jacoby@noao.UUCP (07/20/84)
Regarding emergency communications -- Let's not forget that there was a time before repeaters. I would like to encourage more hams to monitor the 2m simplex frequency 146.52 when possible. There are areas where repeater coverage is poor, or during genuine emergencies (floods, earthquakes), most repeaters are not operating. I have had one emergency experience where 52 simplex saved the day. And this was from the bottom of the Grand Canyon! Not an optimal site for simplex coverage! By good fortune a commercial airline pilot (also a ham) was calling another station. I had given up on repeaters of course, and settled down to monitor 52. After about 30 minutes, there was a call, and I promptly broke in with an emergency request. He was at 30,000+ ft, and 80 miles north. I had an IC-2AT with a Vocom 5/8ths whip. Certainly this is not an adequate solution to all emergencies, but with more people listening, the better it is. George WD6BBQ ihnp4!noao!jacoby
danny@alice.UUCP ( ) (07/21/84)
WD6BBQ suggests that people monitor 146.52 when not otherwise using their 2m xcvrs. I think this is a good idea. A problem exists, however. Since so many people use 52 as their first choice of simplex freq, the channel is often occupied; very few people are willing to monitor for possible emergency calls if there is constant chatter on a channel. Other services have solved this problem by designating an emergency-only freq (e.g., aviation band) or a calling-only freq (e.g., marine band). (A calling-only channel is used for emergency calls, but also for general calls; once communication is established, you move to a different freq to free up the calling channel.) I'd like to see 52 used as a calling freq. Now that the great majority of hams are using synthesized equipment on 2m, there's no reason why people can't move off 52 once contact has been established. There are fairly-well-respected calling freqs in the ssb segments of the v/uhf bands (e.g. 144.200) - why not for FM? Think how much easier it would be to make random simplex QSO's, try to work FM DX, etc. if everyone interested in making a QSO listened on a single channel; it would work if people would agree not to ragchew on that channel. And think of the implications for getting help in an emergency, as WB6BBQ suggested, if there were one channel that everyone listened to, but nobody ragchewed on. Comments invited. Dan Kahn, K1DK Bell Communications Research Murray Hill, NJ