220 Making a Comeback?

[fineshot1]

I used to really love 220 in the mid-80s. I had a Drake UV-3 with an Icom IC-3AT (yes, thumbwheels, not LCD). All the cool people were there. I carried it until about 1988, then something happened and I went to 440 pretty much full-time from there. It was a local issue. Can't exactly remember why. Magic times.

So, what if 220 was to make a resurgence? Maggiore ("Hi-Pro Repeaters") is out of business. Jerry at Hamtronics looks like he's cutting back on pretty much everything. How will we build decent repeaters now? I'm even having trouble finding Micor stuff except for the pile I have in my garage (which the Mrs. wishes would disappear).

There is no 220 repeater anywhere near where I currently live, and I lived outside the range of anything 220 in my previous place. I'd have to go back to NJ/NYC 17 years ago to find them. I wouldn't be opposed to tinkering, but it's hard when everything is going away.

I made my 220 repeater out of a converted VHF-Hi GE MastrII Station. Excellent receiver and the
PLL Exciter can be a decent driver (330mW) for a variety of RF Amps some of which are also
converted commercial gear Uniden ARX1250. been running since 2004 with little problem.

 

[62Truck]

Definitely hoping with this new equipment coming out from Alinco and Jetstream that maybe we can get a little more activity on 220 MHz. We already lost two MHz, don't need to lose anymore. Repeater owners, think about 220!

The 220 machine in or near Carmel (one with IRLP)seems to be pretty active. Is the Patterson used at all?

 

[902]

I made my 220 repeater out of a converted VHF-Hi GE MastrII Station. Excellent receiver and the
PLL Exciter can be a decent driver (330mW) for a variety of RF Amps some of which are also
converted commercial gear Uniden ARX1250. been running since 2004 with little problem.

Neat! I have two MASTR II repeaters; one is on 2 meters, the other is still up-band with an "e" controller that I don't have software for. I read the articles on Repeater Builder about guys who go in and re-do the turns in the coils and change out the capacitors to get on 220. I guess it's a someday project for me. I re-did a low band Micor like that and brought it to 6 meters. Used it for a few years, but set it aside. I have that in a box somewhere. That not having commercial equipment was always the thing about 220.

 

[fineshot1]

I read the articles on Repeater Builder about guys who go in and re-do the turns in the coils and change out the capacitors to get on 220. I guess it's a someday project for me.

The casting re-coiling is the toughest part to do and the rest is mostly easy as long as you have the parts.
I would recommend the castings that have the tin plating rather than the aluminum non plated castings.
I have done both and had intermittent alignment problems with the non plated castings due to bad RF
connections at the top of the coils with the alignment screws needing constant re-alignments. It drove
me crazy every two weeks or so. After I replaced the casting with the tin plated one I have never had to
go back and retouch them up for year after year.

 

[902]

The casting re-coiling is the toughest part to do and the rest is mostly easy as long as you have the parts.
I would recommend the castings that have the tin plating rather than the aluminum non plated castings.
I have done both and had intermittent alignment problems with the non plated castings due to bad RF
connections at the top of the coils with the alignment screws needing constant re-alignments. It drove
me crazy every two weeks or so. After I replaced the casting with the tin plated one I have never had to
go back and retouch them up for year after year.

LOL! Yeah, really! Years ago, I worked in a two-way shop. We were Motorola, but we bid a few GE contracts and inherited some MASTR II stations along the way. The funkiest thing was just moving some of those stations caused the dendrites coming off the castings to short up against the coils and make the station deaf! I've done wire brush and soapy water, blowing with compressed air, and a bunch of other stuff just to work around it. Don't want to pick on GE. The Mostar 800 trunked radios (a/k/a wheel chocks) had the same problem.

This box of disk ceramics would be on my wish-list. Some US company used to market something like this, maybe 20 years ago. I don't remember if it was CES. It came in a clear hinged plastic minibox with dividers. This would be perfect for playing with band conversions. Having a Pace or Ungar desoldering station would be helpful, too.

I've got a bunch of VHF T73 Micor mobiles, too...

 

[KO3D]

220-222 was auctioned to UPS back in the 90s for their amplitude compandered sideband system which never took off but we didn't get the band back. Just like USAF Pave Paws now turning up on the 440 band. Where I live in PA there is hardly any repeater activity on 2m and 70cm, never mind 135cm.

In the past decade or so that I've had scanners that can tune 200 MHz, I can probably count on both hands the number of times I've heard HAM contacts being made on 220. Probably not exactly safe to say it's necessarily "dead", but it has at least acquired (or been given) a terminal illness.

Besides, isn't 200 MHz the "UPS band" now? ;o)

 

[AC2OY]

Oh, sure! Roland is an old friend of mine. We've known each other since the 80s. Last caught him from his Vermont QTH on 40 and 80 meters when I was still living in the Midwest. That's always something when you're tuning around and you hear a familiar callsign, especially someone you knew from years ago.

We used to talk about politics and various junk late into the night on 440 over the years. I think he hangs out on the (or maybe what used to be the) "11 Alive" repeater, or maybe on Bernie's repeater. I'm so disconnected from the NY Metro ham scene these days.

Ok kewl if I talk to him Ill mention you to him!!!... I have to input more machines off his list and see what ones I can hit. I know I can hit Woodridge,Lyndhurst,Wayne(440) Nutley(220) Paramus,and BERS(144) so far!!

 

[rescuecomm]

Still a couple of repeaters in upstate SC, but little activity anymore. I still have an Icom IC38A and a Kenwood TM331 in a drawer. The Kenwood is nearly new. Anyway, I have an Icom IC3AT (pretty much useless since most repeaters use a PL tone) and an Icom IC03AT. Everyone here went to 440 when radios got cheap enough.

Bob

 

[K2KOH]

The 220 machine in or near Carmel (one with IRLP)seems to be pretty active. Is the Patterson used at all?

Bob's machine in Carmel is awesome. I monitor Patterson but hear nothing.

 

[62Truck]

Bob's machine in Carmel is awesome. I monitor Patterson but hear nothing.

The Patterson Machine I don't think I'd putting out much power.

Beacons 220 machine is temporary offline due to a antenna issue. We do have a backup one on the air on Illinois south site and that has seem to be working fairly well being the antenna is only above the roof.

The 223.920 machine has its days when it's Quiet or active.

 

[902]

220-222 was auctioned to UPS back in the 90s for their amplitude compandered sideband system which never took off but we didn't get the band back. Just like USAF Pave Paws now turning up on the 440 band. Where I live in PA there is hardly any repeater activity on 2m and 70cm, never mind 135cm.

There's kind of a difference. 420-450 "belongs to" the NTIA for government services, as the primary user. PAVEPAWS is a pain you know where, and I've got friends in Mass. who had to turn their power way down or go somewhere else. But it's a risk we 440 repeater owners take.

220 on the other hand, was a petition to take away what some special interest perceived to be fallow spectrum ("Eh, those hams don't use it...") for the profit of the special interest. To add insult to injury, UPS abandoned the project and used CDPD for the docking clipboards instead. They have data centers in Mahwah, NJ and Alpharetta, GA that track transactions and locate packages wherever they are in the flow. No sense building your own system (and paying for site acquisition, fixed-end network equipment, technician response, etc.) when someone else, like the cellular providers, have done it for you. So the 6.25 kHz requirement eluded equipment of the past and ACSB was a bust, even with trunked systems. IF 220 ran NXDN or DMR as a 6.25 kHz equivalency, it would kick butt.

But that's the precedent - they'll take and throw away rather than give back. Keep your eyes open. There is a new FCC commissioner inbound for Obama-2 and he is a moneyman from "industry." If, for any other reason, we should consider making our legislators take amateur radio away from the FCC and give it to the Department of the Interior as a spectral "national park." I can't tell you how close we came to losing 430 - 440 MHz instead of T-Band (it was offered up by a ham, if you could believe it!), and the only thing that saved it was fedstuff like PAVEPAWS.

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

A multi-mode base station like Icom's former IC-375 would be nice as well. Or adding 222 to an all-band/all-mode base/mobile.
Has anyone heard anything recently about a potential Alinco dual-band 222/902 FM mobile to go with their DJ-G29T HT?

 

[jhooten]

Has anyone heard anything recently about a potential Alinco dual-band 222/902 FM mobile to go with their DJ-G29T HT?

Two rumors:
1: it will be displayed at Dayton.
2: Not enough units of the G29 sold to convince them it was a viable product.

I'm more inclined to believe 2 at this point. If for no other reason than I want one, or two, or three (depending on price) to go with my two G29s.

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

I wish I had the money as well :roll: Oh, well.
There's a couple of Ham repeaters in the Phoenix area. Not sure that they're all that active, but, then again, I don't monitor much.

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

I've also just found some 220 repeaters, but I don't know yet if they're commercial or public safety. They have CW ID'ers, but I haven't used Morse since I passed my Novice 22-23 years ago. I started a thread in the Arizona forum about them.

 

[K2KOH]

Two rumors:
1: it will be displayed at Dayton.
2: Not enough units of the G29 sold to convince them it was a viable product.

I'm more inclined to believe 2 at this point. If for no other reason than I want one, or two, or three (depending on price) to go with my two G29s.

I don't know...a few reviews on eham about the G29. If Alinco publicized it more, I think it would sell. Modifying a Motorola is a pain the ***, unless you really know what you're doing. In addition, there is very little Motorola equipment for 220.

 

[K2KOH]

The Patterson Machine I don't think I'd putting out much power.

Beacons 220 machine is temporary offline due to a antenna issue. We do have a backup one on the air on Illinois south site and that has seem to be working fairly well being the antenna is only above the roof.

The 223.920 machine has its days when it's Quiet or active.

Funny thing about Frank's machine. I used to talk on it from White Plains on a portable, but can't hear it over here. Mountains, I guess! It is a good machine, though.

 

[62Truck]

Funny thing about Frank's machine. I used to talk on it from White Plains on a portable, but can't hear it over here. Mountains, I guess! It is a good machine, though.

They are going to be doing a lot of work this spring or summer so hopefully coverage will improve

 

[jhooten]

I don't know...a few reviews on eham about the G29. If Alinco publicized it more, I think it would sell. Modifying a Motorola is a pain the ***, unless you really know what you're doing. In addition, there is very little Motorola equipment for 220.

If only, then I could replace two radios, a modified spectra and a Jetstream JT-220M, with one freeing up enough room in my console to add a 1.2ghz radio.

 

[62Truck]

I don't know...a few reviews on eham about the G29. If Alinco publicized it more, I think it would sell. Modifying a Motorola is a pain the ***, unless you really know what you're doing. In addition, there is very little Motorola equipment for 220.

Modifying the spectras are pretty easy. Now hex editing the RSS is a pain unless you're a computer guru. I have a 900 spectra as a base in the house and it works pretty good.