The Official 1.25m Appreciation Thread

[K1VSR]

Let's use this thread to talk about anything related to the meter-and-a-quarter band. Did you work some summer tropo DX on 223.5 FM simplex, or maybe 222.1 SSB? Are you a 1.25m repeater owner? Are you new to the band and want to find activity? Do you have questions about radios for the band? Let's get all of us 1.25m addicts together and talk about why we love amateur radio's VHF hideaway. :D

I personally spend most of my operating time on the band. A few of us have a nightly sked on 223.46 simplex. In addition, I can always be found on the 224.62 N1TVZ repeater in Attleboro, MA (I'm a control op there). It's easily the most active 222 repeater in the Providence area. There are about 9 or 10 of us who use the repeater regularly and newcomers are always welcome! Another very active repeater in my area is the 224.38 WR1O repeater in Paxton, MA. That machine is among the best covering repeaters in the state of Massachusetts on any band, and the crew over there is awesome and always welcoming to newcomers. There isn't much sideband in this area, except during contests. I'd love to have the capability to do sideband and CW on 222.1 but unfortunatley that requires an HF rig, a transverter, and a beam, which also means a sizeable investment that I just can't make right now.

Anyway, I can't be the only 1.25m band advocate around here. I want to hear from the rest of you!

[KA4DPO]

I can honestly say that I have never worked 220......

[K1VSR]

I can honestly say that I have never worked 220......

I'm sure many hams would say that as well. Is there any activity in your area that you're aware of? If not, I always tell everyone the same thing...find another ham who you know that might be interested, both of you buy some radios, and use the band. Even if it's just simplex...

[KD6WAG]

Yup, I'm a 1.25m junkie. I was on 223.5 (nat'l simplex freq.) and put out a call. I got a guy and we had a nice qso. All of a sudden, a guy in an airplane gets on the same freq and joins our qso. I wouldn't have been too excited about that if it happened on 2m or 70cm. I talk on 70cm all the time from a helicopter. But the air-to-ground on 1.25m was spectacular!

Another time I was on a desert trip with about 30 people. Everybody that had radios for their motor-homes had either CB's or 2m/440 radios. Everybody that had ham radios were using 146.52. It was crowded. Nobody but my close friend and I had 1.25m. We used the 222mHz simplex frequency in private. It was great and especially nice to have a clear channel.

Out here in CA, we have a nice linked system that is open to all hams. It's called the "CONDOR" system. Off the top of my head, it's about 10 linked 222mHz linked repeaters going up/down the entire state. Plus, there is one linked out into AZ.

There is another great linked 222mHz system that goes up/down the state and into remote desert areas too. That is a private system, but it's all on 1.25m.

My future project will be to construct a beam antenna to work 1.25 SSB.

I'm setting a new goal to promote and encourage anybody that's getting into ham radio, or perhaps already into ham radio to purchase a new 222mHz rig. I'd like to encourage all of you fellow hams out there to try to "push" just one of your ham friends to buy and get into 222mHz.

If we all "recruited" one person into the world of 1.25, it may get popular and some day, we might get more spectrum back from the FCC. Not only that, maybe Kenwood and the others would bring back a "Tri-bander" mobile with 222mHz.

...those are my thoughts on 1.25m.

[aa3re]

I am also a fan of 222mhz band. I co-own a 1.25cm repeater that is linked with a 6 meter repeater, my other favorite band. I like to take the less beaten path. 6 meters is great for mobiles, less picket fence mobile than with the higher VHF bands. The bonus on 222 is the VERY low noise floor. I have noticed 222 to work as well or better than 2meters. The advantage goes to 222 by its advantages signal to noise ratio. This I have found to also be true for SSB/CW work on 222. When ever working a 2 meter SSB station and then moving to 222 SSB both stations typically are running less power and antenna on 222 than 2 meters but 90% of the time have just as good of copy. I use a Yaesu FT736r on 222 and will not give that radio up for my left arm. Another benifit to 222, TV antenna's make excellent doners for parts for the 222 band. Using a 7 element home brew vertical for FM. I also use an 11 element horizontal for SSB/CW weak signal. All from TV antennas, they shoud be real plentyfull soon just for the asking.
Also in my area is a small but long time simplex group on 223.67
The rigs are out there, antennas easily made. Just dont forget, the band is there and its a good one.
73 de AA3RE

[kb9rqz]

I am found of the band and used it a fairbit when I first got licensed and their was a nice repeater nearby that use 2/ 1.25/70 cm I liked the quiet of the band myself I was amsued (as was the repeater owner although he was less when he leared I knew or anyone but) bthat he set up the repteater to accept the 220 input over the others an used it to control the repeater

up here I think I am the only guy with any 220 gear Id like to promote it some but so many things, so little time

[N5USR]

I have a 220 repeater here at home. It is mostly (at this point) an overgrown remote base, the vast majority of the activity is on the 2M remote base I have set to the local simplex "ragchew" frequency. Interestingly, just yesterday I happened to find out that there are a fair number of people listening to the repeater while talking on the simplex frequency. But so far I'm the only one that actually uses the repeater - I can use my HT on 50mW anywhere in about a mile radius.

I am soon going to add a second remote base, it'll be an FT-8900 so I can go to 6M, 10M or 440. I wouldn't mind a 6M repeater, but would need some duplexers or arrange to set up a split-site with a friend. Right now there are a few coordinated 6M machines for my area, but nothing is on the air...

I think a lot of the fun for me is that there aren't a lot of people on the band. Same reason I like 440 - plenty of people have radios capable of getting there few actually bother to try it out. It means I can goof around testing and playing with things, and odds are nobody would even know I was there... :p

[ne3r]

I used to chat on the K3MAD repeater in Frederick MD quite a bit. And even though we only made 3 or 4 contacts, we were running 222 at field day in 2006. My 1.25M gear was stolen and I've yet to replace it. I'd like to add an Alinco DR-235T to the mobile and one at home, plus a 222 transverter. It is too bad they don't put the band in all of those dc to daylight rigs. It would probably see more activity if they did.

73 de Joseph Durnal NE3R

[WA7KKP]

We should call 222 MHz the forgotten band . . . especially the ARRL who seem to have forgotten the bottom 2 MHz sold to UPS and never implemented.

My 13-509's and Alinco handheld are about the only 220 gear in NW MO . . . so I don't get much activity. Too bad we didn't have a commercial allocation nearby to provide us with a surplus of good equipment to modify . . .

My Alinco is a suppository radio -- when the ARRL "looses" the last 3 MHz, the President will get it in a box marked, Preparation H.

Gary WA7KKP

[kl7aj]

the best thing about 220 may be the very fact that there's almost no commercial equipment for it...you almost HAVE to roll your own.

Keeps the riff-raff out, for sure!

eric

[WA3RA]

Plenty of 222 activity in NEPA. I actually hear the Paxton, Mass box once in a while from Scranton.

Hmmm...a 13-509, a controller, and a coupla cans....instant repeater!:D

[KC9JIQ]

I have a 220 repeater here at home. It is mostly (at this point) an overgrown remote base, the vast majority of the activity is on the 2M remote base I have set to the local simplex "ragchew" frequency. Interestingly, just yesterday I happened to find out that there are a fair number of people listening to the repeater while talking on the simplex frequency. But so far I'm the only one that actually uses the repeater - I can use my HT on 50mW anywhere in about a mile radius.

I am soon going to add a second remote base, it'll be an FT-8900 so I can go to 6M, 10M or 440. I wouldn't mind a 6M repeater, but would need some duplexers or arrange to set up a split-site with a friend. Right now there are a few coordinated 6M machines for my area, but nothing is on the air...

I think a lot of the fun for me is that there aren't a lot of people on the band. Same reason I like 440 - plenty of people have radios capable of getting there few actually bother to try it out. It means I can goof around testing and playing with things, and odds are nobody would even know I was there... :p

My neighbor is planning to setup a 220 repeater, not many people monitor 220, and your comment about 440 was kinda funny, the Magic net up at St. Louis area, the 2 meter tx was down and you had to use 440 to participate in the net, hardly any check-ins.:confused:

[KI4PRK]

the best thing about 220 may be the very fact that there's almost no commercial equipment for it...you almost HAVE to roll your own.

Keeps the riff-raff out, for sure!

eric

I've never done the band, but as with many young hams I'm eager to try everything. I can wield a Soldering Iron as good as many long-time hams, and better than some of the older ones with poorer eyesight (a fact, not an insult). Any good instructions for a 222 MHz transceiver?

73, de Brennen KI4PRK age 13

[K0RGR]

I was pretty active on 220 in California - there were several repeaters there. But when I moved to the upper Midwest, I ended up selling my 220 gear - no use for it here. I was the only guy in EN33 on 222 SSB for a number of years, and I usually did better on that band than on 2 or 432.

222 is a great band, too bad it isn't used much. Tropo is different on that band.

[AF9J]

I used to do 222, back when I had my FT-736R back in the 90s. But, there was hardly any activity outside of contests, here in the upper midwest, on 222 SSB & CW.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[KB8GFF]

Toledo Ohio is full of 220 simplex folks..223.420 being the hottest. We just lay low and listen.
Some Hi Profile Repeaters also in Glass City as will as Detroit.
Great Band been on it for over 20 years...
Gear is getting hard to come by tho...:)

[aa3re]

A Midland 13-509 makes an excellent base for a repeater. Have one on the air as a rptr now over 10 years. A good work horse radio. The link from my 220 rptr to 6 meters is by a 13-509 on 1w into a dummy load for the last five years. The system gets daily use on weekdays.
Another good source for the way onto 220 is by Down East Microwave stuff.
www.downeastmicrowave.com
If you have a good HF rig, you will have all those same features by using a transverter. They have kits as well as complete units. All sorts of goodies from 50 mhz up.

[N5USR]

While my repeater setup isn't what I would consider ready for a mountain home, I have found it to be quite reliable. It's certainly sufficient for someone who wants to experiment with stuff at home.

I'm using the Alinco DR-235 radios for my repeater right now! The DB-9 data port they put on the back actually has all the lines you need for receive or transmit. I just set the frequency, put it into data mode, then use the 9600 baud data lines for voice in/out. The DR-135 that is my remote base doesn't get a workout, as I'm the only one that winds up transmitting on it, but the 235 that is in the transmitter slot sees times when it will be keyed almost continually for hours thanks to the remote base activity. I put a cooling fan on the heat sink, and it's done just fine running at "medium" power (10W, iirc - it's a 25W radio). The data port is present on the 6M, 2M, 1.25M and 70cm models of this radio.

I do intend to get a little more "upscale" on the receiver shortly. I have a Motorola Micor receiver that I managed (through a bout of stupidity) to pop an IC in. I now have a replacement, so hopefully it'll be working soon. It has been converted to 220 (not a particularly easy task, as I understand - I got it from someone who didn't want to keep their 220 machine on the air anymore) and is a very sensitive receiver.

I will admit I got very lucky on the duplexer. One was given to me, by another friend. That was the major limiting factor, as otherwise the cost was looking to be pretty high. But I had the repeater up for quite a while without duplexers - the receiver antenna was on the roof, and I used a simple ground-plane antenna on a 4-foot mast inside the house for the transmitter. That actually worked very well, and was sufficient vertical separation that the receiver wasn't noticably desensed (or perhaps that was just the quality of the Micor receiver - that was before I smoked it...!) At any rate, I was still able to go handheld-mobile around the neighborhood even without duplexers.

[wa2dtw]

[QUOTE=aa3re;1118302]I am also a fan of 222mhz band. I co-own a 1.25cm repeater that is linked with a 6 meter repeater, my other favorite band. I like to take the less beaten path. 6 meters is great for mobiles, less picket fence mobile than with the higher VHF bands. The bonus on 222 is the VERY low noise floor. I have noticed 222 to work as well or better than 2meters. The advantage goes to 222 by its advantages signal to noise ratio.


I agree that 220 is a great band, and it is important to encourage activity. We have already lost the bottom 2mc, and we must try to keep what we have, and better yet, to get those 2 mc back. I am also in FN20. Will try your repeater and look for you.
73

[KI6HPO]

Hi All!

I'm a rookie but have been active on HF for the past 18 months and loving it!!

I too am interested in getting on 1.25 meters [in SoCal] but have a tough time coming up with the exorbitant price$ a$ked for [on ebay] for 220 MHz rigs.

Both here and QTH, you gotta be a hawk all day checking out the ad's; the rigs go quickly.

Any suggestions will be most gratefully received.

Alan

[w0is]

I have a 220 handheld, but I've never made a contact with it other than in contests.

I'm not on FM much anyway, and I just wanted something cheap to hand out a few points to locals, and just to say that I'm on that band.

Both here and QTH, you gotta be a hawk all day checking out the ad's; the rigs go quickly.

Any suggestions will be most gratefully received.

Here's the trick I used to get one cheap. Like you, I noticed that very old 220 rigs always went for a lot of money on e-bay. I assume that most of them were being sold to people like me who just wanted something as cheap as possible to get on the band. Since there's not much gear for that band, what's out there gets a premium price.

I got mine on e-bay by searching for the particular model number (IC-3AT), rather than searching for "220 MHz", "222 MHz", or "1.25 cm". This rig does not have any indication on it what band it's for, so the seller didn't know. I think it was listed as a 2 meter handheld. I got it for about $50.

The original battery pack that came with it was shot long ago. But I have an IC-2AT, so I just borrow the alkaline battery pack for it, and use disposable batteries. For my purposes, it does just fine.

So to get a rig a bit cheaper than the going price, you might try doing a saved search for particular model numbers of rigs, rather than searching for that band.

[NK2U]

Anyway, I can't be the only 1.25m band advocate around here. I want to hear from the rest of you!

I use two 220 repeaters every morning and evening here in NJ. There are loads of great repeaters, people are friendly. The repeaters don't often work as well those on 144 and 440 due to the fact that they use Amateur grade equipment whereas the 144 and 440 machines are commercial grade (again, for the most part.)

The nice thing about 220 is that the repeaters are all open and not jammed.

73 de NK2U

[NK2U]

Hi All!

I'm a rookie but have been active on HF for the past 18 months and loving it!!

I too am interested in getting on 1.25 meters [in SoCal] but have a tough time coming up with the exorbitant price$ a$ked for [on ebay] for 220 MHz rigs.

Both here and QTH, you gotta be a hawk all day checking out the ad's; the rigs go quickly.

Any suggestions will be most gratefully received.

Alan

Alinco has a very nice HT and Mobile for 220. They're not expensive either.

73 de NK2U

[kr2d]

Is there a FM mobile rig available that does 2m, 1.25m, and 70cm? Can any of the dual banders be modified to work on 220MHz? I know there are a few HTs that have all three bands. Kenwood used to make a rig that could work on 3 VHF/UHF bands using modules, but those are VERY expensive on the used market.

[KE5SWU]

Is there a FM mobile rig available that does 2m, 1.25m, and 70cm? Can any of the dual banders be modified to work on 220MHz? I know there are a few HTs that have all three bands. Kenwood used to make a rig that could work on 3 VHF/UHF bands using modules, but those are VERY expensive on the used market.

The VX7R can, it will do 6m (poorly from I have been told), 2m, 1.25 and 70cm. I own one and like it. I have never used it on 1.25 though, I have it set to scan all the 1.25 simplex frequencies but I have never heard anyone.

OH! I just now noticed you said mobile and not HT, ignore me.

[NK2U]

Is there a FM mobile rig available that does 2m, 1.25m, and 70cm? Can any of the dual banders be modified to work on 220MHz? I know there are a few HTs that have all three bands. Kenwood used to make a rig that could work on 3 VHF/UHF bands using modules, but those are VERY expensive on the used market.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yup, there used to be a Kenwood but it's been out of production for a few years. Also Icom had the IC900 and IC901 with band units (nice rig) but they're out of production too.

For mobiles, Alinco's the only choice.

73 de NK2U

[kc9mav]

I can honestly say that I have never worked 220......

The 220 band in chicago is dead!

[KB1PVQ]

Hi,
do you ever hear any Cape Cod stations on that Paxton machine?
I am getting a TM-621A soon and will be putting a beam on my tower.

When do you have nets ?
73,KB1PVQ

[aa3re]

The 220 band in chicago is dead!

222 Mhz band alive and well in the Philadelphia area. In fact, our 222 machine is used EVERYDAY!

[NK2U]

222 Mhz band alive and well in the Philadelphia area. In fact, our 222 machine is used EVERYDAY!

There used to be a 220 machine on 224.100 in Philadelphia that I used to hear during openings. Is it still on the air? There is also a very good machine in the Berkshires on top of Mt. Greylock on the same frequency that has awesome coverage. Every hear that one in PA?

73 de NK2U

[n8yx]

Is there a FM mobile rig available that does 2m, 1.25m, and 70cm?

Yep - Drake's UV3, shown below. The Yaesu FT736 is another very popular choice for fixed operation. Elecraft markets transverters for use with their K2 and K3 rigs; the latter gives you FM capability in addition to SSB/CW.

http://www.rigpix.com/drake/uv3.jpg

[wa6itf]

Two people who should really be here to comment are:

Art Reis, K9XI: In the 1980's through the mid-1990's he was editor of 220 Notes and the nations biggest proponent of 1 1/4 meter Amateur operations. He also organized the "Save 220" movement when UPS decided it wanted the band for its proposed ACSSB dispatch service - which proved Reis all; but proved was unworkable. It took loss of 20-222 and another 3 years before UPS asdmitted what hams like K9XI already knew: The proposed system would never do what its proponents promised it would.

Jim Hendershot, WA6VQP. What Reis was to the politics and policies of 1.25 meters, Hendershot was to promoting its technology. He not only was the first to "truly successfully" convert a Midland 13-509 222 MHz transceiver to a repeater, but also became a small scale manufacturer of completed conversions -- some of which are still operational even though they are a quarter of a century old. Jim also helped prove that circularly polarized antennas combined with a 222 MHz repeater gave better fade margin than a more common vertical.

I have no idea what Art is doing these days, but Jim and I are still close friends and Ill e-mail him about this topic. I suspect he would enjoy it.

And yes: Im still on 222 now and again with my old Icom geer: An IC-35A in the shack plus an IC-3AT and IC-3SAT handhelds. Figuring the age of the IC-3SAT its an engineering marvel for its era of manufacture.

de
WA6ITF

[NK2U]

Two people who should really be here to comment are:

Art Reis, K9XI: In the 1980's through the mid-1990's he was editor of 220 Notes and the nations biggest proponent of 1 1/4 meter Amateur operations. He also organized the "Save 220" movement when UPS decided it wanted the band for its proposed ACSSB dispatch service - which proved Reis all; but proved was unworkable. It took loss of 20-222 and another 3 years before UPS asdmitted what hams like K9XI already knew: The proposed system would never do what its proponents promised it would.

Jim Hendershot, WA6VQP. What Reis was to the politics and policies of 1.25 meters, Hendershot was to promoting its technology. He not only was the first to "truly successfully" convert a Midland 13-509 222 MHz transceiver to a repeater, but also became a small scale manufacturer of completed conversions -- some of which are still operational even though they are a quarter of a century old. Jim also helped prove that circularly polarized antennas combined with a 222 MHz repeater gave better fade margin than a more common vertical.

I have no idea what Art is doing these days, but Jim and I are still close friends and Ill e-mail him about this topic. I suspect he would enjoy it.

And yes: Im still on 222 now and again with my old Icom geer: An IC-35A in the shack plus an IC-3AT and IC-3SAT handhelds. Figuring the age of the IC-3SAT its an engineering marvel for its era of manufacture.

de
WA6ITF

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I subscribed to 220 Notes till the very end (A5 too for that matter.) Art's listing in QRZ does not provide an e-mail address.

I used to have an Icom IC-37A which was a very nice radio but a little deaf. I replaced it with an ADI mobile which works pretty well. The 3AT does not have PL so it would be of little use here in the NYC/NNJ area but it was a good radio. I had 3 of the IC-03AT (OK, my wife, N2MIA had one.) Those were replaced with the Alinco DJ 296T (yeah, you guessed it, 3 of those too.)

de NK2U

[w9pxz]

Two people who should really be here to comment are:


I have no idea what Art is doing these days, but Jim and I are still close friends and Ill e-mail him about this topic. I suspect he would enjoy it.

And yes: Im still on 222 now and again with my old Icom geer: An IC-35A in the shack plus an IC-3AT and IC-3SAT handhelds. Figuring the age of the IC-3SAT its an engineering marvel for its era of manufacture.

de
WA6ITF

Art is the Chief Engineer of the Crawford radio stations in the Chicago area. We have never met in person, but have spoken on the phone several times about broadcast engineering topics.

Mike Dinger
W9PXZ and 220 fan.
Chief Engineer, Next Media Chicago South
(My beef: If Kenwood can make a 1.2Gig option for the TS-2000, why not a 220 one? That would make this fine radio complete in my view.)

[n8yx]

Got two of my UV3s cabled up and on the air last evening. One is used for simplex work and is connected via a duplexer to a Cushcraft 2/440 Yagi; the other (set up for repeater operations) is fed through a triplexer to a Diamond C3200.

Well...sorta.

Seems that - upon trying it out - the ALL the radio's bands were dead as the proverbial doorknob. A buddy (AC6EA) who was full-scale on the 'simplex' rig could barely be heard on the other.

Some cable-swapping later...defective triplexer. This is the second "bad" one I've gotten; the first had one of its input circuit coils shorted to a shield wall. I'm guessing the same thing is to blame in this instance; will tear the unit apart tonight and investigate.

There's a few 220 machines in the Akron/Cleveland/Canton area on which one can converse; perhaps I'll run across a 'Zed user or two on them.

[K9STH]

ITF:

The problem with UPS and the 220 MHz to 222 MHz band was not the proposed technology. ACSB is definitely a viable narrowband mode. The problem was the cost of the radios themselves. ACSB radios generally cost at least 50 percent more than an FM unit and UPS was almost certainly aware of that when they first petitioned the FCC to change that segment from amateur radio as a secondary user to land mobile as the primary user utilizing narrowband technology. What UPS was "banking on" was that the FCC would remove the narrowband limitations on the 220 MHz to 222 MHz and then allow conventional +/- 5 kHz deviation FM instead of the 2.7 kHz bandwidth which ACSB normally entails. I think that virtually everyone was surprised when the FCC did not relent and allow UPS to go with conventional FM and UPS was by far the most surprised.

I was involved with a highband (150 MHz range) ACSB system for a number of years. Now my recommendation when I first started working for the company that was adopting the ACSB system was not to do it! Now my concerns were not with the technology but with the fact that there were only 2 companies producing ACSB equipment and neither company was that reliable. Also, I had concerns, which were definitely proven to be valid, that the reliability of the chosen equipment would be suspect. However, I was informed that the "higher ups" in the company had made the decision to go with ACSB and that the matter was settled. After less than 3 years, when the ACSB system had been installed in only 3 regions of the company (the plan was to cover over half the State of Texas with ACSB repeaters and mobiles) it was discovered that, due to the unreliability of the mobile units in the Texas summer heat, that at least a number equivalent to 150 percent of the units in use had to be maintained as system spares. By that time a number of the "higher ups" had retired or taken a "buy out" and the ACSB system was phased out being replaced with an 896 MHz FM trunking system.

Glen, K9STH

[K2WH]

WOW, you must be psycic. Just last night, I had a QSO via a mild Tropo opening to a repeater system in NW Connecticut from Northern New Jersey. While not a big deal (~90 miles), it is the first time I have worked so far on 222 FM where from this area, there is only (1) stinkin repeater that is worth its signal. All other 222 mhz repeaters are just barely heard here.

My rig is a very good condition ICOM 37A (recently purchased), 25 watts to a tri-band vertical CX-333. I had an ICOM 37A about 30 years ago and sold it about that long ago. Anyway, I had been hearing this repeater from time to time weakly and it is interlinked to 2 meters and 440 repeaters. This time however, it was much stonger, about an S4. While transmitting on 220, I listened to the other frequencies and on 2 meters, I heard myself coming back on 2 but, it was weaker than 220 and going to a 440 repeater link, it was even less strong than 2 meters. So, it seems the tropo opening was favoring 222 mhz or at least the direction the 222 mhz repeater was located. No matter, they (all the repeaters) were or are located in NW Connecticut. Trying to bring it up now, it is just barely breaking the squelch.

I will be using this repeater in the future as an indicator of tropo openings along the New England corridor.

K2WH

[n8yx]

Some cable-swapping later...defective triplexer. This is the second "bad" one I've gotten; the first had one of its input circuit coils shorted to a shield wall. I'm guessing the same thing is to blame in this instance; will tear the unit apart tonight and investigate.

Update:

Shorted coil, as I suspected. :mad:

There are quite a few 220 repeaters in the Akron area. I'll program the UV3 for a few of the nearby ones and see who's using them - and when. A machine around Cleveland sees LOTS of use, according to 'DSG - who has a triband setup in her car.

We also use 220 for bike-to-bike communications when a bunch of us are on the road. Almost everyone we ride with is a licensed ham...

[wa9cwx]

I was one of the first sponsors of the local 220 repeater back when a friend of mine put one together in the late 70's here in Beloit.

I almost never used it. It had (and still does, I think) an autopatch, and had good coverage.

I too use an IC-37 and have the IC3AT and O3AT and the Yaesu FT33.

Not much activity, but I DO get on once in awhile...

Frank

[K9STH]

The first 220 MHz in the Dallas, Texas, area now resides somewhere in the attic over my garage. The receiver was a Motorola Sensicon "A" which used "loaded cavities" in the receiver "front end" and as the output from the injection oscillator. I found that if you "stuffed" the tuning sections of the cavities with aluminum foil that the receiver would tune to the 220 MHz band without any problem. The oscillator multiplier was then X7 instead of X5 but there was still plenty of injection and the receiver still met the basic sensitivity specifications of the original "high band" use (0.5 microvolts for 20 dB quieting).

The transmitter was a slightly modified Motorola high band "G" transmitter. The original transmitter used a 2E26 doubler/driver into a 6146 final and was rated at 25 watts output. I found if you shorted out 1 turn of the driver output coil that the driver would then function as a tripler instead of a doubler and make the 220 MHz band without any problems. Unfortunately, the 6146 was just too unstable at 220 MHz but changing it out to another 2E26 (which has the same base connections as the 6146 but is not rated at anywhere near as much power) and by shorting out 1 turn of the final tank coil that the transmitter would put out between 10 and 12 watts.

We had the repeater on the air for several months but only a handful of amateurs in the Dallas / Fort Worth area ever got modified high band mobiles "on the air" to use the repeater. Since these same amateur radio operators were on the various 2-meter repeaters all the time we decided to take the 220 MHz machine off the air and it has been in my attic ever since.

I also have a class "C" amplifier that was designed for the FAA that covers the 220 MHz frequency range and uses a 4CX300A in the final.

Glen, K9STH