Ham radio - not much activity on this subject lately

I haven't seen any activity on this subject (HAM Radio) lately, just wondering how many active HAMs there are that use a HAM radio in their RVs there is. I monitor 146.52 while on the road with my MH and have my Call and 146.52 in reflective letters on my rear bumper and have never heard anybody. I also have repeater frequencys arranged in my radio in geographical order so i can pull them up easily while traveling. Hope to hear Y'all on the airwaves.

73s
Bob
W4RAA

Did a search in library but only found listing of approx 50 member ham operators.....
Interested in exploring this as hobby and putting radio setup in MH ....
Went into CB's in 1974.... first two stolen in first month in Ohio ....better experience since then - have had in all vechicles since then but really haven't used in years due to idle chatter and profanity......
Anyone have reccomendation of good initial and basic resource for putting in ham setup in RV?

Ignore my last post/reply.... just found entire thread of posts I need to read .... back with questions later..

ROB357 said:

I haven't seen any activity on this subject (HAM Radio) lately, . . .

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Bob, why didn't you make your subject, "Not much activity in HAM radio lately" . . .  ??? That way, those not interested in that subject can move on to subjects they are interested in.

Just a suggestion . . . Thanks.  

Bob, he posted in On the Airwaves. 

Maybe we are all on the air?  I am guilty of being inactive.  I have my 2m mounted in the MH, but not an antenna yet.  Had the gear to do it, just never got to it while traveling.  I did have the CB on and it saved my bacon in the desert, and being a ham, you know how tough it is to admit to that! 

I have my call on my license plate, but no monitoring signs plus had to see the plate in the center of the coach with my trailer being towd. 

What I have found in travel is that listening on .52 is almost fruitless.  I have picked up maybe 3 QSO's in all my time monitoring.  Unless you are constantly calling CQ the other hams will also just hear the quiet.  Repeaters another situation, but that can be more fruitful.  Watch for encode tones.  There was a good book I have somewhere, repeaters with codes listed by highways.  Kind of like the Next Exit book. 

Good luck with it, but might be better off with a mobile HF and work countries.

PancakeBill said:

What I have found in travel is that listening on .52 is almost fruitless.
Good luck with it, but might be better off with a mobile HF and work countries.

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I have have found many ops on 52 in my travels, especially among long haul truck drivers.  I have my FT-857d programmed to scan the repeaters and simplex frequencies of our route with 52 my primary (ch1) frequency.  I also scan 55 but this is a less used frequency.  However, in most urban areas, both frequencies usually contain ops and they seem to be friendlier than alot of repeater users (at least to me :>) ).  If you ever come to my area of Texas, most of us stay on 55 primary and 52 secondary from the house.

Hi Wiley,

  I hear what you say. In my area 6 meters is virtually non-existent. Even 2 meter repeater traffic on repeaters is very low, unless you are in metropolitan areas.

  My activity has been mainly on HF..mostly PSK31.  Due to the lousy sunspot cycles I have been relatively quiet for the last couple of years.  Hi-power SSB makes my neighbors stereo speakers speak; I don't want to deal with that.
  Have been thinking of putting my rigs into the RV but I am not on the road enough to warrant that activity.

Maybe some day, if it ever comes.

  Good hearing from you.

73 carson FL    (VE7WCX) /W4

Bob,

One suggestion - go to Profile|Modify Profile|Ignore Boards Options. Check the boards that are of no interest to you, and click Change profile. New messages on those boards will no longer be listed when you click the Show unread posts link.

carson said:

    My activity has been mainly on HF.  ........... Hi-power SSB makes my neighbors stereo speakers speak; I don't want to deal with that.

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I'm mainly HF (14.2, 28.4, and 1.9) from the house, but always monitor .55.  We do have several repeaters within communications range but us out in the country type hams around here actually tend to gravitate to the simplex and HF frequencies except during bad weather.  I guess that is why when I am traveling I tend to stay off the repeaters and go to the wide open spaces of simplex frequencies.  There's been numerous times I have connected with an 18 wheeler or fellow camper/vacationer and chatted for a couple of hours heading in the same direction.  If I use repeaters at all when traveling, I usually pick those that are wide area links like the West Texas Connection, Colorado connection, and the Mega-Link in New Mexico.  I love six meters when traveling, especially on mountain tops in Colorado.  However, around here, it is pretty much dead except during a band opening, which is rare at the moment.  I'm in the process of getting back on six meters from the house but until I get a yagi  built, I don't imagine I will see much activity on my loop until late may or early June. 

Where I live, my closest neighbor is 150 yards away so interference really isn't much of a problem :>)

Tom said:

Bob,

One suggestion - go to Profile|Modify Profile|Ignore Boards Options. Check the boards that are of no interest to you, and click Change profile. New messages on those boards will no longer be listed when you click the Show unread posts link.

Click to expand...

Good suggestion, Tom -- and I have now done that.

My thinking had been that I "do" have an interest in CB's. Have always had a CB, but on my current rig, can not find the wiring after it leaves the built in Winny antennae up front.

Also, the wording, "this Subject" threw me -- vs. not much activity on this "board" . . .

Thanks . . . 

[quote author=Bob Buchanan]...the wording, "this Subject" threw me -- vs. not much activity on this "board" . . .[/quote]

Good point Bob. I agree that the term "this subject" was used in the subject line, when the OP was referring to the message board (On the airwaves). I went ahead and changed the subject line to (hopefully) remove any confusion.

I monigor 146.52 when on a long haul.. Here to church to the state park I don't (I likely should) but alas my primary "Driving" radio is.... Down and out just now (I have a secondary that's subbing)  The .52 radio is not always easy to reach.

As for other frequencies.. Well.. I check into the Before Breakfast club most every day save for .. Well, Monday next week and Sunday the week after.. that's 3973KHZ. between 3 and 5 am.. The other day I did not run as Net Control but as "Frequency Holder" for the Breakfast club from 5-6 (I kept hoping a NCS would show up and the 6am NCS did (That net runs 5-8 am) had a lot of short QSO's as I ran it kind of like a Chaos mode net (informal, uncontrolled "Round table" as opposed to a directed net)

I"m on most every day.. I also spend a lot of time on PSK.. Usualy 20 or 40 meters, sometimes 80 and occasionaly 15 (I've tried 10 but it does not play well with other stuff in the MH.. Like this computer... which is what generates the audio frequencies I need to transmit PSK)

I may give Field Hell a try this weekend

Software for Ham Radio here includes

Hamscope (PSK/MFSK/CW/RTTY/and Packet)
Digipan (PSK), Used for spotting due to the "Multi-Channel" feature)
YP-LOG  (Log for PSK)
Ham Radio Delux (Radio control, Log for SSB)
DM-780 (Many many digital modes including Field Hell, Olivia, Throb, PSK, MFSK and more.. I like hamscope's user interface better but.. DM-78 is not nearly as lmited, plus it has it's own "Super Browser" which replaces Digipan for me DM-780 also does SSTV)
Easy-Pal (Another SSTV type program, however I have issues with it)

All run on this computer, along with, usually, FREE CELL