Does NWOS usually run any particular 2-meter simplex frequency?  If so which one?

Thanks, we might find you on 146.460 unless you get lucky!

Actually I am in the process of locating a lesser used frequency for the PNWBA group.  They have been using 146.580 as a "club frequency" and it is probably the most popular simplex frequency of them all.  Sooner or later there will be a problem. 

I have searched the net for posted usage of all 2-meter simplex frequencies listed in the band plan for Oregon, Washington, Idaho and lower BC and found several to be quite popular for various reasons (including 146.460 (ARES/RACES).  With a couple of exceptions I found the "most open" freqs to be in the 147MHz area.  Of course there is no such thing as "open" and each one of them is on some city or county list for emergency operations.

I agree that each group should use separate frequencies so as not to interfere with each other when two or more groups are only a mountain top away***.  But, it's also good to know how to locate each other for emergencies or perhaps just for a social gathering out in the boonies.  Personally I will be scanning most if not all 144/440 frequencies and will set  my "club frequency" as a priority channel.

Jerry

***Example:  Last year I was out with our local 4x4 club and a couple of rigs got into a "stuck" situation in the snow.  Two other clubs were in the vicinity (Manastash Ridge), but on different hills and unbeknown to each other we were all running the same CB channel.  One of the guys from a west-side club recognized my voice and he started chit-chatting while we were trying to transmit instructions to our guys who were stuck down a steep hill out of sight.  Then some kid from a third group came in asking for Jerry.  Hey, that's me!  But, he was looking for a different Jerry.  Talk about confusing!  After the kid used up his 2 minute attention span and resorted to using cuss words, I suggested we all calm down and go to different channels, starting with our group.  So I am all for separate frequencies.

Good thoughts Jerry. So far we haven't run into anyone else using 146.46 in WA but we did once in OR. I guess we might need a primary and a secondary frequency to be sure.

A lot of guys use 145.555 but that is in the repeater portion of the ARRL spectrum allocation.

Oh.. and your story is exactly why I prefer HAM over CB.

Craig
 

Woohoo, add me.  Will be a day or so before I get my call sign.  I'll edit this message once I get it.

Thanks for the push Craig.

You bet! So who all has been licensed so far this fall?

Peter Schuldt
Jay Erickson
...
who else?
 

Damn, sometimes I wish I lived over on your side of the Cascades.  I would really like to attend a class on APRS, especially if it involved fellow off-roaders.  As far as instructors go, why don't you contact one or two of the local VHF clubs and ask them for advice.  I'm pretty sure they could quickly give you the name of some ARES/RACES experts that could be talked into instructing the class.  Then you can all go out and "play" with your new experience and toys.  That final in-field experience is where all the training will suddenly make sense.

As an aside if you get the class on APRS setup, why don't you have someone tape it and send me a copy???

Dale

Just got my call sign.  I am now KF7HHB.

I just looked and mine is KF7HGZ. But they got my address wrong, uh oh!