Ham Radio at the Minnesota State Fair

[AAFC]

Hello,

I noticed they have announced the "official" ham radio repeater for the fair this year: Minnesota State Fair 2024 Ham Radio Repeater Announced

Does anyone on this site have any past experience with the official ham repeater during the fair? Is there much ham traffic at the fair? Or is the repeater silent 99% of the time?

I'm going to tune-in my radio to see what I can pickup. It sounds promising but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Thanks.

 

[KD0IDB]

Hello,

I noticed they have announced the "official" ham radio repeater for the fair this year: Minnesota State Fair 2024 Ham Radio Repeater Announced

Does anyone on this site have any past experience with the official ham repeater during the fair? Is there much ham traffic at the fair? Or is the repeater silent 99% of the time?

I'm going to tune-in my radio to see what I can pickup. It sounds promising but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Thanks.

I plan on being there Tuesday with my radio in hand.

 

[KD0DWV]

Will be there next Saturday with radio also monitoring 444.425 and MN State & MN Metro on DMR along with checking FRS/GMRS

 

[AAFC]

I have been monitoring 444.425 since early yesterday morning and I've only heard one short conversation. It was yesterday around mid-day but I couldn't really hear exactly what they were saying as my radio was in the other room.

I need to dust off my old HT and program it with the State Fair repeater.

 

[KD0DWV]

I heard the 444.425 machine was having a little issue and they are hoping to fix it today. Its coverage is currently limited

 

[KD0IDB]

Will be there next Saturday with radio also monitoring 444.425 and MN State & MN Metro on DMR along with checking FRS/GMRS

There is a DMR repeater in Medford MN near me that uses MN metro talk group. It's been a while since I've used it but seems like there are always interesting people on that talk group.

 

[KD0DWV]

There is a DMR repeater in Medford MN near me that uses MN metro talk group. It's been a while since I've used it but seems like there are always interesting people on that talk group.

Yes MN Metro on Brandmeister DMR is very active in MN. A lot of hams switched to MN Metro over MN State because Brandmeister stated we could only have 10 Minute conversations on the state talkgroup and threatened to start banning individuals from the TG. There are also other MN Talkgroups that are active and have helpful ham

 

[AAFC]

Yes MN Metro on Brandmeister DMR is very active in MN. A lot of hams switched to MN Metro over MN State because Brandmeister stated we could only have 10 Minute conversations on the state talkgroup and threatened to start banning individuals from the TG. There are also other MN Talkgroups that are active and have helpful ham

I don't have a DMR radio so digital is all new to me.

Threatening to ban people doesn't do anything to promote the hobby. In fact, it reminds me of the stereotype that salty old ham operators have earned for themselves. It's one of the reasons why a lot of new ham operators don't even bother continuing with the hobby once they run into a few of these guys who think they own the frequencies. I've had my license for 12 years and I can count on one hand the total number of conversations I've had on the ham bands. Ham radio is WAAAY to formal, and there are far too many guys willing to be total jerks to anyone who makes even a simple mistake. I gave up on the hobby shortly after I got my license. I keep a few scanners around (which are now almost useless since encryption) and a 2-meter ham HT for SHTF scenarios but that's about it for me. Plus, you can only talk about antennas for so long... lolol (that seems to be the ONLY topic I ever hear discussed on 2-meter)

Every time I THINK about trying ham radio again, it isn't long until I see (or hear) something like what is posted above (in bold) and then it reminds me why gave it up in the first place. lolol.

I will still be monitoring 444.425 from the south metro but I won't expect to hear much.

Thank guys, for replying to the thread.

 

[KD0DWV]

I don't have a DMR radio so digital is all new to me.

Threatening to ban people doesn't do anything to promote the hobby. In fact, it reminds me of the stereotype that salty old ham operators have earned for themselves. It's one of the reasons why a lot of new ham operators don't even bother continuing with the hobby once they run into a few of these guys who think they own the frequencies. I've had my license for 12 years and I can count on one hand the total number of conversations I've had on the ham bands. Ham radio is WAAAY to formal, and there are far too many guys willing to be total jerks to anyone who makes even a simple mistake. I gave up on the hobby shortly after I got my license. I keep a few scanners around (which are now almost useless since encryption) and a 2-meter ham HT for SHTF scenarios but that's about it for me. Plus, you can only talk about antennas for so long... lolol (that seems to be the ONLY topic I ever hear discussed on 2-meter)

Every time I THINK about trying ham radio again, it isn't long until I see (or hear) something like what is posted above (in bold) and then it reminds me why gave it up in the first place. lolol.

I will still be monitoring 444.425 from the south metro but I won't expect to hear much.

Thank guys, for replying to the thread.

I agree also. I had the same kinda experience back when I got my license in 2008. I ran into a couple crusty old good ol' boys who thought they ran the frequency and repeater. I learned to just let it roll off my back because there is far more good operators willing to help and just have normal conversation with you, then bad operators but they are still around but few and far between.

 

[KD0IDB]

I don't have a DMR radio so digital is all new to me.

Threatening to ban people doesn't do anything to promote the hobby. In fact, it reminds me of the stereotype that salty old ham operators have earned for themselves. It's one of the reasons why a lot of new ham operators don't even bother continuing with the hobby once they run into a few of these guys who think they own the frequencies. I've had my license for 12 years and I can count on one hand the total number of conversations I've had on the ham bands. Ham radio is WAAAY to formal, and there are far too many guys willing to be total jerks to anyone who makes even a simple mistake. I gave up on the hobby shortly after I got my license. I keep a few scanners around (which are now almost useless since encryption) and a 2-meter ham HT for SHTF scenarios but that's about it for me. Plus, you can only talk about antennas for so long... lolol (that seems to be the ONLY topic I ever hear discussed on 2-meter)

Every time I THINK about trying ham radio again, it isn't long until I see (or hear) something like what is posted above (in bold) and then it reminds me why gave it up in the first place. lolol.

I will still be monitoring 444.425 from the south metro but I won't expect to hear much.

Thank guys, for replying to the thread.

That's no lie! I feel the same frustration as you do and I have definitely been cussed out before for not doing things exactly as expected. I'm very picky about who I converse with simply because of that stuff; I tend to communicate more with relaxed HAMs. There are some call signs I hear over the radio and I immediately shut it off or switch to something else. Seems like even the FCC is cracking down on HAMs for trivial things. The hobby isn't as fun as it once was but there are a few decent people left who make up for it in my book.

 

[wogggieee]

The 444.425 repeater is one of the more active repeaters in the metro. They're supposed to have a 7am daily net during the fair with updates and such. I haven't listened yet this year but last year the amount of activity was rather dependent on who was at the fair. Sometimes people were very active and sometimes they weren't. Like someone else said that repeater was having an issue and was being worked on

That Minnesota ham radio page has a discord group that is very active and a good group of folks. If you want more info about that MNSF repeater or other ham stuff in general its a good spot for it.

 

[KD9KSO]

I haven't run into individuals like those described above. But I don't use 2 meter or 70cm very much. There are regulars on the local 2 meter repeater, but they don't act like they own the repeater. Anyone is welcome to talk or break in to a conversation. In fact, I've never heard anyone act like that on any repeater around here for 50 miles.

I use HF mostly to listen for now, but get up on 10 meters occasionally. I'm still studying for my General exam. I've never heard those types of individuals on HF either.

 

[wogggieee]

I haven't run into individuals like those described above. But I don't use 2 meter or 70cm very much. There are regulars on the local 2 meter repeater, but they don't act like they own the repeater. Anyone is welcome to talk or break in to a conversation. In fact, I've never heard anyone act like that on any repeater around here for 50 miles.

I use HF mostly to listen for now, but get up on 10 meters occasionally. I'm still studying for my General exam. I've never heard those types of individuals on HF either.

I really haven't either. That's more online than on the air and they're usually pretty easy to ignore.

 

[KF8ZR]

I heard a guy who runs some of the minneapolis repeaters calling out to anothrr ham but never got a response back, so i waited a moment and decided to call out to him and he jumped all over me for "not following the correct procedure". Hard to want to get on TG3127 if thats how they behave.