2Metre SSB up and down the coast VK2

[VK2TS]

Good Evening Gents

It seems to me there is almost a complete lack of 2Metres SSB activity on 144.100 these days. It was much busier in the past. I often see lift (As i do this evening) as the VK2RSY beacon is S9 rather than the normal S1-S3 signal level. No it isn't aircraft enhancement, it is troppo (Also the propagation is always better on and around dusk). I thought there would be some guys active now from Newcastle due to the demise of TV Channel 5A but it is dead quiet.

Realistically there is more to 2Metre SSB than just aircraft enhancement.

If you are around put out a call on 144.100 and see what happens. You will be surprised who listens around the Illawarra QF55

Cheers

Tony

VK2TS

[VK4UH]

G'day Tony

For reference thee always seems to be far more activity on 144.200 rather than 144.100 here is SE VK4

Kevin VK4UH Samford

[VK2TS]

G'day Tony

For reference thee always seems to be far more activity on 144.200 rather than 144.100 here is SE VK4

Kevin VK4UH Samford

Why? Doesn't make sense unless it is the aircraft guys on the weekends?

Cheers

Tony

VK2TS

[VK2VHF]

Yes, I hear more on .200 in Sydney, but even then, not much!

[VK2EAR]

Having just recently purchased a FT-817 & mounted it in a backpack with a battery I will be trying to go hilltopping on weekends in the Blue Mountains near my house when I get the chance!

I am keen to operate 2m ssb while portabale as well as 6-40m hilltop stationary with a portable vertical antenna.... Trouble is it will be on a very adhoc basis as my weekends are always full!

I plan to call on 144.100 but will give .200 ago too.... Just can't say when!

Michael

[VK4TS]

I thought I had a blast from the past when I saw 6-40 -

Had one of those on my first 2M SSB amplifier

[VK2TS]

Having just recently purchased a FT-817 & mounted it in a backpack with a battery I will be trying to go hilltopping on weekends in the Blue Mountains near my house when I get the chance!

I am keen to operate 2m ssb while portabale as well as 6-40m hilltop stationary with a portable vertical antenna.... Trouble is it will be on a very adhoc basis as my weekends are always full!

I plan to call on 144.100 but will give .200 ago too.... Just can't say when!

Michael

Hi Michael

Dont forget that 144.100Mhz is the calling frequency. 144.200 is used almost universally for aircraft enhancement in the mornings on the weekends and that's it. You could call for three hours at any other time and no one will answer you. Lets not end up with lots of confused people as there are on 6Metres (Especially in VK4) where half use 50.110 - the calling frequency and the other half use 50.200 the secondary calling frequency. If you want to work any sort of reasonable chance of a contact i would be using 144.100Mhz.

Cheers
Tony
VK2TS

[VK3DXE]

Having just recently purchased a FT-817 & mounted it in a backpack with a battery I will be trying to go hilltopping on weekends in the Blue Mountains near my house when I get the chance!

I am keen to operate 2m ssb while portabale as well as 6-40m hilltop stationary with a portable vertical antenna.... Trouble is it will be on a very adhoc basis as my weekends are always full!

I plan to call on 144.100 but will give .200 ago too.... Just can't say when!

Michael

Hi Michael

Dont forget that 144.100Mhz is the calling frequency. 144.200 is used almost universally for aircraft enhancement in the mornings on the weekends and thats it. You could call for three hours at any other time and no one will answer you. Lets not end up with lots of confused people as there are on 6Metres (Especially in VK4) where half use 50.100 - the calling frequency and the other half use 50.200 the secondary calling frequncy. If you want to work any sort of reasonable chance of a contact i would be using 144.100Mhz.

Cheers
Tony
VK2TS

144.100 is the call frequency. I tend to park the rig there if not listening for beacons or playing WSPR, and put the odd call out when time allows and conditions are reasonable.

In the mornings between around 7am and 9am on the east coast, the majority of activity is on 144.200 SSB and 144.230 FSK441. Outside of those times, people tend to move back to 144.100 OR there "private" chat frequencies and/or tend to move off the call frequency once contact is established (as per good operating practise). WE HAVE VFOs, USE THEM AND YOU"LL FIND ACTIVITY ON THE BAND

[VK7DX]

A bit confusing having a primary and secondary calling frequencies on two metres as per the band plan.
So I will assume that 144.200 is for AE and M/S from early morning till 2300z and then 144.100 after.

6 metres has a defined band plan so there should be no confusion.
50.100 is not a calling frequency
There is no primary and secondary calling Frequencies.

50.110 is the for international DX only.
50.200 for all other operations.

These band plans can be read in the band plan section of the WIA Callbook.

cheers
Frank

[VK4UH]

Hello all and thanks for input on calling channels on 2m SSB

Personally I agree we would be better served by using 144.100 for routine calling on phone.

My earlier post about VK4 activity being predominantly on .20 was an observation only with no attempt to support the practice. Having returned to serious 2m activity at my current QTH I had also been confused about who where and when 2m phone activity seemed to be occurring.

I am also disappointed about how little 2m phone activity occurs during the later part of the day esp. the afternoons even at weekends. Why is there only activity in the early morning often before any mode of propagation has built up? Meteor Scatter excluded there seems no sense in this either. I have gone out to high portable sites in VK4 on 2m during the day at weekends and am often lucky to raise any contacts at all even calling on .100 and .200.

Kevin VK4uh

[VK2TS]

Hello all and thanks for input on calling channels on 2m SSB

Personally I agree we would be better served by using 144.100 for routine calling on phone.

My earlier post about VK4 activity being predominantly on .20 was an observation only with no attempt to support the practice. Having returned to serious 2m activity at my current QTH I had also been confused about who where and when 2m phone activity seemed to be occurring.

I am also disappointed about how little 2m phone activity occurs during the later part of the day esp. the afternoons even at weekends. Why is there only activity in the early morning often before any mode of propagation has built up? Meteor Scatter excluded there seems no sense in this either. I have gone out to high portable sites in VK4 on 2m during the day at weekends and am often lucky to raise any contacts at all even calling on .100 and .200.

Kevin VK4uh

Hi Kevin

Aircraft enhancement activity happens early as it is quieter and a lot of guys wake up early on the weekends, usually a hangover from getting up early for work for so many years. Meteor scatter (Although i am not sure there is actually anyone seriously chasing it) tends to be better early too. In areas (Like mine) as the sun rises our archaic overhead power lines start to get noisy. This is particularly noticeable when there is a heavy dew or light rain. If everyone who isn't interested in Aircraft enhancement (And it does get mundane very quickly) sticks to 144.100 then activity WILL pick up. Of course summer tends to breed more activity as Troppo is more common, although Sporadic E and Troppo can happen at any time. I have seen a number of Troppo lifts up the coast over the last couple of weeks but no one else seemed to realise it.

I still cant believe there are not more operators starting to come on air in the Hunter region (Central Coast VK2) due to the demise of Channel 5A. Maybe they just sit on repeaters or 40Metres up there????

Cheers

Tony

VK2TS

[VK3DXE]

When I lived in Sydney, there was a lot of activity in the evenings. This was because myself and several others made an effort to call on .100 regularly and encourage newer/smaller stations. I've found the same here in Melbourne, although lately I don't seem to get the free time to even put out a call and stir up some activity - hopefully that'll change before too long.

The one thing I CAN say about creating more activity on the band is that if you have a decent signal, then you create more activity because weaker stations will generally keep trying for you even if you're not hearing them so well (Gotta change the HF-centric mentality about strong signals). So there is definitely an argument for running as much power as you can (legally of course) when calling CQ.

Calling CQ using CW also works very well, as often others will recognise that it really is a signal in the noise rather than their imagination and respond - and please remember, I'm not expecting you to necessarily come back to me in CW. Voice is fine.

[VK2EAR]

Starting to be really cool in the mountains lately so my walking will not be as early as I would like, in Summer on a Sunday morning from 7am I have gone for long walks into the bush/up mountain tops etc & even cooled off under water falls then gone back home to wake the wife up who likes to sleep in till 10am on weekends if she can

Will be trying to get out one weekend soon & I'll be calling on 144.100 for sure.

Michael

[VK2TS]

Starting to be really cool in the mountains lately so my walking will not be as early as I would like, in Summer on a Sunday morning from 7am I have gone for long walks into the bush/up mountain tops etc & even cooled off under water falls then gone back home to wake the wife up who likes to sleep in till 10am on weekends if she can

Will be trying to get out one weekend soon & I'll be calling on 144.100 for sure.

Michael

Hi Michael it will be good to hear you. Just have to fix this pesky intermittent TX on the Kenwood TR751A and I am sure I will hear you down here in Wollongong.

Cheers
Tony
VK2TS

[VK3ALB]

Hi Michael it will be good to hear you. Just have to fix this pesky intermittent TX on the Kenwood TR751A and I am sure I will hear you down here in Wollongong.

Cheers
Tony
VK2TS

What's the nature of the intermittent?

[VK2TS]

Hi Lou

If you tap the rear of the radio with the hard plastic head of a screwdriver the TX cuts in and out. I noticed a relay on the rear board to the right of the SO239 antenna connector and i assume It may well be the PTT relay although i am not sure I can get the cover off and carefully clean the contacts. I will have a better look at the circuit and the radio over the weekend.

Cheers

Tony
VK2TS

[VK3KTO]

Greetings All
Will be in Marimbula June 7 to 12th for the Jazz Festival. Hope to have FT857 with me, so will give a call on 144.100 from time to time, as well as other bands.
73 de Mike VK3KTO

[VK2EAR]

Well I finally got to test out my 817 backpack setup!... Saturday before last the 6th of July at about 9am I drove to the entrance of the NP at Woodford the next town down from mine, Hazelbrook I parked & walked about 15mins then climbed a small hill which is about 600m asl & has a clear line of sight over most of the Sydney basin.

It was a very sunny warm Winters day & it was great sitting up on the hill for the short time I did.

MAP


Looking towards the hill from the National Park gate at Woodford.


View towards Sydney, I could see the Sydney bulidings.

I put a simple telescopic whip for 2m on my 817 & put a cq on 144.100 to be answered by VK2BCC - Colin who is at Blackheath, who said he had read this thread & was most interested to hear a new operator, we were then joined by VK2BXT - Terry at Picton & we changed frequencies then had a very good 3 way QSO.

I would have stayed there longer but I had an issue at home... my wife texted me to say I had the shed key which my step daughter needed so I had to cut short my mini field day

There was not a lot of soil on the mountain top but I did manage find some soil in between some rocks for the spike on my buddi-pole copy HF vertical for a quick listen around 40m with an unsuccessful attempt to call in on a very busy portable net I heard around 7.078.

I will now refine my operation & maybe build myself a small beam for 2m which would greatly assist SOTA operations... I am trying to keep it as portable as possible though so I may experiment with simple verticals as well.


817 with buddi-pole copy in the background


Backpack contents spilled out on the rock.


Looking across my "field station"

It was all very spur of the moment with no advance planning, in fact I had not charged the gell cell for awhile & had a "DOH" moment when I noticed the voltage dropping

I have the radio always in the backpack with the buddi-pole bag next to it in our walk in wardrobe...... what the Yanks call "grab n go"

Michael

[VK4GHZ]

Nice article, Michael.
As always, a picture is worth 1000 words.


Sent from my Galaxy S3 via Tapatalk 2!

[VK3MEG]

awsome post micheal I'll look forward to ear'ing you when sota comes on line in nsw.
great pics
cheers