Whats up with repeaters?

[kf4lne]

Last week my car broke down outside of cellular range. Being in an area refered to as 'BFE' my only meathods of communication was radio or smoke signal. When i tried to get someone on several of the heavily used area repeaters to make a phone call for me I was unable to get a response. Is this becoming the new norm? And the really bad part was one of the repeaters I tried is active 24/7. I was fourtunate enough to get someone on a simplex frequency eventually and got help, but I was just lucky enough to be in the same valley as the station who helped. Is this a common occurance now or did i just find a bad group to ask for help? when i got my ticket back in 1996 everyone was more than happy to help when needed, now it seems all anyone wants to do it talk to their buddies.

[Phineas]

That is why I carry at least a hand held CB, and a small antenna. CBers maybe labeled as bad operators, but you will have more luck getting help out of truckers than HAMS when you are stuck out of town. There are truckers who are HAMS, but they are out scanning trying to look for a convo like you are, and dont hang on a set frequency.

Another thing is the new cackling gossip factor.
I hear about more HAMS using the telephone than the radio. Everyone in the world knows you are out there, then they call their friend and say"hey, there is a HAM stuck out there. How come he dont have a CB or a cell phone?"...lol Just thought I would cause a stur. You people know who you are.

It would be nice if there were a standard Frequency that travelers use, and the would be monitored all the time. It may also depend on the area. Most of the time I am able to find some assistance, but as a good back up....Breaker 19 for assistance.

Phineas
KC0LSC

[KG4RYT]

WITH EMERGENCY CALLS ON THE RADIO I HAVE FOUND THAT LOCAL CB OPERATORS ARE MORE WILLING TO HELP THAN HAMS IN MOST CASES. I ALSO BELEIVE THEY OUT NUMBER US MAYBE TWO TO ONE?
P.S. YOU BETTER KNOW WHAT CHANNEL THE LOCALS USE.MUCH BETTER THAN CALLING ON CHANNEL 9
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[KC2JCA]

The only reason you couldn't get any help from the local repeater operators is because the majority of repeater users are lost CBers looking for a new place to trash.


Good luck trying to get any help on VHF-CB.

73, Jim - kc2jca

[W0BKR]

Personally, I cannot answer your question specifically, but in relation to similar experinece(s), what I have found is most amateurs are at work and are not "monitoring" the repeater while at work, whereas CBers are usually in transit in a car or truck.

But to answer your question, I too have noticed little activity except when there is a swap net or a general purpose net. I have called and called while mobiling to just talk or sometimes to get directions, and even state such when doing a general call, no answer. I suspect if you aren't one of the "local good old boys" who has time for you. I could think of much better uses for the spectrum. I think that is one reason cell phones were created (hi).

Repeaters use to be really popular in the early 80's. Now, I think they are a thing of the past. A mode and allocation that is best used by the "newbies" but not the general populous.

It is sad you cannot even raise anyone on simplex either (another post topic from the past). I don't know of much equipment sold via packet anymore...seems most is now on the web.

GL and will be watching for other "answers" to this concern !

73-Kerchunk!

Chris

[kf4lne]

I hate to say it, but in the past I have gotten more help from local 11M ops than from hams, but I know about 90% of the 11M ops locally personally #and the locals used to use ch 22. Around here trying to find someone on 11M is a waste anymore, they all moved to 26.915, and no matter what the situation, i cant see spending $300+ for a rig to go there. I guess i should have asked for a demonstration of ham radio instead of assistance, there is easily 4 or 5 people respond to that (I actually tested this theory earlier today, got 9 responses to a "radio Demonstration", same time of day too)

[n7wsb]

I think its a local thing - my truck threw a connecting rod about 15 miles outside of Boise (I wrote about it on here actually) - I found a local repeater and made 3 calls basically saying "this is n7wsb can I get an emergency operator on the air to handle some emergency traffic" - after the 3rd call I finally got someone on there who called a tow truck and quickly vanished. However the tow truck did arrive http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif!