2 meter trail report

[Cruiserdrew]

This is a post from the Cruiser Owners Amateur Radio group, I thought the ih8mud guys on the fence about ham radio might be interested.



This will not be a post loaded with specs or deep tech, but I though I would share the experience this week on the Norcal Wagons Death Valley Daze run.

It was interesting for me on several levels, but most importantly for the fact that the CBs were not used. The entire run of 15 trucks was coordinated and kept in contact with 2m, on what is not designated by the FCC as the "Norcal" frequency 146.460. Since 2 members of the group did not have 2m, one of our new hams would do a manual cross band repeat for their benefit. My radio feeds back into my CB, so I basically left the CB off. RIP.

The first day into the trip was a straight shot into Saline Valley and the hot springs there. On my way in, I was looking for Ali (KE5LED) who was driving in from Las Vegas. I finally raised him when I was in the bottom of Saline, and he was on the other side of South Pass, 45 miles and 1 mountain range away. Not bad, considering we did not have any line of sight, but we had clear communication on about 25 watts. Once he crested South Pass, we did have line of sight and the power need went to 5 watts. I could keep up with his progress on the way in and redirect him when he went on a brief additional "adventure".

In Saline, I spent a few minutes doing some radio related chores. I could not reach the Silver Peak repeaters, but I did get a squelch tail from Mazourka Peak(146.760). Unfortunately, no one was monitoring the Mazourka repeater, so I didn't speak to anyone. I could not reach Mt. Potosi, or any of the Las Vegas repeaters. I could also not reach the Trona or Ridgecrest machines, but I learned later they were off-line, or having problems.

The following day we went over Steel Pass (didn't try any radio, but an ideal spot!) and down to the Eureka Dunes. At Eureka Dunes, I got on the Silver Peak machines (146.940, 147.060) and was invited to tune back in at 8pm for a "radio net" basically a daily chat of the Bishop area radio club. It was weird, but Ali and I could both hit these repeaters on 5 watts-with full quieting and good signal strength according to the Bishop Radio Club members we talked to. At the time we were 60 miles or so from the repeater site. Funny-Ali could not hear me when I would transmit to the repeater, but could hear the other transmissions from the repeater-apparently my transmitting so close to him, would swamp his receiver. I did not have this problem when he would transmit-perhaps because his radio is an older model? Anyway, that evening a huge storm blew in-the wind and sand forced a retreat into the vehicles without dinner, but I did log onto the Silver Peak 8pm chat. The Bishop area guys are really nice, were very happy to hear what we had been doing, and wanted us to check in the rest of our trip.

The folowing day I could not hit any repeaters from Phinney Canyon at the north end of DV but of course we had excellent truck to truck communications through out the long travel day. The next day in Titus Canyon we could talk truck to truck, but otherwise that is a black hole/vortex as far as communication goes. Even the 2m had a few issues when we got spread out in the deep canyon.

That night in Echo Canyon at the Inyo Mine, another of our group members (Brett- don't remember his newly minted call sign) was camped with his small group roughly 50 miles away near the Racetrack. We could speak to him on medium power like he was part of our group. He was meeting up with us 2 days later so we made arrangements for that (more on that later).

Friday, in Butte Valley-I could hit nothing. I did not have time to go to the top of the hill and try, but it seemed like a dead zone, except for simplex, which was great as usual. We did hike to the top of Striped Butte-that would have been fun to try a HT, but we did not take one up there.

The following day we had intermittent contact with Dana and Brett in Marble Canyon which was 50 or so miles away to the north. That afternoon we were up in South Park and could talk directly to Brett who was down in the flat of Panamint Valley, looking for the entrance to South Park Canyon. I was suprised this worked, since the line of sight in this circumstance is through several miles of solid bed-rock, so something else was happening. That evening we had changed our camp spot plan, but when Brett got to the designated spot, he could talk to us 2 passes away to the north and vector in easily. Very cool.

Last thing-On the way home, I keyed up again on the Silver Peak machine. It has great coverage throughout the Owens Valley, and then intermittent coverage almost to Topaz Lake on 395. I took the route over Monitor pass and could still talk to my new friend NW6C who was helpful with signal readings and coverage suggestions. He is also an off-roader with the Mammoth Area 4 wheel drive group and was impressed that we had converted the Norcal Wagons to amateur radio. Apparently bad communication has been a source of constant irritation for him for many years!

So that's it. Sorry about the lack of tech. I may post this on ih8mud, just to spread the word about decent communications. Ron can let me know if that's OK.

[pismojim]

Thanks for the report Andrew. I look forward to gaining some first hand experience with you and the crew.

You've more than planted the seed. I'm sure radio sales to Cruiserheads are going up. As if the Cruiser hobby wasn't enough.

[e9999]

good read!

impressive.

gotta bite the bullet and do it!

[FirstToy]

2Meter just rocks. After the trip, I just don't want to use CB anymore... and I was reluctant to get a 2 meter setup in the first place!

for the clarity and range, it is a real time saver and the safety factor goes up x100 compared to CB.

at this point, the only reason to keep CB is that I know many others don't have 2meter (yet!)

a note- on the road, we got about a 5-6 mile range. I started loosing comms as they went over a crest into another valley. It got pretty bad to no comms if we had a couple grades between us. not surprising and still way better than CB.

[Kofoed]

The only, and I mean only, reason to use CB is that somebody in your group doesn't have a 2m amateur radio.

Wish I had 10 cents on the dollar for my CB gear......

[alvarorb]

Andy,

Very cool trail report.

I'll post it on the Norcal Wagons web page.

Alvaro

[groucho]

Originally Posted by Kofoed

The only, and I mean only, reason to use CB is that somebody in your group doesn't have a 2m amateur radio.

Wish I had 10 cents on the dollar for my CB gear......

Well said point.

[Kofoed]

FYI there is good repeater coverage in Butte Valley, Owlshead and S Death Valley areas. PM if you would like the freqs...

[PKP80]

I'm sold...I need to go ham, I HATE the CB. Over the past 2 years it has been tuned properly and working w/out hassle once or twice. Even then it sucked. Thanks Drew

[Cruiserdrew]

Sammy-Tony Twiddy said you were going to be on my run at Rubithon. We'll be running the 2m as primary radios there, so try and do your test before June. Also, no vitamin T for you until we get to the Springs or I'm telling your mom.

Known Hams on the wagon run:

Me
Alvaro
Marty
Jim B
Big Jim

Hopefully a few more before launch day.

[PKP80]

How long between taking the test and being able to operate legally? I want to take it the first weekend in June, is that sufficient?

Also, how do call signs work? can I get PKP80 as my call sign? I'm going to do some research before asking anymore Q's Hope be on frequency sooner than later.

[Cruiserdrew]

Originally Posted by PKP80

How long between taking the test and being able to operate legally? I want to take it the first weekend in June, is that sufficient?

Also, how do call signs work? can I get PKP80 as my call sign? I'm going to do some research before asking anymore Q's Hope be on frequency sooner than later.

That's enough time-takes about 1 week to have your call sign assigned. After that, you can request a vanity call sign, but PKP80 would not be one you could request. You could request KI6PKP. I'm pretty sure that isn't assigned yet since the recent call signs in Ca have been KI6I..

Good luck on the test-it's easy.

[alvarorb]

Sam,

Studying for your HAM test should not take more than 3 days.
Here's what I used:http://www.hamtestonline.com


Regards

Alvaro

[KLF]

Originally Posted by Cruiserdrew

That's enough time-takes about 1 week to have your call sign assigned.

Actually, it takes longer than that now. I passed my test on 3/14, and I finally got my call sign just last Thursday 3/29. The FCC has been swamped now that the code requirement is gone.

KB1OSF

[kb3gun]

Originally Posted by KLF

Actually, it takes longer than that now. I passed my test on 3/14, and I finally got my call sign just last Thursday 3/29. The FCC has been swamped now that the code requirement is gone.

KB1OSF

It depends too on the VEC's that give the exam. Some still mail the results to the FCC so it can take a while longer than those that upload the results to the FCC. Our local radio club offers testing every 3 months. We just had one for all the techs that wanted to upgrade to general now that the CW requirements are gone. We tested them Saturday and their new upgrades were in the FCC database on Wednesday.

PS... What is the Cruiser Owners Amateur Radio Group?

[george_tlc]

Originally Posted by kb3gun

PS... What is the Cruiser Owners Amateur Radio Group?

A yahoo group (invitation only) set up by Ron T. (ParadiseCruiser) that deals with more of the specifics of LC's and amateur radio.

Set up before ih8mud created an 'electronic toys' forum, but still viable since it is focused on amateur radio as related to our 4wding hobby. Can also be more 'chatty' (in a good way).

cheers,
george.

[cruiser_guy]

We had clear 2m contact at El Golfo a few weeks ago at more than 80 miles separation and relatively low power.
Handhelds and mobiles with a poor ground plane did not fare so well.
VA7CFW running an Icom 706MkIIG
73