Repeaters ( Ham) locations and coverage maps

[Paul]

Tried one of the Alinco range. DX something. 100k-1300Mhz. Bit fiddly and menu unfriendly.
Good for close range but better when plugged into a discone antenna although I needed a SMA adapter to Female BNC for the discone connector.
AM, NFM, WFM. No SSB, No clarifier and pure CW is hard to decode.
Battery pack didn't run out for the couple of hours I was playing with it BUT it was a battery pack.
So it has a mains charger. I don't like that in any gear.
Anything I can't jack an external power source into or use either AAA or AA rechargeables is not for me. After all no mains, a bespoke power pack, what can you do to keep it charged in the field?
Personal preference I suppose.

[The Local Ned]

Tried one of the Alinco range. DX something. 100k-1300Mhz. Bit fiddly and menu unfriendly.
Good for close range but better when plugged into a discone antenna although I needed a SMA adapter to Female BNC for the discone connector.
AM, NFM, WFM. No SSB, No clarifier and pure CW is hard to decode.
Battery pack didn't run out for the couple of hours I was playing with it BUT it was a battery pack.
So it has a mains charger. I don't like that in any gear.
Anything I can't jack an external power source into or use either AAA or AA rechargeables is not for me. After all no mains, a bespoke power pack, what can you do to keep it charged in the field?
Personal preference I suppose.

Thanks mate - reason I took the alinco as example was that it could possibly be easy for a novice to scan and lock their preferred bands for listening into for info/intel.

CW at least , and perhaps too - SSB , I think would be more for advanced users , I'm thinking more along the lines of the average prepper who has a CB 27Mhz but maybe wants to listen in on local PMR users or similar , or can pick up HAMS too.

[Paul]

My PMR set of two cost £6 in the market.
As for receiving ham transmissions? I don't think the expense is justified.

Hams will graduate to the 40 fixed EURO CB frequencies eventually anyway because the world has a lot more CB'ers than hams. Besides it's easier in the long run.
Why do I think that?

Hams use all sorts of frequencies, all sorts of modulation, all sorts of gear.
They can dial up any frequency and apart from a few known calling frequencies use whatever they want. That's fine. Away they go. Bacon on bacon.

The rest of the Europe won't bother pratting round.
Europe has CB based on the US channeling i.e. CEPT. Hell the US still use CB. So effectively that's the whole of the northern hemisphere potentially on 40 channels. Easy

That means that Europe will probably settle on the internationally recognized calling channels of 9 for emergencies and 19 for contact. 2 channels.
Two main modes. FM / AM. Who cares what they use, a flick of a mode switch and voices appear.

Now what's easier?
Setting your ham set to cope with CEPT channels and talk to the US, Europe and us lovely chappies or pratting round via VHF/UHF repeaters and all that associated crap.

Whats easily available, easy to setup, and idiot proof? CB gear.
I rest my case.

Cheers Pal

[Lightspeed]

[Paul]

True regarding using PMR but it's not got any useful range. You also can't easily skip UHF.

I'm lucky where I live. It's flat here.
I just hope the scientists have got it wrong else I'm swimming soon.
Line of sight? 3 miles, yet my little PMR sets carry only a mile on a good day, 1/2 a mile in the rain.

CB, 100% coverage out to 5 miles 24/7, usually much much more.
All thanks to my covert inverted V house aerial.
I'd love to mount a 1/2 or 5/8 wave pole on the roof but covert wins every time for me.
If I did that though you'd definitely hear me from your distant BOL LS!

So I'm able to speak afar. Europe no problem. Birmingham , London occasionally (no great loss there). No repeaters, nothing silly, just good cheap gear and a decent aerial.

Plus there is the vehicle issue.
Use a pmr set in a car and most of your power is used up heating the cabin. I say that because most pmr has a rubber duck aerial. It's only the enthusiasts that jack an external aerial into their gear.
CB, designed from the get go to work mobile.
Time tested, rugged, transportable, and above all INTERNATIONAL!

[Lightspeed]

[Paul]

[Lightspeed]

[The Local Ned]

Thanks guys - as I've said before - I know exactly what I need and want - others may not , and they may be looking into a wideband scanner as a halfway house solution - i.e not wanting to meddle in anything other than CB , but with a desire to receive PMR and other broadcasts in other bands. I will be buying a couple of baofeng 888s as personal comms , and later on a uv-5r as a makeshift prtable/base solution.

I quickly made a wee DOC to give an idea what I mean , please dont knock it - it was done in under 10 mins LoL.

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Thanks guys - as I've said before - I know exactly what I need and want - others may not , and they may be looking into a wideband scanner as a halfway house solution - i.e not wanting to meddle in anything other than CB , but with a desire to receive PMR and other broadcasts in other bands. I will be buying a couple of baofeng 888s as personal comms , and later on a uv-5r as a makeshift prtable/base solution.

I quickly made a wee DOC to give an idea what I mean , please dont knock it - it was done in under 10 mins LoL.

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Just had a look at that kenwood - excellent piece of kit there , only downside I see would be relying on it too much - killing it would lose your comms and your mobile scanning capabilities in the one go ?

[Paul]

Lovely clear bit of work TLN.
Easy to follow.
Thanks for that.