Is 2M dead? What am I doing wrong?

[Rider]

I hate to post this thread, but after a few months with my new handheld, I have found little activity on the bug local repeaters, 145.23, 146.64, 146.955(has activity, but I can't reach it from home),and 147.15.

I hear some taking on 955 when I am on the road on weekends, but other than that, I have found little activity, so have given up.

I have had my ticket for 20 years, and remember back when 145.23 was active more or less 24/7, as we're some others. I'm just coming back from a 12 year break, and am a bit discouraged by the lack of activity.

Also, recommendations for a better antenna and/or mobile setup for a th-f6a appreciated

 

[cockpitbob]

Welcome back to ham radio.

I'm working from home and often let my HT scan the repeaters around the north shore and things will be quied for long periods of time. Of course you can throw out a "listening", or "listening and boored". For every person talking there's probably several dozen listening that don't feel like initiating the conversation.

For in the house I have a roll-up J-pole made from TV twin lead that gets me several s-units more than the rubber ducky. For the car I just use a hustler 2M/440 mag mount. It seems to work quite well and commuts easily from car to car.

For an upgrade to the HT's rubber duck, I know Diamond makes antennas that seem to have a good reputation. Here's a tri-band that would probably work much better than the factory antenna.

 

[drgrant]

Most 2M machines in New England are dead silent 75% of the time (excluding the occasional kerchunker) except for the morning and evening commute windows, and traffic nets which are typically on @ 7 or later, which usually are only on the "big" machines like 146.640, 970, and 955.

I've been on and off 2M and 440 since 1994, and there was never a time where some box was going 24/7 in the Northeast. About as close as you're going to find to that experience is the 146.640 machine in Waltham. That's probably the busiest machine in the whole region. The Greylock machine in Western MA (91?) used to be pretty busy, too, but I haven't used that one in years.

I'll also take a moment to 2nd Cockpitbob's comments. Most stock HT antennas are pure garbage. You need to upgrade to something like an RH77CA or an SRH77 to even make the radio useable. It might not be enough to make a machine
you can barely get into now, but every little bit helps. If your radio is a Monobander, the Larsen Kulduckie is a good one, as well as the antennas from Smiley (if they're still in business). Those little roll up J-poles he's talking about work wonders, too... many years ago I built one with a friend because we were bored, and it worked great.

-Mike

 

[Rider]

Thanks for the advice. Dr. Grant, you may be right, but my recollection was that back in 1991-1994 or so, 145.23 was pretty active most of the time, and there was usually someone talking. I was active with BARC back then, but it was a long time ago.

I think I'll find a pl-259 to SMA Adapter and try my old half wave 2 meter mag mount antenna.

I also have an old 4 element Yagi that I could use to key up the Mt. Tom repeater with from Brookline at 5 watts(field day 1991 I think). The main issue is that where I am I don't have LOS to any repeaters afaik. I can easily key 147.15 with just the rubber ducky, but there is no traffic there.

Thank you both for the advice.

 

[one-eyed Jack]

With 2M you have to sort of go "all out" with the gear if you want to use the band at it's fullest. I use the Icom V-8000 (75w) and a rotatable 10 element beam. Gets me around. Jack.

 

[C-pher]

I don't have too much of a hard time talking over here. I can usually call out on Scituate, RI or on Attleboro and get someone just about anytime. But true, most repeaters are pretty much dead. The ones that aren't really busy, but I can get someone is Wrentham, Walpole and Norwood...so I think that you either need to be somewhere where they are talking, or just keep plugging along.

 

[aeromarine]

I, too, was a bit surprised at how quiet things are. I started listening in on a regular basis to area repeaters about 3 months ago and there clearly is not much going on. Then again, I guess I'm part of the problem and have to share the blame since I only have a receiver and not a transmitter. I hope to cure that soon and am actively looking into buying a mobile transceiver for the car or hand-held (my only hesitation is I don't want to make my car a target for break in since I have a CR-V with no trunck). Still, I read a recent news report (WSJ or FOXNEWS, not sure which) that the number of active ham licenses in the US recently set an all time record. It seems communications breakdowns during 9/11 and after recent earthquakes and disasters have prompted people to seek a back-up mode to cell phones and landlines. Given the low level of comm activity on the repeaters I suspect many of those newly licensed people may be passive participants like me.

 

[Madball13]

I, too, was a bit surprised at how quiet things are. I started listening in on a regular basis to area repeaters about 3 months ago and there clearly is not much going on. Then again, I guess I'm part of the problem and have to share the blame since I only have a receiver and not a transmitter. I hope to cure that soon and am actively looking into buying a mobile transceiver for the car or hand-held (my only hesitation is I don't want to make my car a target for break in since I have a CR-V with no trunck). Still, I read a recent news report (WSJ or FOXNEWS, not sure which) that the number of active ham licenses in the US recently set an all time record. It seems communications breakdowns during 9/11 and after recent earthquakes and disasters have prompted people to seek a back-up mode to cell phones and landlines. Given the low level of comm activity on the repeaters I suspect many of those newly licensed people may be passive participants like me.

Not just 9/11 either, i have a buddy in CT that was only able to get text messages out during hurricane Irene.

 

[Rider]

Ok, so I have confirmed that there are some folks talking about the weather on a couple of these machines during the commute, and a have an SMA-PL-259 adapter coming so I can try out my mobile and beam antennas this weekend.

I agree that comm was horrible during the storms. At my house we talked about eliminating landlines a while ago, but when we lost power during Irene, the cell tower went down too, so instead, we now have backup hard lines(ie, not cordless) in three rooms.

Thinking about GMRS/FRS radios too.

 

[brokenwire]

20 meters is never boring 73s