VHF HAM 2 Way Radios

[mosquito]

Haha!

I love that people are scheming and getting their licenses. And thanks for the inexpensive HT link. That means I can do the same!

Hope to hear how this year's Ham projects go!

[TT120]

Finally put up my MFJ 1536 tri band base antenna. It covers 6 meters, 2 meters and 70 cm. It's on a 20 foot mast mounted to my tool shed. This thing works great, I'm hearing stations all over the place now.

[vlajim]

HERE WE COME, JUST GOT STEP tickets Sunday. Think we will look into set-up between 3:00 and 6:00, maybe in Hushville, as we tent camp. Looking forward to meeting many new faces, even better if they have call signs too. On HF we hang out around 14.305 and will be on the repeaters too. 73'S KA5SIW

[GreyCoyote]

TT120: SCHWEET! About time to take it down and bring it to the desert! Hehehe

ViaJim: it will be really interesting to see how the HF bands do at BRC. I figured the playa would be quiet with those mountains on either side but the general opinion is HF is really noisy. If you havent already, check out the BurningHams list server. Lots of ham- burners!

[TT120]

I was going to bring my old trusty Kenwood HF rig but decided against it. She's an old girl and I don't think she would handle the long bumpy ride in my old beater pickup plus all the dust getting into the automatic antenna tuner and whatnot. I'll just leave her home and bring my dual band radios. I think I'll be pretty busy chasing shiny things anyway; no time to play radio.

[GreyCoyote]

I was going to bring my old trusty Kenwood HF rig but decided against it. She's an old girl and I don't think she would handle the long bumpy ride in my old beater pickup plus all the dust getting into the automatic antenna tuner and whatnot. I'll just leave her home and bring my dual band radios. I think I'll be pretty busy chasing shiny things anyway; no time to play radio.

I kind of agree. We can QSO the rest of the year on HF. For that one week we need to put down the mikey unless we want it to be A Thing For All.

Im bringing a beatsr UHF/VHF mobile and a bump-stick as the base, and a couple of Baofeng UV5Rs for walkies. The rest of the list is in flux and subject to last minute whim.

[vlajim]

TT120, good point about the older radio. I plan to use 20meters during the hot afternoon, siesta time. I like to explore the playa in the early morning and party on the playa every night. The 80 and 40 meter bands are prone to higher levels of noise from the generators and ignitors, arcs and sparks type stuff.

One thing to consider is a tour of our portable stations. Set a date and time then let people know where you are camped and show your station to other hams and interested parties.

I have a backpack set-up to operate HF portable. I would need to buy new gel-cell batteries and the playa is almost too hot for that much work.
The idea about a HF bike mobile sounds kind'a neat, I may consider playing with that idea.
I look forward to meeting all you playa hams and other interested people. 73'S KA5SIW E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

[GreyCoyote]

Just for giggles, I queried the FCC public database to see what frequencies were assigned to the various Black Rock City entities. The list of 77 frequencies below was distilled from the results. Note that I did not include the several microwave data links, as they won't be of any interest to the casual listener.

As always, you can LISTEN on these frequencies, but the FCC will have zero mercy on your soul if you key-up and it's not a genuine emergency. That being said, the FCC rules do allow you to use any means at your disposal to summon help if life or property is in immediate danger. (See 47 CFR 97.403 Safety of life and protection of property)

Source data is here: http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSear ... icense.jsp and the search terms for the "Name" option are "Black Rock City". Click on the "Frequencies" tab for each entry to yield the following info:

All frequencies stated below are in MHZ, and the modulation scheme is FM. Many standard 2-meter and 70-cm rigs used by hams can receive in these bands with little or no modification.

152.4800
152.4800
451.1750
451.2250
451.3000
451.3250
451.3500
451.4000
451.4250
451.4500
451.5000
451.5250
451.5500
451.5750
451.6000
451.7750
451.8000
451.8500
451.9000
452.0500
452.3500
453.0000
456.1750
456.2250
456.3000
456.3250
456.3250
456.3500
456.4000
456.4250
456.4500
456.5000
456.5250
456.5500
456.5750
456.6000
456.7750
456.8000
456.8500
456.9000
457.0500
457.3500
458.0000
461.2000
461.2500
461.5500
461.7875
461.8500
462.1500
462.4500
463.2875
463.5000
463.8375
463.8750
464.1750
464.4750
464.5000
464.5500
464.8500
466.2000
466.2500
466.5500
466.7875
466.8500
467.1500
467.4500
468.2875
468.5000
468.8375
468.8750
469.1750
469.4750
469.5000
469.5500
469.8500
810.0625
855.0625

[tevo]

I didn't see it but has anyone given thought to a VHF simplex frequency for playa chat we could plan on? Or maybe just stick with 146.52?

[TT120]

I was thinking we could just use 146.52. It was pretty dead last year on that frequency.
I like the idea of a ham shack tour, I love seeing other peoples setups.

[Molotov]

Good idea on chat channel-I just programmed 146.52 into my Wouxon as BRCHAT. Next year when I have more time, I will set up my Yaesu 8800 in my truck as a crossband repeater with about a 15 foot painters pole antenna mast.

[TT120]

I was actually thinking about setting up a cross band repeater in my truck as well but I'm not sure if it would help that much. I guess I could try it and see if it works.

Seems to me that an HT with a couple watts on 2 meters should cover the whole area.

EDIT: Y'know, when the hippies see us with radios on our belts, they're going to think we're cops.....Might be able to have a little fun with that....

[Molotov]

Maybe freak the hippies out like this:

[tevo]

Awesome.

[Molotov]

Do all the electronic devices on the playa (including Tesla Coils, Jacob's ladders, and generators) produce such a hash of background noise that amateur radios are almost unusable? I brought my handheld and mobile last year, but never turned them on. I'm going to try the local repeater with phone patch this year.

KE5QOT

[GreyCoyote]

No problems on 2m or 440 last year. Noise floor was fine!

Of course, I would expect everything AM to be pretty well hashed but thats a guess.

[BMLost1]

What kinda range would I get with a baofeng bf-888s and what channel would you recommend not to bother anyone with. Are there better feq to choose that would get a longer range?

[GreyCoyote]

First question would be what class, if any, license do you currently hold and who do you want to talk with?

Lots of possibilities for amateur radio operators, but very few for unlicensed use.

[BMLost1]

No license and only looking to talk to people from my camp with the same radios.

[GreyCoyote]

The only chunk of unlicensed spectrum available to you is the FRS bands up around 462 mhz. You will be power-limited at 500 mw, but you will have lots of company to chat with.

If you can, get the Baofengs (777?) that will tune in the VHF portion of the spectrum and set them to transmit in the MURS bands. More power and better coverage will be possible, its not very crowded, and no license is needed (or even possible).

[seanmcpherson]

Heya folks, keeping the thread alive. I brought my FT60R this year and hopped on the NCF at noon daily or around then when I had time, but never caught anyone on. Any interest in coordinating something even roughly for 2016? I'll be back, and some of my campmates are also fairly geekery (one's been on this thread a year or so ago), so maybe we rig something up on our ISO container out there mast-wise, alongside the WiFi and such.

W9MCP/EchoLink7627/Playa Handle Tinker

[Molotov]

I monitored the MURS 5 channel at times, and it stayed mostly quiet, but was used by others on several occasions to report items such as medical calls and gray/black water spills and they got a fast reply from BRC 911. I think it is a good idea that should continue at BRC.

[mooserider]

I monitored the MURS 5 channel at times, and it stayed mostly quiet, but was used by others on several occasions to report items such as medical calls and gray/black water spills and they got a fast reply from BRC 911. I think it is a good idea that should continue at BRC.

I tried calling on MURS 5 once (during the early Thursday dust storm) and didn't hear any response; I also tried calling Art Support on MURS 4 while we were setting up at the Midway and got nothing back. Perhaps the BMORG should post what tones and whatnot to set one's radio to, as the Dakota MURS radios I was using didn't seem to have a "no tone" "no code" setting.

[mrchiff]

I tried calling on MURS 5 once (during the early Thursday dust storm) and didn't hear any response; I also tried calling Art Support on MURS 4 while we were setting up at the Midway and got nothing back. Perhaps the BMORG should post what tones and whatnot to set one's radio to, as the Dakota MURS radios I was using didn't seem to have a "no tone" "no code" setting.

It's published in several locations as well as the JRS:
To contact ESD, set your MURS radio to channel 5 (154.600 MHz, wideband FM), code 11 (CTCSS 97.4 Hz).
To contact Art Support Services, if you're a supported art project, set your MURS radio to channel 4 (154.570 MHz, wideband FM), code 11 (CTCSS 97.4 Hz).

[RudolphDiesel]

This is one interesting thread! Birgin here, but I do plan to bring radios for everyone in our group. Most of the radios will be set to some GMRS frequency for internal communication. I will bring a few CS700 though and other 70cm radios. --- Hmm maybe I will bring one of the Baofeng.

I really loved reading that there will be, or is a 70cm repeater within keying distance since almost all of the radios that I intend to bring are 70cm only.

Curious: here in Houston the MURS band is almost unusable due to the high noise floor. That was initially the reason why I settled on GMRS rather than MURS. Is that not a problem in BRC?

[TT120]

I never had any problems with noise on any frequency. I imagine 80 and 160 meters is pretty noisy but I have yet to bring my HF radio so I don't know for sure. Everything 144 Mhz and above was nice and quiet.

[TT120]

Thought I'd bring this thread back to see how many hams we have this year. Lets set up a net meeting and maybe a ham shack tour.

[GreyCoyote]

Hey: if we do it on 40 meters at night, we can include Camp Envy!

[TT120]

Looks like I'm going to have to bring my new-to-me FT990 HF rig then. Maybe we can set up a SSTV link.

[Luigi]

Have had 2 meter radios out on the playa last two years, but never took the time to get on the air. Too many distractions.

Our camp two years ago had the MURS Dakota alert radios but found they did not work so well, and it was just another thing to carry. Good to have in camp to listen to art installs and in case of emergency.

Last year my partner and I used small uhf handhelds and they worked great. This year I will bring the dual bander and see if any plains are on 146.52

Luigi - VW Bus Camp