220 MHz is slowly making a comeback in the NYC Metro area over the past year. 223.940 repeater atop the GE Building / 30 Rock is active late at night. 223.880, 224.360 and 224.660 are also active. Gone are the old 224.240 MHz repeater in Fort Lee NJ which was a popular machine about 25 years ago.
Yeah, after the 2 meter craze of the 70s, 220 was the suburbs that everybody moved out to for the 80s. I had an Icom 3AT and a Drake UV-3 back in the day (and still have them... boxed up somewhere).
The owner of the 424 repeater was part of some very unfortunate event about 3 years ago and is SK. That repeater was on one of the high rise buildings atop the Palisades. He took me up there back around 1987. It is a screaming site.
What about 224.06, and MAMARC (if the club is still around) in Alpine? Back in the day, I used to hang out on 223.88, 224.06, and MAMARC (I only remember the talking controller saying, "THE HOME OF FM," and not the frequency). I also used to be on Ray, K2AQG's (SK) 220 repeater. Then around 1988, I found a more permanent site for my 440 repeater and concentrated more on that. I only checked in on 220 when I came back to visit.
220 is a great band. A little bit of the characteristics of 2 meters, a little bit of 440.