Hunters on marine radios again

[wbswetnam]

Well, it's that time of year when hunters are out and around here in Arkansas, and I'm hearing them on marine frequencies again. "Bring that dog over here, Carl." Maybe they think that nobody would be listening in on those frequencies this far from the coast, but I do listen because of the barge traffic on the Arkansas River which passes only two miles from my home.

It reminds me of when I worked for Radio Shack back in the mid 1980s. We had a no refund / no return policy on handheld CBs. The reason is that, many times, hunters would come in on Thursday or Friday, buy several units, then try to return them on Monday for a refund. We were in business for sales, not lending out stuff for free use over the weekend.

 

[Hit_Factor]

Hopefully they are using freqs that don't interfere with the shipping traffic. I have a friend who Pilots ships on the Great Lakes. I rode a freighter with him this past summer. Very interesting for sure. They only monitor a couple channels on VHF.

If using HTs their signal is probably too weak to really matter. I imagine this time of year the recreational boater chatter has stopped for the season.

I hope Carl and the dogs get what they are after.

 

[spacellamaman]

any channels or freqs seem to be used repeatedly ie: channel 1 or whatever is the one that is selected out of the box?

 

[TailGator911]

It reminds me of when I worked for Radio Shack back in the mid 1980s. We had a no refund / no return policy on handheld CBs. The reason is that, many times, hunters would come in on Thursday or Friday, buy several units, then try to return them on Monday for a refund. We were in business for sales, not lending out stuff for free use over the weekend.

Same problem with the Radio Shack stores I managed in Florida back in the 80s. Brevard/Osceola county hog hunters. Rent-a-Radio if we didn't put a stop to it.

 

[thevig]

I worked for Radio Shack in the early 90's. We had the same policy. Also had a no refund policy at Christmas time on RC cars. Batteries and chargers for those back then really sucked. Cars came with a standard charger. Took 8 hours+ to charge the battery. Lasted only 10 or maybe 20 minutes before you had to recharge. We had signage up to help minimize pissed off parents showing up on the 26th because little Johnny only got to use his new toy for 10 minutes. Of course most of the headaches could be avoided if the parents would have ponied up an additional $60 for a fast charger.

Sometimes you have to fire the customer in advance.

 

[spongella]

I hear them on my GMRS radio during hunting season, and some appear to be whispering.

 

[Hit_Factor]

... appear to be whispering.

Definitely hunters

 

[IC-R20]

It's not that they don't think no one will listen, they just don't care and neither does anyone else. When I used to live near the coast dum-dums would do that on channel 16 all the time and the coast guard would tell them to move off to channel 68 or something like that. These days though it would be cheaper and better to just get a pair of cheap chinese commercial radios and program in some itinerants.