2m ham: 146.520 simplex...anyone actually using it?

[ipfd320]

Needairtime----Not Sure But You can Try This Place for you Crystals

Bomar Crystal | OCXO, TCXO, VCXO, Clock oscillators, SMD crystals and oscillators


Bomar Crystal Company
200 B Wood Ave
PO Box 10
Middlesex, NJ 08846

sales@bomarcrystal.com

1 (732) 356-7787
1 (800) 526-3935

FAX: 1 (732) 356-7362
FAX: 1 (800) 777-2197


Here is Another One in Florida--*(AF4K)*
http://www.af4k.com/crystals.htm

 

[mass-man]

Traveling Interstate 20 west from Dallas there seems to be someone on .52 almost all the way to Rl Pado! Several guys run big power and can be copied many miles either direction.

 

[drdispatch]

At one time (years ago) I remember that ARRL was pushing a "wilderness protocol" for .52, suggesting that anyone in the backcountry (and those base stations in proximity thereof) would monitor .52 for a certain amount of time (a few minutes) every hour on the hour. The purpose was that if someone out in the boonies needed assistance, they would be able to contact someone. The once-an-hour thing was meant to save on handheld battery life.

I also recall, while travelling on an interstate somewhere, (again, years ago) seeing a sticker or decal on a vehicle that had the driver's call sign & the line "I monitor 52 simplex". I wasn't licensed yet at the time, but I thought that was a great idea.

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

I took a peek at the Bomar site- it is reassuring to know that custom crystals are available. What wasn't so reassuring are the prices... they didn't list any. For hobby class crystals, I am afraid, on that alone, they are cost prohibitive.
"If you have to ask, you can't afford"....
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Mainsail, you mentioned 121.5, "Guard" channel. For years I carried a Icom A4 airband transceiver out in the Pacific on our work projects. We used it to co-ordinate our deployments with the aircraft (and for the little reasurance against the always nagging feeling they'd forget to come back for us.)
Frequency 122.75 sticks in my mind as one we used, though I think it was properly for air-to-air. Many evening I would chat with high altitude aircraft coursing across the Pacific on 123.45, usually ID'ing as "(fill in the blank) Atoll Unicom"
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I bring this all back around to the "52" discussion: For there are still plenty of places where 'cel phones don't cover. Where my home is, there are few-to-no usable ham repeaters- everything is fringe--- but there are neighbor-hams that listen on "52" all the time. So I carry a little handheld on hikes 'just in case'-and to chat from mountain tops. I also still have my A4, which also (usually) goes into the pack (its a tad heavy.) If everything else has hit the fan, I can go on the Unicom's of local airfields, or call in blind desperation on "Guard."
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Lauri
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[wyShack]

Needairtime-

Step size of a PLL is not just a function of bit count. Use a lower frequency reference then mix to hit your range. As long as you have a Microcontroller let it do the math..

 

[needairtime]

That is true it's not a function of bit count, but it was a conscious decision to simplify the design. I wanted to make sure that I didn't need to build a 17 (or most likely, 20 -- trying to use off the shelf CLA adders as much as possible) bit counter, at least for now. Later I will need to find a better counter solution past 16 bits so I can reduce the reference lower to hit 5KHz step, but right now it's "sweet 16" due to the state of my current parts cabinet.

I hope phase noise won't start creeping in if it's not already! I'm already fearing this beyond lock time...