A question about the national calling frequency on 2-meters

Hi,
If I establish a contact on the 146.520 FM Simplex national calling frequency on 2-meters, what is the protocol for moving to the next higher up or lower down frequency so that I'm comfortably out of the way of the calling frequency?
Thank you

 

It's nice of you to be so polite.

I've been on 2m FM since the late 1960s and use 146.52 quite a bit. Protocol around here is "just stay on 146.52," but leave long enough breaks between transmissions that anyone can break in, make a call, join the QSO or whatever. If two "groups" really want to both use the frequency at the same time and don't want to deal with each other, one group moves to 146.55, 146.58 or some other simplex frequency and the other group says, "thank you."

 

There was a time at least in some parts of the country if you were going to have a prolonged QSO on 146.520 you would move off to another frequency to keep the "calling" frequency clear. That has somewhat fallen by the wayside over the years depending on your location commensurate with the lack of overall activity there's no one waiting in line to use the frequency and then the ARRL came along and said it would be used for making contacts in contest which would seem to have ended any special use of the frequency.

 

I say use it don't hog it.

And Have Fun with it.

 

30 kHz steps should work well. That is, go to 146.49 MHz or 146.55 MHz. Or multiples of 30 kHz: 146.46 or 146.58, etc. Be sure you avoid repeater inputs or outputs. VHF FM activity is local in nature, so you need to learn about activity in your area. Some clubs pick a simplex channel that members congregate around. No group owns a particular frequency, but it is just as easy to pick a little used one for random contacts.

However, what WB2WIK and K3XR says applies. 146.52 was originally considered the National Simplex Frequency. Contacts generally started and stayed on the frequency. Then someone at ARRL got the idea that it should be a "Calling" channel and changed the designation in the repeater directory listings. Any place I have been, existing users didn't get the message and just kept using it as a plain simplex channel.

 

This isn't all.
Now the frequency can be used for contesting in FM events.

 

I'd move if I (or the other fella) was on a mountain top where tying up the channel over a large area was a concern, or if I was in a congested area where spending time on 52 was frowned upon, but in the Northern CA and SF bay area at least, people hardly ever move off, and no one seems to mind. If you do move, please move 30 KHz, not 15 (or worse, 10 or some random amount). 15 KHz isn't really enough spacing.

 

Jumping into the ditto wagon. In most areas traffic is light enough to just stay on 52, but it always pays to be polite.

One small nit: some parts of the country seem to use 15kHz spacing, others 20 (basically what the local repeaters are coordinated on). In areas with 20kHz spacing, going up (or down) by 20kHz makes sense; in areas with 15kHz spacing going up 30kHz makes sense.

But just tell the other party what frequency you intend to change to, and if you don't meet up, go back to .52

-Jon

 

Back when I was on the road, running service calls over a good part of the state, kept my 2M FM mobile radio on 146.520.
I ran into a few guys who had some power and a very tall tower. they would get into long conversations with people I could not hear at all and they did not accept any other hams trying to break into the conversation to say hello. I could drive 50 75 miles and never get a chance to have a QSO.

 

THAT is just as rude and inconsiderate as similarly equipped stations having to use the entire 19 minutes or so in QSO via satellite. They just HAVE to talk to their "BFF's" EVERY pass for the entire period.