[600MRG] Emergency Traffic on 630m

[John Langridge]

Hi Warren,


About 3 years ago KE7A and I exchanged radiogram traffic on CW between
one another at field day.  At the time we were about 100 miles apart
and we were both using a Monitor Sensors transverter (50w), bucket
coil (that went to WM3M after the event) and a ladder line fed dipole
that this particular club's field day site was using on their CW
station.  I temporarily configured it as a Martconi T, about 40 foot
tall with just a very minimal number of radials.  I would have to look
at my notes for estimated EIRP but it was very low but there were no
problems in passing the traffic, even with summer noise and storms
that were in the area, as I recall.

We exchanged three pieces of traffic and I used it as a topic for a CQ
article on tactical comms on 630m.  UTC notification had been
submitted for the site of the exercise about 6 months prior.

I can tell you that it has been a hard sell to the traffic folks since
it requires a little more effort than the typical plug and play ham
radio and we really aren't doing anything on the mechanical side in
software...  It's just good old-fashion radio.

I can't say that this exercise  had any influence but I was encouraged
to see the RRI folks talking about prospects of doing the same
scenario on 160m  using the same type of setup just a few months after
my article went to press.  SO perhaps there are some "baby steps" at
play.  I should have followed up at the time and asked a few more
questions to them but I did not.

Traffic handling is changing a lot and has been for quite some time.
I tried to offer this exercise from the perspective  of just another
tool in the bag for a traffic handler that wanted to be really
prepared.  Whether it hit home or "stuck", I can't say.  As a
semi-regular op on a state level CW traffic net, I can tell you that
no one has ever asked me to QSY to 630m to pass a piece of traffic but
I would be happy to if they ask.

So in summary, we did it on 630m to show it could be done with minimal
hardware and that value could be realized from doing it (in this case
the recipient received their traffic).  Had there been a real
emergency, we could have done it.  Ground wave was stable and strong
enough and we didn't have to compete with QRO stations during the
field day period on HF to send the same traffic.  Obviously no
emergency in this case, but like most traffic nets, they are training
opportunities.

Just my perspective.

73,

John KB5NJD..









On 11/30/21, Warren Ziegler <wd2xgj at gmail.com> wrote:
> It's been some years now since U.S. Amateurs have been allowed to use the
> 472-479 KHz band. The justification was that it would be useful for
> emergency traffic. Just wondering how many of you have handled emergency
> comms on 630m? If so, can you provide details on the nature of the
> emergency and why you chose 630m to pass the traffic?
>
> Tnx & 73 Warren K2ORS
>