2M Activity in my area - Youth Forum at eHam.net

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eHam.net Forum : Youth : 2M Activity in my area

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2M Activity in my area	Reply
by KJ6BTC on September 8, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
Hello, as you can probably tell I am pretty new to this hobby. But is it just me or are the repeaters pretty much dead during the day time?? This is my 3rd day with my radio and I programmed a gang buster of freq to a lot of the los Angeles, san berdo, and riverside repeaters and I have my radio on scan and it seems the only time it gets activity is after 6-7pm and occasional nets. I guess my question is, is this how it is around the rest of the country? During the day I try to make contact with little luck... I am hitting the repeaters because I hear the repeater after I stop keying the mic. Do other hams usually not want to talk to people they don’t know? Thanks in advance!

RE: 2M Activity in my area	Reply
by N5VTU on September 9, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
In metropolitan areas, repeaters are used by most people as they commute to and from work. In my area, the majority of the activity is during "drive time", about 6:30 - 9:00 AM and again from about 5:00-7:00PM. I think the daytime silence you hear is perfectly normal. Try making a call, there may be folks like you who are just listening, waiting for someone to talk to. N5VTU

RE: 2M Activity in my area	Reply
by KE7WJC on September 9, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
I'm pretty new to this as well, but over the past few weeks I've noticed the same trend. Except it seems to be for all 2M (not just repeaters, but the national calling freq. as well), and it's earlier/later than typical work commutes. For instance, I never really get any responses or hear anyone before 10-10:30pm on 2M after I get out of work, and usually the frequency band is dead by 8:30am in the morning as well. My best guess is that people who are on during the day are just using different frequency bands.

RE: 2M Activity in my area	Reply
by KI4SDY on September 14, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
If the 2 meter frequencies are dead in your area there are three things you can do. First, use your computer to find the local echo link repeater and monitor that frequency for traffic. You could find it more interesting talking to someone across the U.S. or the world in another time zone, anyway. The second is to generate traffic by periodically identifying with your call sign. That is an invitation for others to communicate and it makes sure that your radio is working properly. After a while you will cultivate some "regulars" who want to talk. The third is to join an active local ham club and find out when the locals usually talk and on what frequency. If they aren't too active, suggest a daily or weekly breakfast or lunch spot to meet at and talk on the way there. After a while, it will turn into a mini hamfest. Ham radio is like everything else. You get out of it what you put into it!

RE: 2M Activity in my area	Reply
by N0SOY on September 17, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
All of the areas I have lived have had almost dead 2 meter repeaters. This applied even to St Louis. The area I am in now has a nightly net but it usually is finished in 15 minutes because they require a code tone to get the repeater to respond. It is unfortunate that these are so under utilized. I am looking forward to getting a HF station installed when I relocate shortly. It is sad that so many of the hams on this board put down CB but there has always been more activity in the areas I have lived on those bands then there ever has been on 2 meter.

RE: 2M Activity in my area	Reply
by KJ6BTC on September 18, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
Yup! I totally agree, being a younger operator, I find all of my friends think amateur radio is dumb. Some think its cool but never want to take the test because they are lazy. I try so hard to get everyone I know to become a licensed ham.

RE: 2M Activity in my area	Reply
by KB3SJQ on September 19, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
Hi, the name here is Ben, most hams are at work during the day, so try some IRLP or echolink if you can. the time zone will be different in other countries so hams may be on their local repeaters. hope that helped! 73s KB3SJQ

RE: 2M Activity in my area	Reply
by WA2JJH on September 25, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
Repeater operation has changed greatly. In the salad days(1975) the band only went from 146.-147.95. That was the -plot of frequency for repaeaters. All the new Xtal cobtrol H-Ts came with 146.52 simplex and a 34/94 repeater split. Back then it was +600kc input offset 147.00 on up. Below 147.00, the standard split was 600kc down. Common splits 34/94, 96/36, 10/70. THE REPEATERS WERE ALWAYS ON AND OPEN TO ALL. Very few radio's ha a PL/dpl encode-decode. It was common to call cq on 52 simplex, many would reply with local open repeaters. If you hear a strong repeater, note output freq. 146-148 is now mostly +/- 600KC. A few are 1 meg splits. Chances are the repeater may bbe open but have PL ecause of problems. 100hz is a good start. If a repeater uses DPL----stay off, it is privite. Hope any of this helps.

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