Tonight, we had a total of 14 check-ins, which is great especially for operating on a new night. We mostly took check ins and then moved over to the 440 (70cm) FM Calling Frequency of 446.000 MHz to practice simplex communications. Several people noticed that I could hear other stations that they could not. This is fairly common with simplex operation. Often times also, as net controller, I cannot hear some stations. This makes it necessary for those stations who can be heard by net control to relay in some outlying or low power stations. I discovered that I could use more practice with controlling a net this way. It sounds more like an HF net than the usual VHF/UHF repeater nets.
Of the 14 check-ins, I heard from 9 stations on simplex, including two who checked in first on simplex and not on the repeater. Some were hard for me and others to hear, therefore there was some doubling (or tripling or quadrupling!). It sounded like an HF pileup at times.
The question was asked: why even use simplex? The simple answer is that it's a way to contact others when you don't know the area repeaters. Please refer to previous net entries which discuss this topic in more detail.
As I stated in previous posts, be sure to do some research for the area you are going to, and learn how to program your radio manually so that you can reach those repeaters in an emergency!
One other thing I noticed while we were on 446.000 is that the station in Fruita was full quieting at low power. We were both impressed that this was the case! It turns out that he has a decent outdoor antenna which makes all the difference! Please take a look at the previous post about Antennas for more information about this.
After the net on simplex, I spoke with two stations about Emergency Communications and antennas. I also spoke to two other stations on 449.650 where we practiced three way communications on a repeater for about 10 minutes.
Great net tonight, and thanks to all who participated! If you have any questions about reaching the repeater or programming your radio, don't hesitate to shoot me an email at KE0HNW@arrl.net!
73, Terry (KE0HNW)