understood that long conversations will move to another frequency but for short conversations, nobody is bothered.
Back to one of the comments from the original poster about not hearing chatter very often; not only is it the fact that not much happens here but the talkers also need to be in range of you so the chances of people using that freq and being in range does make it pretty random if you are in a rural area.
I can go for months without hearing anything other than a few local hams.
JeramyJ
Member
I had no idea that 146.520 was the national call frequency. Great info there.
WB4CS
Member
Here's a handy reference from the ARRL for suggested band plans. Note that except for areas where the FCC has placed rules for band usage (CW/Phone assignments on HF for example) this is a suggested "gentlemen's agreement" band plan and is not written in stone as the law. Band plans for VHF/UHF will vary in each state but more or less follows these suggestions in most locations. Link: ARRL Band Plan
N1XDS
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Yes sir, 146.520 and 446.000 are the National call frequency it's popular in some areas.
What's the big attraction for using the .52 National Simplex Calling Frequency for long winded QSO's? Do hams do this on the 2 meter SSB calling frequency? Why not use .52 it for what it is... a CALLING frequency. I've always understood the definition of a calling frequency as one designated for calling a station and moving to another frequency after you've made contact. In our area the local guys ALWAYS want to go to ".52 simplex" when in simplex range, I refuse and pick another simplex frequency because I already know the station I'm talking to and want to keep the calling frequency clear. It's a lazy man's frequency.... they don't have to think about the band plan and find a frequency, it's easier just to remember .52.
This hobby is getting more and more lax on rules and procedures. I became an amateur radio operator because, unlike C.B. radio, there are rules,regulations and procedures. There's no need for the ARRL if we don't support them,. i.e., honor the suggested band plan. How am I to know what the local/regional band plan is if I'm traveling through an area? Why not stick to the ARRL band plan so we can all be on the same sheet of music?
I believe the ham radio hobby will go by the way of the C.B. radio hobby, people ignore rules, regulations, etc., and do what they want to do and then the hobby turns into another 11 meter cesspool. The more I think about it.... maybe the C.B. radio folks have one up on us. At least they have channel 19 designated as a road/info channel, channel 9 is the emergency channel, and channels 36-40 are used for SSB. Seems they are smarter than us after all.....
This hobby is getting more and more lax on rules and procedures. I became an amateur radio operator because, unlike C.B. radio, there are rules,regulations and procedures. There's no need for the ARRL if we don't support them,. i.e., honor the suggested band plan. How am I to know what the local/regional band plan is if I'm traveling through an area? Why not stick to the ARRL band plan so we can all be on the same sheet of music?
I believe the ham radio hobby will go by the way of the C.B. radio hobby, people ignore rules, regulations, etc., and do what they want to do and then the hobby turns into another 11 meter cesspool. The more I think about it.... maybe the C.B. radio folks have one up on us. At least they have channel 19 designated as a road/info channel, channel 9 is the emergency channel, and channels 36-40 are used for SSB. Seems they are smarter than us after all.....
KD8DVR
Member
In my area, it is fairly balanced. folks on their way to and from whatever may toss out their call, and talk to whoever is listening. Then there are a few folks who hang out there; but will chat with whoever is passing by, or their own group.
For whatever reasons people use .52, everyone gets to use it, and no one ever complains. At any rate, the folks around here are pretty cordial anyhow.
For whatever reasons people use .52, everyone gets to use it, and no one ever complains. At any rate, the folks around here are pretty cordial anyhow.
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