146.520 - Hello Hello?!

[kc9lwc]

A week ago I had to make a trip back to my home city of Wausau, Wisconsin. A friend of mine was following me in his vehicle, this friend happened to be KC9LZF who was toting a VX-6R. We decided to use 146.520, the national calling frequency for 2 meters to chit chat during the 2 1/2 hour trip.

We didn't hear but one peep on the frequency the entire trip. Near the city of Eau Claire, Wisconsin we had a station break in to 'check' to see if we we're illegals. We we're traveling on a Monday and the station who broke in said the previous weekend they had problems with illegals due to a large music festival in town. I threw out my callsign upon hearing him break in and he went away saying, "Oh,nevermind, I was just checking to see if you were an illegal, carry on, CALLSIGN"

I live right along the Interstate 94 corridor in western Wisconsin. 18-wheeler and traffic in general is rather heavy and I'm located about 50 miles east of the Twin Cities metro. They're are many active clubs in my area, yet I never hear any traffic on .5200. Especially over the 300 miles I racked up that week going back and forth on the interstate, I figured maybe I'd hear one rolling conversation, yet the squelch never broke.

Anyone else hear nothing but static on this frequency? Do you have it programmed into your mobile rig? Do you use it?

73

[kd8hho]

well ive allways had .52 programmed all my rigs.

but have only caught traffic mabe a couple of times in 8 years of hamming

[N4AUD]

I've made several contacts on 146.520 while travelling. I do have it programed into my mobile rig but I don't hear much activity in my local area on the frequency, probably because of my (very) rural location. I've never had any problems making contacts in urban areas on that frequency though.

[kc9khg]

146.520 is used nightly here in N.E. IL. As is 146.550.

[NI3B]

I have 146.52 in all of my 2mtr radios. Being in a tri-state area with intersecting interstate highways I hear a lot of activity on .52.

I travel in the state of NJ, DE and PA all day long and when I'm too far from my local repeater I have my mobile radio on scan. I heard someone calling CQ on 146.52 today and I answered him. He was about 10 miles away and as I drove he got noisy so we moved to a local repeater.

I always recommend that users have 146.52 in their rigs and included in their scan mode.

Best,
Brian

[WB2WIK]

I do, and I use it. I also monitor here at home when I'm in the shack and often have enjoyable QSOs on .52, frequently with mobile stations 50-75-100 miles away (I have a larger antenna here). I can work mobiles in San Diego (120 miles away) like they're down the street, because it's a clear shot down that way from here.

Great fun, and get to meet some interesting people, some of whom I've come to know personally, after inviting them over to visit!

When I have some free time, I'll take a detour in my normal travels and drive up to the summit of Saddle Peak, which is only about 10 miles from here and it's 2830' a.s.l. Good shot in many directions. From up there, using my normal 50W mobile rig, I can work other mobiles from Las Vegas (252 miles) to Fresno (211 miles) to Ensenada, Mexico (185 miles) and it's great fun.

Wish I lived up there!

WB2WIK/6

[WA6MHZ]

I only monitor 146.52, and 446.0 simplex on my dualbander. No time to listen to chitchat and repeaters, I have to carefully monitor XX SPorts radio 1090 for bits and pieces of information on the Padres and CHargers. So the rig stays quiet most of the time, rarely anyone there, except for the time someone misprogrammed their APRS tracker rig for 146.52. That was a madhouse!

[ai4ep]

(sigh ) I USED to try to monitor 146.520 from the house, but there USED to be numerous stations around Huntsville that used the frequency for their chit - chat ( all legal, complete with callsigns )...that was how things USED to be...as recently as 2000.


Now ( today ) I just do not know, havent given it a listen.

I can try and will......and make another post at a later point today or tomorrow.

I welcome the idea to monitor / talk on 146.520 but if there are others on the frequency with any regularity, I will just stay away. I hear enough riff - raff on 75 / 20 meters.

[KE5KTU]

I hear activity on 146.520 all the time while traveling. I usually don't get on 146.520 that often because I understood it to be a calling frequency. You know call on it and shift to another frequency.
Jake

[NI3B]

I hear activity on 146.520 all the time while traveling. I usually don't get on 146.520 that often because I understood it to be a calling frequency. You know call on it and shift to another frequency.
Jake

True, however, keep in mind that travelers may not be familiar with local repeaters and often will call out on 146.52 in the event of an emergency or request info. Believe it or not, everybody doesn't have a cell phone. Actually, I'm looking forward to the day when I won't be required to carry a cell phone. ;)

Best,
Brian

[kc4umo]

Onnce in a great while I hear someone on 52. Most us the ones here use 58. Lots of activity there.

[ve6wtf]

when I had my phased 11 element beams for 2m up I would ALWAYS catch a conversation weather in edmonton or down south near red deer or pigeon lake.

2m has lost my interest completly. same old people same old story..
All you hear about is people going on and on about the traffic.

I use 70CM a little bit still but now that I have it but there is very little activity.

near my house about a 1/4 km away there is a repeater VE6LOS ( I can it it with a hair pin plugged into the BNC) And it is COMPLETELY DEAD! no activity at all

[ai4ep]

...speaking of cell phones ---

lots of areas in North ALABAMA are still not covered reliably ( key word ) by cell phones.

You may have coverage around the hilltops, but not in the valleys ( hollows )...unless you are within a few miles of interstate 65, be near Huntsville ( and of course ) Birmingham ....but our outlying little towns and communities are still not covered reliably ( there is that word again ) by cell ular communications...and the cell phone companies know it ( but up till now will not invest the time and MONEY into providing cell phone coverage for North Alabama....

what this has to do with 146.520 FM I really dont know. :)

[kd8hho]

N.W Tennessee isnt well covered by cell towers ether

[kb8qwn]

When traveling cross-country in a car, I will usually keep it on 146.520 and 446.000 rather than worrying about finding a new repeater every 30 minutes. Once I get to where I'm going, I'll find a local repeater.

Some people (like my dad) will map out their entire trip and then use the computer software to program the radio for the repeaters they will come into contact with in the route, in the order in which they will come in the route. To me, that's too much to keep up with...I want to just enjoy the trip and I'll just monitor .52 until I get to where I'm going, or spend some extended time in a particular town on the way, at which time I will dig up local repeater info.

146.520 is programmed into all my radios, along with several other common simplex frequencies, my area simplex frequencies, and "family" simplex frequencies (ones we picked randomly to use as simplex communications).

[KC9JUM]

Here in Indy, there can be a fair bit of 2 meter Simplex traffic. But it can be feast or famine, however I have had several good QSOs on 146.52.

70CM simplex is as dead as a doornail here..

HOWEVER... I get the feeling that the 2M side on a lot of dual bands is on 144.39 a lot... and ARPS is now being used to pass local frequency info.. repeaters, and what channels a particular ARPS user is monitoring. In addition to this APRS users are using CTCSS tones of 100 and Tone Squelch on 144.39mhz, users can then give a quick call and then QSY off 144.39 or to 70CM

144.39 may indeed be replacing 146.52..........

One trick I like to do is scan the band.... and find an active repeater.... then using tone squelch.... flip thru all the CTCSS tones until one decodes.. and go from there.

[WB2WIK]

2m has lost my interest completly. same old people same old story..
All you hear about is people going on and on about the traffic.



::You have much traffic up there? Wow, to me, driving anywhere in Canada except downtown Toronto or Montreal it looks like the roads are wide open and nobody's on them.

Compared with here in Los Angeles, that is.:p

Here, we do not bother talking about the traffic, it's a given. "Hey, I'm up to 20 mph here on the 405 at half past midnight, and only a mile from the airport. It's really opened up!";)

WB2WIK/6

[WA7KKP]

IMHO, most of the hams nowdays 999.999%) tend to hang out on their favorite repeater. I think most of them have forgotten that most of their traffic could be easily handled on 146.52, or any of the other simplex frequencies on 2 meters.

I've noticed a similar phonemenon on 10 FM . . . 29.6 MHz used to be the first place to start, and repeaters were few and far between. 29.3 MHz was popular as an alternate, especially with the JA hams. Now when the band is open, you'll hear the activity on the repeaters, but nary a soul on dot six.

Seems we can't do anything by ourselves anymore.

Gary WA7KKP

[K4GUN]

Onnce in a great while I hear someone on 52. Most us the ones here use 58. Lots of activity there.


While doing the January and June VHF contests as a rover, I found a number of ragchews happening on 55 and 58. It seems like people are using 52 as it was intended... as a calling frequency and not a meeting place.

[KJ4AUR]

I monitor 146.520 and 146.580 simplex when scanning through. I usually do my talking on 146.580 and call CQ on 520 from time to time.

It's my understanding that it's a calling frequency as well, make your call/contact and QSY to an unused simplex frequency.

It annoys me when people camp on 146.520 to rag-chew since my radio keeps stopping on it since I monitor 520 if someone is passing through and needs help or is calling CQ.

We had a few locals (husband/wife) who would use 520 for their daily rag-chew. They were polite and did allow me to break in to make a call and QSY but the radio constantly stopping on 520 was annoying. Of course after my call/QSY they went right back to rag-chewing; I was hoping they would get the hint. Call and QSY is what I do to avoid camping that frequency.

[AG3Y]

Before I ever became a ham, or held my 1st RadioTelephone for that matter, I listened to hams on 160 meter mobile with a tabletop radio that I had tuned up to receive that band. ( actually, I MIS-tuned the radio, but that is another story )

This was in the Chicago area, and I can remember guys down on the Lakeshore Drive, talking to hams in Wheaton, about 20 miles or so to the west, without aid of repeaters, cell phones ( which hadn't even been invented, yet ) or other such modern conveniences!

Rigs typically were homebrew, or perhaps a Multi-Elmac with a single 6146 for the output tube, probably no more than 20-25 watts AM phone, into a "bug-catcher" whip mounted on the rear bumper of their car. Amazing that they were able to talk at all, but I remember the signals being quite easy to listen to!

73, Jim

[k8wpj]

A week ago I had to make a trip back to my home city of Wausau, Wisconsin. A friend of mine was following me in his vehicle, this friend happened to be KC9LZF who was toting a VX-6R. We decided to use 146.520, the national calling frequency for 2 meters to chit chat during the 2 1/2 hour trip.

We didn't hear but one peep on the frequency the entire trip. Near the city of Eau Claire, Wisconsin we had a station break in to 'check' to see if we we're illegals. We we're traveling on a Monday and the station who broke in said the previous weekend they had problems with illegals due to a large music festival in town. I threw out my callsign upon hearing him break in and he went away saying, "Oh,nevermind, I was just checking to see if you were an illegal, carry on, CALLSIGN"

I live right along the Interstate 94 corridor in western Wisconsin. 18-wheeler and traffic in general is rather heavy and I'm located about 50 miles east of the Twin Cities metro. They're are many active clubs in my area, yet I never hear any traffic on .5200. Especially over the 300 miles I racked up that week going back and forth on the interstate, I figured maybe I'd hear one rolling conversation, yet the squelch never broke.

Anyone else hear nothing but static on this frequency? Do you have it programmed into your mobile rig? Do you use it?

73

All of my radios here, use 146.52 as 'Simplx 1' 146.58 as 'Simplx2' 147.450 as 'Simplx3'...

I usually keep them in my scanners with the GMRS and FRS channels, and normally don't hear anything unless angie can't reach me by phone, or if the local Cleveland Ohio area club is doing something, and I am in that area.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone use simplex in either NC or SC.

[k8jd]

The newer hams on FM have been locked into the repeater-mindset, they don't even know you can talk to anyone on simplex more than a hundred yards away ...
All thier club-buddies are on some local repeater, easy to find.
One example I have cited before;
On a trip to northern MI I was passing thru Bay City and happened to find a local repeater and started a conversation with a local ham. I asked him if we could go to simplex to free up the repeater, he said he would try to hear me but had doubts how far we could continue the QSO.
Anyway we went to 55 0r 58 and picked up the chat. Every few minutes he said we better wrap it up because I would be out of his range soon, I replied let's keep at it on simplex until the noise starts getting bad.
So we went on for almost 50 miles (that area is quite flat terrain) My new friend kept telling he was amazed that he could talk that far on simplex and would start doing it more often.
My contribution was a 140 watt KLM amp and the 7 ft tall co-linear on the roof.

[N3NEP]

I have .520 in my mobile and all my friends do too. Although we do use the local repeaters quite often we use .520 once in a while but use it almost exclusively at hamfests on the HT.


73's
kb3kuk

[KC9ECI]

I use 520 around here now and then. Just used it yesterday in fact. Severe weather moved in to the area and I was checked in to the local storm spotters net. Shortly after checking in the fire department was paged out to storm spot. I became incident command at that point and only had an HT, and that wasn't going to hit the repeater from within the station. As luck would have it, Mark, N9UNW was also spotting and I was able to make contact with him on 520 and use him as a relay to the NWS office in the event we would have had anything reportable.

[ai4ep]

I started monitoring 146.520 as of this morning with the base unit ( alinco dr - 590 ) ( mobile on a power supply ), and aint heard any thing YET on 146.520...those folks in Huntsville must have abandoned their 45 watt 2 meter rigs for cell phones....2 of those dudes werent 5 miles apart from each other, yet just HAD to use all 45 watts of their radios to talk less than 10 miles, with outside antennas...they were friendly folks, but I didnt need to hear their daily chit - chat from 50 miles away...so now in Alabama the frequency is quiet.

FRS channel # 1 is apparently the new mobile " chit - chat " frequency along the interstates...

Since I re - hooked up my old cb radio stuff back on June 23, 2008 I cant seem to find a primary BASE station channel no more, except for # 20 used by Cullman area folks ( about 30 miles away )...the loclas in Morgan / Lawrence county must take the summer off and only use the cb channels during the cold winter months...skip ( dx ) conditions occur quite often on lsb 38 and AM channel 19, making conversations on 19 to about 3 miles or less reliably ( key word )... The Cullman area folks ARE nice enough and polite folks, they just think they have to run 500 watts to talk 10 miles ( if that far ) on the radio, so they are easily heard by me @ 30 miles away.

but enough chit - chat from my neighborhood. :)

[WA9ZZZ]

... I usually don't get on 146.520 that often because I understood it to be a calling frequency. You know call on it and shift to another frequency.
Jake

... It seems like people are using 52 as it was intended... as a calling frequency and not a meeting place.

... It's my understanding that it's a calling frequency as well, make your call/contact and QSY to an unused simplex frequency.

It annoys me when people camp on 146.520 to rag-chew since my radio keeps stopping on it since I monitor 520 if someone is passing through and needs help or is calling CQ....


I always have the national simplex channel programmed in to channel 1 of my radios. I used to monitor .52 all the time, but have not been doing that lately, for no particular reason. I should get back to doing that.

Some of these comments indicate that there is some disagreement about how to use .52. 146.52 was established as the National Simplex frequency sometime in the '70s (previously 146.94 was National Simplex). About 10 years ago the ARRL decided that it should be a "calling" frequency. It was not "intended" to be a calling channel; ARRL just changed the designation in their bandplan. Back when it originally became National Simplex most people only had a couple of channels anyway. It was not so easy to pick another channel to switch to. So far I have not noticed any change in usage in my area.

I disagree with the change because that is the sort of thing that should be decided locally based on level of usage. People who get on regulary and yak away should find their own channel, as some clubs around here do. In a remote rural area with only a few users, if QSOs are always off of .52, who will be listening.

[KD6NIG]

We get occasional use on .52. I have that and the 440 one in the scanners as well as the radios.

I actually heard some people on the 440 one this weekend, but thats usually when I hear activity the most-holiday weekends. They didn't last long though-sounded like people travelling together probably actually obeying the "use only what you need" portion of our rules.....

[K4GUN]

Whether or not there is confusion about it being a calling frequency, I don't hear much else on it. As I mentioned, when traveling around the state, I did find a fair amount of simplex activity on .55 and .58. It was good because I managed to pick up a few contest points from these ragchew groups.

[W8NSI]

A week ago I had to make a trip back to my home city of Wausau, Wisconsin. A friend of mine was following me in his vehicle, this friend happened to be KC9LZF who was toting a VX-6R. We decided to use 146.520, the national calling frequency for 2 meters to chit chat during the 2 1/2 hour trip.

We didn't hear but one peep on the frequency the entire trip. Near the city of Eau Claire, Wisconsin we had a station break in to 'check' to see if we we're illegals. We we're traveling on a Monday and the station who broke in said the previous weekend they had problems with illegals due to a large music festival in town. I threw out my callsign upon hearing him break in and he went away saying, "Oh,nevermind, I was just checking to see if you were an illegal, carry on, CALLSIGN"

I live right along the Interstate 94 corridor in western Wisconsin. 18-wheeler and traffic in general is rather heavy and I'm located about 50 miles east of the Twin Cities metro. They're are many active clubs in my area, yet I never hear any traffic on .5200. Especially over the 300 miles I racked up that week going back and forth on the interstate, I figured maybe I'd hear one rolling conversation, yet the squelch never broke.

Anyone else hear nothing but static on this frequency? Do you have it programmed into your mobile rig? Do you use it?

73

146.52 is used around here (Grand Rapids, MI area) as a chat channel. I have never heard it used as a call channel here. I have it programmed into my Icom V-8000 and usually monitor on 52.

Many locals base to base and base to mobile use it along with 146.(46, 49, 55, and 58). I realize thee follow the old channel spacing but that is what most use. We have lots of repeaters in the area but simplex channels do not drop [timeout] when you talk too long. ;)

[wa9cwx]

I have monitored .52 for about 35 years or so. Not like, continuously, I need to sleep, too.....
But, it IS in all radios, and I do monitor on any trips, calling QRZ frequently and even pulling off to the side on hilltops and calling /listening for a min. or two.

VERY few contacts over the years.

In areas where there is VERY little activity on Two, I think it IS a good idea to chit - chat on .52. However, the use of .52 just as a quick call / QSY frequency is the most sensible use possible.

As for 'newbees' being stuck on repeaters, may not be the best idea, but, on the other hand, I really do not care for a "QSO (?)" with an adult male who has the language and personality skills of a twelve year old.

I have had several repeater QSOs with guys who carry on a conversation with 'Yea, I hear you' (click), 'Uh yea, personal here is Tom, Thomas Ocean Mable, Tom, like in 'Tomato' except without the 'mato'".

At least on .52, older, more adept, or intelligent, or awake, or less shy, or SOMETHING guys usually carry on a conversation. At times, in rural areas, a LENGTHY conversation, and I ENJOY that.

Anyway, I enjoy .52, and have for years.

Frank

[kc0bda]

The St. Louis area still has a very active group on 52 late in the evening. Around 11pm-1am type times. After moving to Austin and getting a station set back up I never hear anything on that frequency, yet I still monitor it. I've heard a few guys on repeaters go to .52 in order to "see" if they can hear each other on simplex but that's it. No rag-chewing.

[W7KI]

::You have much traffic up there? Wow, to me, driving anywhere in Canada except downtown Toronto or Montreal it looks like the roads are wide open and nobody's on them.

Compared with here in Los Angeles, that is.:p

Here, we do not bother talking about the traffic, it's a given. "Hey, I'm up to 20 mph here on the 405 at half past midnight, and only a mile from the airport. It's really opened up!";)

WB2WIK/6

Speaking of simplex, I remember working WB2WIK/6 not too long ago. Not a lot of folks on FM simplex in the LA area despite the large population so its always a pleasure to make a contact.

- Rich W7KI

[kc9lwc]

Shortly after checking in the fire department was paged out to storm spot.

Little off topic, I'm strongly against fire departments storm spotting.

Secondly....


That is why we used .52 the day we traveled back home, we never hear anything on it. So using it to rag chew while on the road really shouldn't have bothered anyone.


If everyone had it programmed into their radio, staring at it but never used it- what good would that do?

[NI3B]

If everyone had it programmed into their radio, staring at it but never used it- what good would that do?

I've programmed radios for others who are just baffled by the newer programmable and feature filled radios. I always put 146.52 in there and then I set up scanning modes depending on the user's listening habits. If they only have one local repeater I have all the other programmed channels locked out except the repeater freq and the simplex freq. Why not monitor both if you have a chance? Imagine someone just monitoring a local repeater that is not very active and having a traveler who may not be familiar with the local repeaters and they call out on the calling frequency seeking assistance or information. Personally, I can say that I have assisted several people by monitoring 146.52.

Best,
Brian

[N4AUD]

Little off topic, I'm strongly against fire departments storm spotting.



Why, if they are trained to do it?

[KC9ECI]

Little off topic, I'm strongly against fire departments storm spotting.

Secondly....


That is why we used .52 the day we traveled back home, we never hear anything on it. So using it to rag chew while on the road really shouldn't have bothered anyone.


If everyone had it programmed into their radio, staring at it but never used it- what good would that do?

I'd be happy to not go out at all. Since I don't see an armada of hams coming in to our community to storm spot during severe weather events, I guess it will be up to us to spot. While everyone on the department hasn't been to the NWS program for storm spotters, we do manage to get a few to go each year, and have hosted it at our station in the past.

I had 3 trucks deployed, two trucks had a crew of 2, with one trained spotter in each, one truck was crewed by one, who was a trained spotter. The Chief was at City Hall with the siren controls, and I was in station doing incident command. I think we had it covered. Even though we were paged to storm spot, we don't require a full turn out and in fact ask that only those that are comfortable doing so respond.

[kc9lwc]

Why, if they are trained to do it?

I've written an objective analysis paper on this very topic, with a unique perspective being both an avid storm chaser vs. working three years in the field as an EMT for a fire department

I could write you a book about the topic but I will put it simply

During a significant severe weather event, the last thing you want to do is send your public safety members into the brunt of the storm.

- The vehicle could become damaged or stuck in some fashion (You just lost a rescue/fire truck or med unit for your town + _X_ amont of personnel.

- The response to recover the personnel or apparatus will be delayed, there is a storm going on! You can't cruise lights and siren going 80 mph to recover the personnel or pull out the stuck apparatus

- The personnel and apparatus, if they do weather the storm will have a slow response if they need to double back through more stormy weather for a call.

- But those on stand by can take the call so you don't need to double back?! True, but in truly significant weather, a two or three person crew won't cut it. Not to mention if you have multiple calls.

- Oh Cmon, there won't be a call! Haha! Those in public safety will tell you how much they dread severe weather days, as the storm rolls through, take bets on the amount of minutes till the first set of tones go out...But why is it so dreaded?


Any med call - Murphy's law
MVA's from gawkers or those are aren't use to driving in severe weather
Lighting Strikes - Personal injury or fire
Flash flooding - Roads need to be blocked, people trapped in their vehicle o n roadways
Trees/Powerlines down - Again, road blockage and trees laying on power lines don't mix, typically ends in a good light show
Blown transformers w/ pole fires
Injury from wind damage to homes in your call area, i.e. Tree's crashing onto homes or cars etc.
Tornado---Need I say more???


Bottom line.....

Police are on-duty 24/7 and can surely do their part in spotting, and they do. Much of tornado alley and parts of the U.S. affected by severe storms have active SKYWARN groups for which their sole purpose is spotting severe storms.

I'm doubly against fire departments spotting if they indeed have an active SKYWARN group in their county. There is zero need for it in that case.

Their stations should, and I emphasize, should, be strategically placed within their call area. The best thing to do is upon a warning is to report to your station and await the page. No need to risk personnel and apparatus that will be incredibly important after the storm has passed, during the storm.

Having said this, the only time I marginally agree is if they county has no SKYWARN group and the county is small enough where they don't have many deputies on the roads. Even then, I still don't 100% agree with it but can see where it would fill a void.

[KC9ECI]

The nearest active skywarn groups to me are in La Crosse County, and Winona County, MN. Trempealeau County is quite often left out in the open. At best, I've only ever heard one ham other than myself on this end of the County doing any storm spotting.


We do what we need to do to get by sometimes. The last major weather event that hit us was in 98. In the middle of the storm we were called out to a barn fire. It was near impossible to get the fire station due to the downed trees, and I only live a few blocks away. We were out all night. I remember it was still light out when we started. I dragged in the next evening about 6PM. We'd had more fire calls, and pretty much broke in to crews to provide manpower to clear the streets of the city so we could get around.

15 years down, 5 to go. Maybe another 10 at the most and I am OUTTA here.

[kc9lwc]

The nearest active skywarn groups to me are in La Crosse County, and Winona County, MN. Trempealeau County is quite often left out in the open. At best, I've only ever heard one ham other than myself on this end of the County doing any storm spotting.


We do what we need to do to get by sometimes. The last major weather event that hit us was in 98. In the middle of the storm we were called out to a barn fire. It was near impossible to get the fire station due to the downed trees, and I only live a few blocks away. We were out all night. I remember it was still light out when we started. I dragged in the next evening about 6PM. We'd had more fire calls, and pretty much broke in to crews to provide manpower to clear the streets of the city so we could get around.

15 years down, 5 to go. Maybe another 10 at the most and I am OUTTA here.

It shows 147.000 outta Galesville as a SKYWARN machine & you mentioned checking into the local storm spotters net. I'm assuming your emphasizing the word 'active' perhaps? Because it appears Trempealeau has a SKYWARN program.

[KC9ECI]

Good luck with that repeater. It was off the air for a LONG time, and just recently came up active again. More power to you if you can raise anyone on it. Skywarn on that machine is a joke. Yeah, I checked in to the La Crosse County Skywarn net. I'm just a couple miles from the Northern border of LSE Cnty.

[kc9lwc]

Good luck with that repeater. It was off the air for a LONG time, and just recently came up active again. More power to you if you can raise anyone on it. Skywarn on that machine is a joke. Yeah, I checked in to the La Crosse County Skywarn net. I'm just a couple miles from the Northern border of LSE Cnty.

I'll have to swing the beam south some time and listen, we're only 57 miles apart. However, the bluffs may not be as forgiving.

[KC9ECI]

I can hit the Eau Claire repeater if the wind is blowing in the right direction. Give me a call on the 147. I'll be on for another 15 minutes or so.

[k9kjm]

There is LOTS of activity on 146.52 simplex here in N.E. Wisconsin. And during the warm summer months, Temp. Inversions up and down the lake (Michigan) shoreline cause good simplex conditions for hundreds of miles North-South. It is common to be able to work Chicago stations from far northern Wisconsin.

As long as everyone in a QSO on .52 LEAVES a NICE LONG PAUSE between transmissions for others to enter the QSO, There is nothing wrong with extended conversations on .52.

[wa3vjb]

In my experience, 52 is passé for mobile operation, unless you happen to have met up with another traveller on a local repeater and move over to simplex.

Point to point QSOs often move to oddball simplex frequencies to keep 52 open. There's plenty of simplex space available for roundtables.

[W6EOD]

I called CQ every 10 minutes on my trip from Baker, FL to Bastrop, TX this past weekend. I made at least 10 good QSO's on the trip to Texas and about 5 including an aeronautical mobile station on the return trip back to Florida. I noticed that nobody answered in rural areas, all returns came in a town of reasonable size or more. My conclusion, get on 146.52 and stay there. Monitor, and for goodness sake give a CQ every now and then. If people know you're around you stand a better chance of a QSO. You might be suprised by the results.

[KB3PXR]

Careful with 446.000 MHz, European PMR 446 radios operate very close this frequency for channel 1. You will find some illegal operators on this frequency as european travellers don't know about differences in the law. Be careful you don't talk to an unlicensed operator.

[W0LPQ]

In 2000, I was returning from Cleveland, OH after spending a week working with a couple of flight departments. It just so happened this was Dayton weekend. I was on .52 chatting with a guy who had left Dayton. We were on the outskirts of Indy when some unknown, no call sign guy popped in and chewed us out for using .52. Granted we were using something like 5W at the time. We were informed it was illegal to use .52 for conversations.

I did however recognize the voice, and this guy never did use his call sign ... at any time. We, the mobiles did.

A couple years later I ran across this guy at a local hamfest. I asked him about the incident. He conveniently did not remember, but another local who had heard the conversation, did remember and queried him again about his understanding of the rules. We never did receive an answer and to this day, have never heard him on the air.

So, use .52 and if you get challenged, stand your ground. Also, there was NO other use of .52 after we signed. He continued west on I-70 and I took 465 south heading home.

As some have said ... what a maroon ... or moron..

[wr5aw]

I'm strongly against fire departments storm spotting... I've written an objective analysis paper on this very topic
If you wrote that analysis from the perspective of an 'avid storm chaser' then you weren't very objective. Anyone with even a cursory exposure to EmComm knows the first priority is personal safety.

Trained spotters know how to position themselves to safely observe the conditions. They also have two egress paths. It's simple spotting 101.

When someone asks me if I'm a 'storm chaser' I always tell them, "Absolutely not. I am a storm spotter. There is a big difference. My job is to protect the community. Not take pictures." I'm in front of it before it crosses our county line to the West, and checking out when it crosses the county line to the East.

[k0cmh]

For the past three years, I have had one side of my FT8800 set for 146.520. I do a fair amount of highway traveling around my area, and have an interstate commute to work and back every working day.

In all that time, I have only had a few (can count on both hands) contacts on 146.520.

In June, I drove from St. Louis to Memphis, stayed a few days, and returned. During the whole time, I had one contact on 146.520, and that was on the southbound leg, on I-55, with a fellow also southbound. He reported hearing nothing from where he started in Ohio.

Not much on 146.520 in my neck of the woods.

[kc9lwc]

If you wrote that analysis from the perspective of an 'avid storm chaser' then you weren't very objective. Anyone with even a cursory exposure to EmComm knows the first priority is personal safety.

Trained spotters know how to position themselves to safely observe the conditions. They also have two egress paths. It's simple spotting 101.

When someone asks me if I'm a 'storm chaser' I always tell them, "Absolutely not. I am a storm spotter. There is a big difference. My job is to protect the community. Not take pictures." I'm in front of it before it crosses our county line to the West, and checking out when it crosses the county line to the East.

It was an objective paper, I presented both sides equally and let the reader decide from both arguments which they agreed with. Not stating my stance or opinion, rather the facts from my experiences.

You didn't really chime in on the topic of fire departments doing spotting. Instead you commented on the classic spotter vs. chaser argument. I will typically drive 100 maybe 125-150 miles on a good day from my home to check our convection. My main goal isn't to snap photos, it's to observe, document and report.

- Observe whats going on
- Document whats happening, both in a word document and video
- Report it to the nearest NWS office as soon as possible.

So what does this make me? A Spottchaser? Because I'm not in the county I live in doesn't mean relaying valuable information to the NWS to protect the public is not a priority.

Ahh yes, simple spotting 101. If spotters are so throughly trained to keep themselves out of danger 100% of the time in the field, you must live in a Utopia :D ! I reference what happened to seasoned storm chasers during the Little Sioux, IA tornado that struck the boy scout camp.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZkK3tQWuVrA

It's called .... 'stuff happens' and no spotter guidebook or lecture can prepare you for it. Mother nature is unpredictable and violent.

[KC9ECI]

I'd actually be interested in reading your paper.

[N4AUD]

I'd actually be interested in reading your paper.

Same here (former police officer).

[kc9lwc]

Are both of you good at your QRZ e-mail? It will be a .docx file.

I'll dig it out and send it...

[KC9ECI]

Yes, my email is good to go. I can't open DOCX files though. The kid sent me one from UW-Plattville a while back and I had a heck of a time.

[k0cmh]

Those who live in tornado alley will tell you that when you are close to a storm, there is always a chance a funnel will simply drop out of the sky, right above you, without warning. Rain, large amounts of scud clouds, etc. can obscure the actual wall cloud, depending on your position and the movement of the storm.

I have seen this twice in my life, and thankfully, the funnel did not make it all the way to the ground, or else I may not be here posting this.

So I agree, no matter how well one is trained on spotting or chasing, there is always a risk involved.

Ditto lightening. One can be miles from the actual location of the storm, and that lightening can "reach out and touch you".

It is just like anythig else, like driving a car. A person can be the most, best, top of the class trained driver but if they are blindsided by another driver, bash, they are involved in a collision.

Yep, stuff can and does happen.

[ai4ep]

Yep, you can be accident free for many many YEARS...( not even a small fender bender in a shopping center parking lot ) and ...one time you are out and BOOM !!! You are in an accident.

A traffic accident is one event that all parties involved MUST be at the correct place AT the correct time...if any are early or late to the accident location, the accident may not even occur. I learned that the hard way. You HAVE to be on time.

[N4AUD]

Are both of you good at your QRZ e-mail? It will be a .docx file.

I'll dig it out and send it...

Yes, my email is good on QRZ.

[wr5aw]

Those who live in tornado alley will tell you that when you are close to a storm, there is always a chance a funnel will simply drop out of the sky, right above you, without warning. Rain, large amounts of scud clouds, etc. can obscure the actual wall cloud, depending on your position and the movement of the storm.
First of all, I happen to live in tornado alley. Second, a tornado does not just drop out of the sky at random. It forms in a particular area of the storm. An area the trained spotter is observing from a safe distance.

A trained spotter should never find himself in a position to have a tornado drop right on top of him. Much less twice. Lightening, of course, is always a concern. But we take precautions for that as well.

There is a great publication available from the National Weather Service that explains in detail severe thunderstorm structures and behavior. Those interested in better understanding severe storms and spotting can download a copy here - http://www.weather.gov/os/brochures/adv_spotters.pdf.

[k0cmh]

Hummmm, let's see.

I am a trained spotter.

Incident #2: I was inside my house. Thunder and lightening from an approaching storm. I am busy in the basement and cannot see outside. Weather radio sounds a tornado warning for the entire county. I go upstairs to look out the windows to see just where this storm is. Can't see very far, lots of scud flying by at a very low level. Step outside on the front porch to get a better view. Can't see much due to low scud and rain curtain about three blocks away. I look up and much to my suprise, there is a rotating, taper shaped cloud dropping down right above me. The tree tops start moving in a circular fashion.

I run inside, grab the wife and FLY down the basement stairs. No bad noises, no ripping of siding and 2X4s, no train coming. After a few minutes, look out the one small basement window and only see moderate rain. Go back upstairs, and see just breezy conditions and moderate rain. Go on front porch and rotating funnel is gone, no damage to the neighborhood. Just some twigs and leaves scattered about the street/lawns/roofs.

Later I talk to another neighbor who saw the same thing, the funnel never touched down.

So, tell me how that could never happen to a trained spotter. That wall cloud was well screened by the scud and rain curtain. I could not tell I was under a wall cloud, since I could not see the edges of it.

Since then, I have talked with a well trained chaser who was following a cell and much to his suprise, and the suprise of the others in his small group, another cell popped up behind them and they found themselves between two funnel clouds on the ground. Again, the second funnel was at first obscured by a rain curtain. These guys are very good and well trained.

The bottom line is if you are going to be around storms, no matter how well you are trained, things outside the control and experience of your training can happen.

Shifting gears, I was monitoring a county Stormwatch net across the river from my county, and heard the NWS asks if any spotters could drive to the eastern edge of the county line and confirm a possible funnel cloud. The NCO called the only two spotters who were actually deployed (who happened to be at the western part of the county) and asked if they would do so. Both replied NO, because it was getting dark and they did not know the roads in that part of the county. Very smart and professional-like move on their part.

[KC9ECI]

We just got whacked again. Trees down, two car accident when drivers lost control in the rain. I stood in front of the FD and watched a horizontally rolling cloud pass over the top of the city just ahead of the gust front. I don't think I've ever seen it rain that hard.

[N9FE]

Our sirens our going off right now... here we go again..........

[KC9ECI]

Our sirens our going off right now... here we go again..........


Good luck.

[ai4ep]

I have been listening to 146.520 over the past day or so and all I have heard was a couple of weak staions I guess were around Huntsville...nothing more.

Of course every one may just be listening like I am, or there aint no one out there in range ( stove ) of my home location.

So I am giving it all up for greener pastures.

I did my best.

No reply is necessary.

[wa9cwx]

THAT WAS ME ! THAT WAS ME !! YOU heard ME ! :)

[KG6WOU]

I have been on the road now for more than a month. I monitor 146.520 on my dual-band radio virtually all the time. In a month, I've had two, TWO Q's and I've heard only two other stations working on it.

Granted, I've been in the boonies but I would have thought that it would be getting much more use than I'm hearing.

Pity.

[kc9lwc]

First of all, I happen to live in tornado alley. Second, a tornado does not just drop out of the sky at random. It forms in a particular area of the storm. An area the trained spotter is observing from a safe distance.

A trained spotter should never find himself in a position to have a tornado drop right on top of him. Much less twice. Lightening, of course, is always a concern. But we take precautions for that as well.

There is a great publication available from the National Weather Service that explains in detail severe thunderstorm structures and behavior. Those interested in better understanding severe storms and spotting can download a copy here - http://www.weather.gov/os/brochures/adv_spotters.pdf.

N4AUD & KC9ECI .... Sorry I haven't emailed you that document, here is the reason. Funny that accidents came up in this thread. While heading out to intercept storms in SE MN on Thursday, I was involved in a MVA with another vehicle about 10 miles south of home. Wasn't my fault, the other car wasn't paying attention and slammed into me going 60 mph. Just wanted to fill you in regarding that.


Now WR5AW, it sounds like your simply relying on your SKYWARN lecture and the 'fancy' advanced field spotters guide they gave you. Perhaps you need to re-read it. As your watching one wall cloud, one could form right over you very easily. Storms just don't produce a sole wall cloud, or a sole area of rotation. Many times wall clouds spin up and dissipate, then inflow shifts and a new area of rotation begins to form, sometimes two simultaneous areas of rotation! (Who who would have thought right?). This typically occurs with cyclic supercells. These rotations which are associated with the main updraft occur on any side, leading edge, back end, southern flank and even northern flank. With HP's they are typically occluded by precip and thats when things get real dangerous, to the point where its not safe at all to go into an HP. Thats just something you don't do willingly. Perhaps the storm you are watching back builds and now the main updraft is to your SW, putting you right into the precip/hail core and the line of fire; an entirely new cell could develop off the outflow of the cell your observing, and if that newly formed cell goes tornadic rapidly, your now in between two rotating supercells. As your watching one area of interest, and a new one develops to which you are in the path of, I believe your guide calls that an 'unexpected event'. The guide says you as a spotter should be aware of unexpected events, you surely don't sound like someone who is aware of them, or aware of the fluidity of the situations you encounter while in the field.

Let's just say one of these 'unexpected' events occurs. As you stated, you should have at least one bail route, if not two. You see a new area of rotation form behind you, you goto bail on the road which you've chosen only to drive 3 miles and find out its a dead end. But hey now, all your maps showed it went through to the south. Nuhh uhhhhhhh, now your stuck on a dead end road which was suppose to be your safe way out. (Great example, this happened to us yesterday in NCNTRL Minnesota, all maps showed the road went through only to find a dead end. Now we weren't in any danger, we were trying to follow a lowering with rotation as it tracked to the East, only to lose it thanks to the road). Perfect example of the kind of stuff that happens while in the field.

K0CMH is right on the money, no matter how well trained you are, the fluidity of storm spotting/chasing always puts you at risk.

P.S. - I'd love to hear your precautions for lightning, must be a real hoot.

[N4AUD]

I hope you weren't injured in that accident! No sweat about the file.

[N8CPA]

If you wrote that analysis from the perspective of an 'avid storm chaser' then you weren't very objective. Anyone with even a cursory exposure to EmComm knows the first priority is personal safety.

Trained spotters know how to position themselves to safely observe the conditions. They also have two egress paths. It's simple spotting 101.

When someone asks me if I'm a 'storm chaser' I always tell them, "Absolutely not. I am a storm spotter. There is a big difference. My job is to protect the community. Not take pictures." I'm in front of it before it crosses our county line to the West, and checking out when it crosses the county line to the East.

Amen! Hard to believe there's so much confusion between storm spotting and storm chasing. And when I hear someone refer to the use of AR in storm chasing, it sets my LidDAR in full effect: "WHACKER! WHACKER! WHACKER!"

[ai4ep]

some of these folks you can NOT teach any thing, for they already know all there is to know, in their primitive minds.

And, no the dumb ones are not all from the SOUTHERN USA STATES either.

[wr5aw]

blah blah blah ... must be a real hoot.
A cynic in every crowd I suppose.

[kc9lwc]

blah blah blah, I'm SUPER SPOTTER! RAWR!

A very lackluster reply, I'm saddened. I was waiting for the explanation on your all-rubber lighting protection suit your wear while spotting. :D

[n8emr]

I spend most of my time when traveling on 52 and drive 100 miles round trip to work. I hear some regulars on 52, but unless you keep calling I seldom hear anyone else chatting. Seems lots monitor 52 no one calls. On the way home I call every 5-10 miles or so and often find someone to chat with but they all say the same thing. I monitor all the time but never hear anyone. Make a call, make yourself know. Were out there just waiting for someone to start the chat.

[wr5aw]

A very lackluster reply, I'm saddened. I was waiting for the explanation on your all-rubber lighting protection suit your wear while spotting. :D
"Hi. I'm from Norman, OK."

"Hi. The frequency is in use."

Welcome to my ignore list.