[222mhz] 222 MHz SSB activity in San Bernardino/Riverside, CA area

[Chris Boone]

We lost just 220-222
.216-220 is IWCS (Inland Waterway Communication
System
) basically a full  duplex FM marine mobile telephone system that
replaced the old VHF 160MHz marine operators along the Inland Coastal
Waterway (along the Gulf and Eastern Coast) and up the Miss River
iirc
HOWEVER, we have secondary access to 218-220 for DATA (packet, etc)
only on a coordinated basis
.I LOVE the 220 band
.always have since 1976
when I 1st got on it
.

UPS wanted it for ACSSB then the FCC screwed them out of a license
.and UPS
ended up going 800MHz iirc or sat
..We called it ¾ of a GIG here in Texas J

The ACSSB stuff that came out is not ham friendly and cant be reprogrammed
to the ham bands L but the parts can be used!! Motorola only make one mobile
iirc for 220 right now
.they made a HT that was export only years ago (GP68)
that has found its way into the hands of some ham stateside J
.Never done
SSB on 220
have on 2 and 432
but only FM on 220
.but still love the band!
Just won a 220 rptr on EBay
.#4 in the fold!!! There goes my last set of
duplexers I have in storage
..drat!! Time to buy some more
all these are
being linked via 430MHz and Midland commercial LMR gear (I worked for a
Midland shop in the 80s
know the Syntech I and II series quite well
.and
they work great as rptr or link gear J) And of course I have too many
13-509s
..plus a FT311, IC38, !3-513 and more!

Chris

WB5ITT

 

From: 222mhz-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:222mhz-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Gary V. Smith
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 10:13 PM
To: Chris Boone; 222mhz at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [222mhz] 222 MHz SSB activity in San Bernardino/Riverside, CA
area

 

Well, Chris, you are quite right.  I still use megacycles and kilocycles
from time to time..hi..hi.  I still call the band "220".  Old habits.  If I
remember right we lost 219 through 221.  I seem to remember something about
UPS wanting it and then they didn't use it after all.  I guess the more
contemporary term should be 1.35 meters.  Yes, I've found it to be more
reliable from a propagation standpoint than 2 meters.  It's nice to know
that there will be more commercial gear on the market in the future.  But,
conversion of commercial gear is more of a pain than it's worth.  Often the
gear lacks desireable features and is hard to program if you don't have the
software / cables.  And in the end it's FM-only.  That goes for all
commercial gear.

73,
Gary - W6GVS
Dowagiac, MI  EN61wx

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/222mhz/attachments/20090124/07f1aa7f/attachment.html