Where can I get a breakdown of the "assigned ranges" within the 2m and 70cm bands? It seems surprisingly small now that I'm really getting into it? I was doing some testing on my little duplex setup from one end of the house to the other. I started picking up traffic I think from a repeater, but interestingly it was bleeding out through a huge range of frequencies? I thought a 0.050 pop was enough to separate signals but this stuff was coming across a very wide range?
Would need to know more about what you were hearing. You should have plenty of separation frequency wise, however some low end radios may not handle that very well with little physical separation between radios. Or, it's other users. I've found that some hams are running gateways on simplex frequencies that allow them to link into the internet nodes. They are simplex and use the same band plan. I've found some locally that choose to ignore the "gentlemen's frequency step agreement" and will start yelling at you that "U R off freQuenZiEES!!!" quite loudly.
I think I'm going to get the next level up from Technician as I need more bandwidth and just simply love this stuff ...
Moving from a Tech to a General or Extra won't give you any more frequencies on 6 meters or above. You still will have the same access to the same bands you do now, and the band plans still apply.
Am I just a newbie or is that Simplex range incredibly narrow?
No. Remember, you can use any frequency in that range. The general suggestion is you use what ever frequency step is suggested in your area. Some parts of the country use 15KHz steps, so:
146.400
146.415
146.430
146.445
146.460
146.475
146.490
146.505
146.520 -National Simplex Calling
146.535
146.550
146.565
146.580
146.595
147.405
147.420
147.435
147.450
147.465
147.480
147.495
147.510
147.525
147.540
147.555
147.570
147.585
Some parts of the country may suggest 20KHz or 30KHz steps. But remember, 2 meter band is NOT channelized and you can technically use any frequency in that range, you just may run into issues with other users that you will need to cooperate with and resolve. <—Part of being a "good" ham is learning to work with other hams, even if you disagree with them.
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.
www.arrl.org
70cm band gives you 445-447MHz for simplex use, but shared with repeaters.
While harder to get portable radios for:
33cm (900MHz) band will give you a little space around 927MHz that's less likely to have other users. Many are using retired commercial equipment on this band, so it's not something you easily purchase on line.
222-225MHz is also an option. A bit easier to get 1.25 meter band amateur radios, often less users.
Ham radio is not the place if you want secure communications. Encryption is not allowed for these sorts of uses, and anyone can listen in. False sense of security in your comms is a bad thing. This isn't the right place for it. Make it easy on yourself and just run simplex, less chances of you causing interference that way, and much easier to coordinate.
