New Ham - 446 ?

[Spankymedic7]

Sorry, I am going to call shenanigans on this statement. There was only one place I ever visited where there were closed 440 repeaters and that was in the People's Republic of California. I think you will find, in most areas, 440 repeater owners don't dare close their repeater since the users are already at the minimum. Why would they block more potential users on an already under-utilized repeater?

There is this general idea that when a new ham gets their license, 2m (VHF) is the ONLY band available or even in existence. That could not be further from the truth. I have always been a primary 440 user and had a bit of an evangelical attitude with it. I would love to see more people take advantage of 440. I think a lot of new hams buy a dual band VHF/UHF HT for their first radio and they never bother to explore the 440 side. It's a shame.

Then you haven't been to Wisconsin, there are several closed 440 repeaters...at least in SE WI. I would imagine that, because 440 is already a sparsely-used band, the closing of a repeater would make it more of a "members only" mentality.

I, too, am a primary 440MHz user, and think its a shame that this actually DOES happen.

73,

Cory-
WI9EMS

 

[Spankymedic7]

I know i'm going to start a storm with this one. But I'm new, and trying to figure out the calling channels. 446.000 is this a calling channel that most people monitor, and if some needs info or help this is where they would call out to anywhere in the country with the best chance of getting someone ?

Same with the 2m calling channel ?

Chris

Start a storm?