Issue #25: Heard on the 2m Band . . .

Or pushing through the nonsense on 75 meter SSB!

 

So, you are saying it is changed, or different now than "how it used to be"? Interesting.

Not 100% sure what this means, but I guess "it changed".

 

Very different. How to explain? We've built a commercial style radio infrastructure. There's nothing wrong with that! Our local 2 meter club repeater is well monitored and fairly busy.

But the "radio" part is as impersonal as a water heater. My Leixen 10 watt transceiver is, in fact, Part 90 certified. When was the last time anyone built anything to improve his 2 meter station?

Antennas I suppose but in a repeater world once you hit the machine, you're done.

 

146.52 was rocking Labor Day weekend in the White Mountains. Lot's of SOTA activities abound!

 

Same here. I couldn't get on the air, but I saw the spots.

Chris

 

Send ‘em down my way!

 

One of the things I really like about 2m/440 is weak signal work. I use FT8 on 2m as a propagation map and on any average day I can go 200 - 300 miles on 15 watts. My farthest was into Florida where I was heard but couldn't get a convo established. I figure then switching over to voice and inlining a 180w amp I should be able to go at least 300 miles for SSB. But unfortunately, nobody ever replies when I call cq at 4.200. I know folks are out there on FT8 reporting but apparently nobody is wanting to chat. Anyways, would love to revive some SSB interest in 2m/440 at some point.

 

I make the occasional contact on 52 simplex. But I have never heard or worked anyone on 446 simplex

 

I was doing some UHF coverage testing with my wife for a possible repeater. We we on 446 and I found out that there are people who have that frequency in their scan list around here.

 

I heard completely unacceptable behavior on both Simplex and the Talk-In while at the Huntsville Hamfest. A bunch of kids belching and treating it like CB. This happened in both 2022 and 2023. In 2022 the offenders were caught and it turns out they were all part of the "Alabama Tech Team." No one was witnessed doing this in 2023 but based on what I heard in 2022 it sounded like the same bunch of kids.

 

Thanks for commenting Richard. Sounds like my experience, Dave

 

There is activity on 2M SSB in my area, southeastern NH, on Monday evenings, the traditional 2M activity night. Though I confess I am a part of the problem as I am not in the shack in the evening much anymore. On those evenings I am in the shack I do monitor 144.200 with my modest station and will make at least one call to the southwest.

I am a bit surprised that with a couple of urban areas in your 2M SSB range that you can't extract some activity with your CQ's. I guess everyone is sitting on FT8. The fall 2M Sprint has already happened but perhaps during the next VHF contest you can make a few SSB contacts and ask about/talk up local SSB activity.

I have 446.0 on scan when I am in the shack. I don't recall hearing any random calls except during the VHF/UHF contests.

 

Thanks for the comments, Gary. I wonder, are there regions where "CQ" is called on these bands? I remember when I first re-licensed years ago, and I got a 2m radio and called "CQ." Everybody came back and poked fun at me . . . I learned that on the VHF/UHF bands, at least in these parts you do NOT call CQ. You just state your call sign, or request a radio report. Dave

 

I'd like to add my own perspective to this thread. Most of the posters here are older licensees, but I'm very new to the hobby, having been licensed for about a year now.

I don't know if 2M is "dead" in my area, but it certainly isn't very active. I've made a grand total of one simplex contact on the band, and besides recurring nets, there isn't very much activity on the repeaters either. As for the nets, I rarely see a reason to check in because the main focus, oddly enough, is radio itself! Turning on the radio just to chat about the radio itself is good only to a point; what I'd like is to have a regular conversation with someone. But 2M, at least, seems to have become a useful tool that is never used, and when it is used, operators participating are contriving to justify its existence. My area has fantastic repeater systems, like the KA6GWY and AG6AU repeaters, but in a world of cell-phones and Internet access, those repeaters are left as a second option.

Since I'm one of the dreaded "no-code Extras" that certain folks here mention, my answer may be biased, but I disagree with the notion that simplification of tests is responsible for amateur radio's decline. The amateur radio service's usefulness is (I think) limited by the uses already made of it. I mean that amateur radio is currently merely the means by which "amateur radio" is accomplished. Unless they have an interest in radio itself, most people just won't see the point in obtaining certification and tuning a radio just so that they can participate in contests and occasional rag-chews. For that reason, even though current licensing tests are comparatively lax, the pool of younger people who might acquire a license is already extremely whittled down. And that skips over whether there is a reason to require technical knowledge beyond the basics. Is amateur radio a utility or a tool for the propagation of radio itself? It seems that disagreements over licensing come from certain people who want it one or the other way. If amateur radio is a utility, then certification ought to deal with regulations and etiquette, for if a new ham can obey the rules and "fit in," what does it matter whether or not he can read a Smith chart? If its purpose is to further the knowledge and love of radio communications, then we should forget about drawing new hams in (in any numbers that matter). I don't profess to know what amateur radio "should" be, but I do know this: I want to make contacts with people who are "like me" on 2M, but there are no young hams. The reason that there are no young hams is because there are no young hams. And there are no young hams because communication is a "solved" problem to most people, and many younger "nerd-types" divert their attention to other places.

I'd appreciate correction if I have said something that is obviously wrong.

 

Mostly the same experience here, though in addition to talking about radio stuff, it is discussing health issues of old men and "What did you do today? answered by "Not much."
I guess it is good to practice for when this stuff may be needed. That is how I try to think about it. Actually got a classmate from my technician class yesterday on a ride out of my usual area. That was fun. So was talking to someone from Marconi station, and getting my technician instructor from the same location as the classmate.