146.52

[Richard Stouffer]

Okay everybody, if you're travelling over the holidays set those mobiles to 146.52. Put a signal out every once in a while and see what happens. Tell everybody on the nets you visit to do the same thing. Who knows, one of us somewhere out there on the lonely road might get one contact between now and New Years.

Let's make it happen cuase we really need a grown up's version of channel 19.

BK

73's
WU5K

[jagco]

Let's make it happen cuase we really need a grown up's version of channel 19.



Isn't that the truth........

[wa8yxm]

Well, when I'm in the RV and occasionally in the towed I have multiple radios

One sits on 146.52, in fact it's XTAL bound there. (It is a motorola HT) another is digital synth, but it also remains on .52 (Wilson WE-800 It is ready for QCAA membership all by itself :) For what it does it's the best radio I've ever owned. It was from the third production run (Revision 3) so they got all the bugs out of it first!!!!

So far, in two trips cross country, I have evesdropped (kind of, did not pay much attention) to a couple of "locals" chatting on 52, and I've had ONE person take a chance and call me... I was stopped in a Flying-J in Utah cleaning my windshield when a driver who was resting there saw the callsign plates on the towed and took a chance. He came over and got a laugh out of my shack. (The smaller of the restrooms in my rig)

Hey, it's a nice cozy shack and if you are waiting for your turn on the net and get that feeling of pressure..... You don't miss your turn on the net for running to the "Other office". Cause you there already (I can tell you I've made a few net turns due to that)

[Radio]

another is digital synth, but it also remains on .52 (Wilson WE-800 It is ready for QCAA membership all by itself :)

The Wilson WE-800 is the first ham radio I ever owned...I bought one used at a hamfest in 1981!

Mine receives, but unfortunately does not modulate or I'd have it on APRS.

The concept of the radio was pretty cool. Someone aught to apply modern technology to an updated version of that.

*steps back out of the way-back machine*

Radio

[wa8yxm]

Well if you have the manual for your WE-800, the modulator was IIRC a simple phase modulator, very simple, very easily serviced, all discrete components, no IC's in the modulation system. You might be able to fix it easily.

The modulation system consisted of an audio amplifier and a variable capacitance diode, that's it. (Well, a couple of coils too but w/o them it won't transmit, let alone modulate)

[Richard Stouffer]

OK, three days on the road and I again monitored 146.52 continuously and made calls about every 90 minutes: nothing. The only thing close to a signal were the few fundamental overloads from 18 wheelers with there outlaw amps. Oh well, it was great weather for driving.

[N7OQ]

OK, three days on the road and I again monitored 146.52 continuously and made calls about every 90 minutes: nothing. The only thing close to a signal were the few fundamental overloads from 18 wheelers with there outlaw amps. Oh well, it was great weather for driving.

Yeah seem to be the norm on 146.52, it is hit and miss at best. It is so hard to get enough hams to monitor it. I have been traveling with APRS going hae seen mobiles ahead of me by a few miles and I cant get them to answer 146.52 or the APRS freq.

[w6pea]

I have 146.52 in all of my radio's and very seldom if ever hear anyone on them. Unless I am talking symplex to my yl

[jagco]

I hear a guy on 146.52, from home, every so often, but apperently he doesn't hear me :(

[Ret8008]

Well I sure will keep trying. Will be on the road to TX in a week. I have only had three replies on 52 since hitting the road, but if you don't give a call, you wont here any.
Terry, WB6N

[Richard Stouffer]

I'm heading back home today. If you're anywhere between Orlando and Biloxi today, listen up. I'll go from there to Dallas tomorrow

[_L7]

I hate to admit it but I have very, very, rarely monitored .52 while mobile.

I usually look for repeaters in the area I'm traveling through. If my brother and his wife are on the trip with us we usually talk on 1.2 simplex on the road and in the campgrounds. That stopped when I upgraded to the MH as the Tri-band Kenwood that had the 1.2 (in my pick-up) died, and I have not had the time to fix it.

So I will try and remember to switch to 146.52 while on the road and see what responses I can get.

[Richard Stouffer]

Home at last.

Two days of calling on 146.52- nadda.

[W6DCS]

I went to Phoenix and back on the I-10, made a few calls, nada here also.

[w6pea]

One time my xyl and I were going west on I-8 we were in seperate vehicles.
We were climbing Ocatio grade talking onsimplex. We came around a curve and had this drunken clown tell us in no uncertain terms to get off of his Freq. and that we were bootlegging the band.:confused:

This clown almost made my xyl want to give up her license and send it back to the FCC,with the foul language that he was using.:mad:

We listened to this clowns rant for almost 2 hours as we got closer to El Cajon. This clown is still out there and every Saturday night if someone needed to use 146.52 you couldn't and do you think the FCC does anything about it.....you guessed it nada.

Oh and we even gave his call sign to the local fcc office and they never did anything about it.

I monitor 146.52 but very seldomly hear anyone using it except for this drunk clown.:rolleyes:
And I never hear anyone when we are out on the road. I was in Quartsite but didn't hear anyone there last time we were there in January of 2006. But it was late at night so maybe they were all sleeping.:eek:

[Richard Stouffer]

I'd bug ARRL to get after the FCC.

[wa8yxm]

Oh and we even gave his call sign to the local fcc office and they never did anything about it.


One of the problems is that the FCC, like most government agencies, has suffered budget cutbacks.

There is an old joke. How would like a job where you can show up (or not) as you wish, vote yourself a raise any time you want and only have to answer to your employers only once every six years?.... Senator.

Well, the House and Senate vote themselves a raise every year then cut budgets elsewhere, including the FCC to pay for it.

Last time I checked (Some years ago) we had an ofice near me that covered something like seven states investigation wise, with only THREE engineer/investigator/inspectors.

Not nearly enough.

So lots of folks have to send in complaints before action is taken.

Or, A couple of folks in Newington

[kc0pdf]

Up here in Duluth Minnesota 146.52 most of the time someone is listening or using simplex. Next time you are up north throw your call out I bet someone will come back and quickly there is a great group of freindly hams around here who use 146.520 most of the time and they always welcome people from out of town and help in any way that they can. There is even an echolink setup on 146.520, But it is not open to everyone (part of the EOC) but most of the locals can use it. Try puting out your call on 146.520 the next time you are are in Minnesota.

[k9yli]

When I travel with my van I put in the dual bander from the truck.
normal 2 meter on .52, one side of dual on some 2 meter repeater.
Other side on scan of memory, which includes .52 and .58 plus some common 2m and 440 repeaters.
I would say scan 52 55 58 while driving.

[Ret8008]

OK, first leg from Monroe, LA to Jacksonville, TX. Did not even get a response in Shreveport. I wont give up. I know there is someone out there listening. I just have to get therm to talk. Moving down to Weimar, TX today. Maybe too cool for the RF to move. 18 degrees F this AM.

[wa8yxm]

Get a rig with built in Voice module and program it to call CQ every 10-20 mintues
(I actually have such a rig, only don't have the voice module... But I can fake it with the computer control, that computer can do most anything with the KISS interface)

[W6DCS]

I am hoping this summer to find some activity, hopefully with more folks traveling during the peak vacation time traffic will start. I am not sure where we are going this summer, toss between a cross country trip and somewhere else, but either way I will be on and monitoring.

[Awlknottedup]

I have my callsign and 146.52 on the back of the trailer and tow vehicle and so far no one has tried to call me. On one run from Phoenix to Austin I heard someone on that frequency once and it was a couple of hams travelling together several miles ahead of me.

[KE5NWT]

I keep the 2 meter rig on scan in the house when I am home (scanning two local repeaters and 146.52). I heard a call last weekend on 146.52 and answered. It was a traveler on the nearby 2 lane highway passing through. I talked with him for several minutes until he got out of range. During the QSO I gave him the local repeater info so he could later program his radio to them for the next time he goes through the area. I always scan 2 meters when in the truck.

[Richard Stouffer]

Yeah!!

[Awlknottedup]

I have my call sign and 146.520 on the back on the trailer and tow vehicle. I recently traveled from San Diego County to the Bay Area with side trips to Stockton then back south. All along the way I monitored 146.520 and received no one call. I did call out a couple of times and got only one response in I-5 near Buttonwillow.

[w7wv]

I made a 4200 mile trip with the wife about 6 years ago.
I had the radio set to monitor .52 and rarely heard a conversation unless I get near a big city.
Contacts? I had one from calling CQ which I did frequently along the road.
I had much better luck using the search feature to search out repeaters and lock on them for QSOs on the way back home.

[N6USO]

When I travel, I always have a radio on 146.52 simplex. I do get responses every now and then. One time I saw a ham friend on a trip out of state I had not seen in a long time. I gave him a call on simplex and we were hooked up on the air and talked for a long time, since we were going the same way. It is always good to have that on, you may be able to help someone calling for help someday.

[Richard Stouffer]

I sure seems like most of us have the same dismal results with .52. However, it appears to play an active role around Dayton during Hamfest. Perhaps we could start the ball rolling to get everyone using it, not just when they get to Dayton, but as they drive to Dayton and back home again.

[Snell]

Coming back home to Jersey from Ohio last week on the Pennsy turnpike and I CQed on .520 around Pittsburg. I got a couple of replys. One fellow said it was fairly common for the local gang to monitor .520 as they chat there frequently. It was most pleasant to break the boredom of a long ride with a few minutes of conversation. I'll certainly try again next time I'm in that area.

Art

[Manual Garcia O'Kely]

I make a 2,000 mile round trip [1000 ea.way] usually a couple of times a year. I'm running 146.52 and 52.525. I've done this trip at least 6 times trying my darndest - I've programmed repeaters till the devil would not have it.

I've had 4 QSO's on the road in the last 6 trips. This with callsign plates on the vehicle and a bumper sticker announcing my frequency presets.

All I can figure is that there are not enough hams in the US to cover all the roads.

Me, I have simplex calling on my scanner at home at all times in the shack, on the mobile if I'm not local.

We hams need to reclaim simplex - I don't get why so many of us won't operate w/out repeaters. With 50 watts in a mobile with an average antenna you can easily cover 30 miles - you just should not be that far out of range.

Oh well.

[wa8yxm]

The problem is that with repeaters folks tend to "Cluster" on the local repeater. Nobody listens to .52 or .525

Of course on Six Meters... I spent over a month last winter in range of a six meter repeater

The only thing I ever heard was the repeater's ID, and I did put out some calls.

[Manual Garcia O'Kely]

You can be sure that I'll have one of my dual band frequencies set to 146.520 for our entire summer vacation. With my HT to act as a remote mic, it should be usable if anyone is around.

IF you do tune in, try calling once in a while, and don't just give a quick ident - give your call, your road number and direction of travel - let someone hear enough to get back to you.

If you hear someone call, why not talk? VHF you can only have a few minutes if you are not on a parallel track and if you ARE and get tired of the Q, then need to ask the wife something!

Alternate simplex frequencies - have some good ones in memory so you can move off if you go at it for an hour.

I'll be listening for you.

[k3mp]

When traveling I usually keep the 706 on simplex until I get into an area that I know the repeater freqs of friends that I QSO with on HF from home. I switch over and then back to simplex again once out of range. I keep a sign in my window and on the back of the
5th wheel.. 146.52 ... most of the times its useless....but once in a while I get lucky...I do call CQ going down the road and once in a blue moon get another ham on the road..be safe on your Alaska vacation and enjoy and write to all of us often of your camping and radio experiences...

[phredsee]

Even though it's been awhile since someone added to this topic, this past weekend returning home from an RV outing in Morro Bay, we encountered stopped traffic transitioning from the 101S onto the 126E and I mean stopped! Well, having installed by dual bander just the weekend before in the MH and not hearing a thing since installation, I cranked up the mike, id'd myself and asked what the problem was on .52. Repeated this (3) times with no return call. I hope that there simply was no one within earshot to answer, because that would explain it.

So, I keyed up the dreaded portable CB, channel 19, repeated the question and received (4) returned responses before I had time to hang up the mike and found out what the problem was. I agree, ham needs to be talked up again.

[One Country Boy]

I keep 146.52 in scan at home all the time. The frequency is seldom used in my area. I prefer operating simplex frequencies over repeaters. It appears I'm one of the few though.

73,
Jim

[bnmcgraw]

I also keep 146.52 in scan on my rig at home. I have heard only two conversations in the past three months. That won't keep me from having it on as we head for Kentucky later this month. While I'm portable at the Horse Park, I expect to at least stir up some noise. Ha Ha.

Repeaters are great but you still need that direct contact sometimes!

[Manual Garcia O'Kely]

Had a couple of simplex contacts on my two month trip - one near Nenana, two near Shasta on the way home [one was my first trucker!], and a couple of other randoms, but there's very little activity anymore. Once in a while I'd hear a guy calling another station, but only in the big cities.

Did not hear anything at all on 6 meters FM calling, nor on 10 meters FM [all the bands my FT-8900 will manage in the car].

[k3mp]

There are alot of hams in our area that use 52 instead of the local repeaters...I for one look for an OM I speak with on the way into work in the morning on simplex and its quite nice...I use 52 on the highways myself...I keep my HT on that now and I have 40M on the 706 during the day....

[K0HB]

For the last five years I have had our call letters and "146.52" posted in large letters on the back of our rig. I keep the VHF side of our dualbander ALWAYS on 146.52 and frequently announce ourselves on .52.

In something over 20,000 miles of travel like this, we have had precisely TWO Q's as a result.

http://www.openroadsradio.net/attachments/photobucket/img_3867_0_6c6a931294efe2bbdbd8df18c348de96.jpg

[wa0mqe]

I have a decal high up on the back of the motorhome announcing I monitor 146.52.

On a recent trip in our motorhome we were traveling west on I-80 in Wyoming and an 18-Wheeler who passed me contacted me on 146.52. We QSO'd off and on for 200 miles. Almost across the entire state of Wyoming. At one point he was 20 or so miles ahead off me, but we still had good signals.

[wa8yxm]

On my last trip out west stopped in a Flying-J's truck island to clean my windshield. (those islands only have Diesel and my rig's a gasser so I can't gas up there, I use the RV island for that, but they also have long handled windshield brushes)

One of the drivers resting behind me noticed my call sign plates.

[W4SNK]

and one of those was from 15,000 feet (private pilot). He was talking to me in Demming, NM, a fellow in Tempe AZ, and another in El Paso. Great range from up there. Usually, though, I might get one contact every other day or so.

[mexsunny]

Over the years I have find it harder and harder to make contacts on 2 meters, repeaters included. Maybe it's that We have satellite radio, cellphones and other entertainment.

[JWWPHOTO]

I am working a job assignment in Baytown Texas, just east of Houston and there are a whole bunch of guys using 146.52. In fact, Baytown and Beaumont are about 50 miles apart and there are alot of dialog back and forth between the two at night. I have managed to get in there every once and a while....

Jeff / KE5PIH
19' 2008 Frontier Explorer

[Radio]

Hey Jeff, welcome aboard! :hello:

Don't be shy, we actually like new people on our boards.

[jagco]

Welcome Jeff! My name is Jeff too. I plan to put a decal on my MH with 146.52 somewhere on the back. Just need to get one ordered.

[Radio]

Welcome Jeff! My name is Jeff too. I plan to put a decal on my MH with 146.52 somewhere on the back. Just need to get one ordered.

I got put out a bit trying to find a really "purdy" call sign/freq display.

I realized my fridge panel was a good place for standard sticky mailbox letters. If it ever gets tacky looking (more so that it already is) :bag: then I can replace or clean up and paint the fridge panel. The same could be done on an ordinary square, black bumper. Just paint it with a bomb can (you'll need to sooner or later, anyway) when/if the letters get nasty looking.

If you see me, call me! :radio:

[donnie]

This is coming from a new member both to this site and amateur radio, thanks for the ideas to place my call sign.
I was thinking about making a license bracket with the call on top and the freq on the bottom then mounting it on the plate.
Using a HT in the MH, Im still trying to figure out where to mount the antenna.
Only really good place is on the hood.
Thanks again for the ideas.

[jagco]

I just mounted an L bracket to the side and drilled a hole right through the body. I made a drip loop to keep water from running in and siliconed around it. But then my MH is lots older than yours, and has metal siding.

[AE5BI]

This is usually my TOAD, the feq. is magnetic numbers. I got the magnet material from Michaels and the numbers from Walmart:

http://www.fulltimerv.us/jeep/RoofRack%20007.jpg

[One Country Boy]

This is usually my TOAD, the feq. is magnetic numbers. I got the magnet material from Michaels and the numbers from Walmart:



Hey Stephen,

Nice toad. I like that. Good idea on the magnetic freq nbs. You can change them out if you decide to monitor a different one.

Maybe condix will get better so we can work some of you west coast guys on 20 meters one day. It seems to me the ham bands have been unusual for awhile. I guess that's a different topic though.

73,

Jim

[KN1B]

I run a Yaesu FT-8800 in the tow vehicle and one side is always on .52. I have also never heard anyone, but I am there. The back of our Travel Trailer is windows and was thinking of having a window decal made with my call and the YL's (KF5CNV) and putting 146.52 under the calls. What do ya'll think?

[Radio]

I have mine on the back of the 5'ver, with 146.52, never heard a thing.

[WD8QBQ]

Up here in the Great Lakes area it is quiet as well. I have belonged to a 2M repeater club LEARA for over 30 years and in last months news letter the pres. was commenting on that same thing. Several high quality and fully functional repeaters with very little use and attendance at club meetings in down to a handful. It was not like that in the past and is not what you would expect for a club with well over 100 members.
I guess "times are a changin". The economy is sure to have something to do with it and maybe the strange weather?

JIM