Who to call, where, and when?

[MikeAlpha3041]

(31 July 2012, 20:59)Paul Wrote: This is getting a tad confusing.
CB, PMR, HF, VHF, UHF, AM, FM, SSB (Both sides i.e LSB, USB, DSB)
Add what channel or frequency you're all going to call each other on and I'm surprised the average prepper hasn't put in a thread:

Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!

Simple rules for calling or listening for calls needs to be established let alone what frequency, channel or mode everyone needs to use.

The Marine world used to listen out for emergency traffic on the hour and half hour for 3 minutes.

Simple isn't it. 6 minutes a hour EVERY ship listened out for distress signals.

So why not the preppers?

What about the Mode, Channel, and Frequency?

All CBers <> AM/FM channel 9 for emergency (FM for UK)
All CBers <> AM/FM channel 19 for main calling (FM for UK)
Air Band <> AM 121.5 MHz civilian and 243.0 MHz military
Marine VHF <> FM channel 16, (156.8 MHz)
Marine VHF <> FM DSC channel 70 then voice on channel 16
Freeband <> USB 26.285 and 27.555 MHZ are General Call Frequencies

Now what about you hams I'm looking for BASIC HF, VHF, UHF general calling channels and modes.

This makes complete sense.

All we need to do is add PMR/LPD channels to this list circulate - simples! Why reinvent the wheel?

If anyone knows any other "emergency or calling" channels/frequencies then we add them to the list.

If we were to agree there was to be some kind of area coordination then we could issue a call sign for a particular "member" who is acting as a coordinator for say a county and arrange a watch rota. We could then sector that down (say, in the case of London, Borough coordinators) because we ain't going to be going far from 'ome are we? and have sector coordinators with associated call signs and in fact any member of our group could have, upon request, an issued call sign that we publish and is available to any one on here so if we are away from home we can identify ourselves and solicit help from willing members.

The call signs could take the form of 3 letter County ID and 3 digit member ID, coordinators could have any triple number for easy recognition.

This is my attempt at listing each country call sign using the standard 3 letter abbreviation from the logistics fraternity.

County, Call sign, Coordinator
Surrey, SRY111, MikeAlpha

So I would identify myself to any SUK member as:

Sierra Romeo Yankee triple one MikeAlpha listerning on PMR Px or LDP Channel x (where x the channel number).

I'm sure you'll get the idea......

If a "communication manual" was kept with your radio/s anyone finding it or wanting to use it in your absence would have the info to hand. All they would have to do is look up the county they are in and make a call to one of the listed coordinators or other members.

Just an idea to kick things off.

MA

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For info (source T1)

The "Unofficial" UHF CB CHANNELS

UHF CB Chan. 01 .... 446.00625 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 02 .... 446.01875 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 03 .... 446.03125 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 04 .... 446.04375 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 05 .... 446.05625 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 06 .... 446.06875 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 07 .... 446.08125 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 08 .... 446.09375 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 09 .... 446.10625 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 10 .... 446.11875 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 11 .... 446.13125 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 12 .... 446.14375 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 13 .... 446.15625 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 14 .... 446.16875 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 15 .... 446.18125 MHz
UHF CB Chan. 16 .... 446.19375 MHz

These are all 12.5kHz spaced channels which requires narrow FM deviation (2.5kHz), but they are offset by 6.25kHz from the usual 12.5kHz channel spacing used by normal commercial UHF channels. So you need a radio that is capable of 'stepping' in 6.25kHz channel step sizes. Using a radio that 'steps' in 5kHz means that you will be a bit off frequency. This becomes more problematic if you are using CTCSS/DCS or when the signal is at extreme range.

The first eight channels are the standard 500mW (0.5W) PMR446 channels. The next eight channels are actually assigned as Digital PMR446 channels, and this 'unofficial' UHF CB band uses these channels in normal analogue (FM) mode instead of digital mode (illegally).

You can make use of perfectly legal PMR446 radios to access the first eight channels, but to access the other eight channels (9-16) you need an analogue radio that can be programmed with 6.25kHz steps. To make the most use of this UHF CB band, you need one of the Chinese UHF hand helds (or mobiles) such as MT5050. This lets you program in all sixteen channels with the correct frequency and FM deviation (narrow, which is 2.5kHz).

Channel 8 is considered the 'calling channel' by many, but nothing is written in stone.