[MRCA] PRC-74 ... Now CAP

Sun Mar 25 21:24:06 EDT 2018

All:

     Only tangentially related to the topic but here goes.  My CAP experience was from 1971-75, in college and beyond.  At that time our Wing (state-wide) nets operated on VHF plus 26.620 MHz.  My callsign was Keystone 353 (Penna Wing) and I had an old REACT crystal-controlled CB transceiver.  I was told to interchanged the transmit and receive crystals for Channel 10 and ended up on 26.620.  (I know only the math not the electronics of how that worked.)  

     Later, when I bought my own 2M rig (IC-22, 10W) I also bought crystals for the CAP VHF repeaters that ran on the same pair statewide.  My mobile callsign was Rollingstone 353.  Seriously.  The subcarrier tone was employed as a "knock-down" tone rather than as a key up tone.  In that way we could get into our own local repeater and keep out-of-area repeaters from responding to our mobile sigs.  

     We did not have access to mil surplus equipment at that time.  I believe most of the VHF stuff on our nets was made by Genave, well known in the aviation industry and which advertised in 73 Magazine.  When I purchased my first SSB rig (Drake TR3-C, 300 W) I never heard a CAP HF net.  Never knew they existed as my experience was on 11 Meters or VHF.  

73 de
Gene Smar  AD3F

-----Original Message-----
From: mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Peter Gottlieb
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2018 8:59 PM
To: mrca at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [MRCA] PRC-74 ... Now CAP

When I was in last a few years ago then left I knew the HF frequencies and tried to listen in.  I heard almost no voice, just ALE moving around.  When I looked with an ALE program it was just stations automatically pinging each other. Evening nets were basically gone.

My early experience in CAP was that each region had an evening net schedule. Some nights of the week I would run the net.  No traffic to move, just keeping track of who was on and helping those with radio or antenna problems to get it sorted out.  There would be a lot of voice traffic whenever there was any sort of exercise or sometimes if a search got "real" and across a wide area.

After the CAP radio changes the evening nets went away and all that was left were SAREXes (exercises) where the different bases would message each other using ALE.  It is an appliance where the operator doesn't have to know anything at all about radio to send and receive messages but it had the most awful and awkward user interface imaginable (the training was all about the steps used to operate the appliance).  I can't imagine what a hassle those things would be to use in a real wide-scale emergency situation where it took that much time to send and receive extremely short messages.

Peter

On 3/25/2018 6:24 PM, Robert Nickels wrote:
> On 3/25/2018 3:22 PM, Mike Morrow wrote:
>> I was active in CAP, Arkansas Wing (1968-1972).  My main interest was 
>> communications because the flying part was too expensive.
>
> I became aware of CAP a couple of years earlier than that, as a rival 
> in high school was involved in CAP and I'd just got my ham license, 
> and we'd each insist their particular hobby was superior ;-)  My 
> interest was mostly on the communications side as well.
>
> This was in Nebraska where World Radio Labs in Council Bluffs IA was 
> the only ham store withing driving distance for most of the state and 
> thus where most hams bought and traded their gear.    I remember this 
> kid had a WRL Globe CB in his car for the 26.620 Mhz CAP frequency 
> with the 8 foot whip and all, which I was highly envious of (both the 
> radio and the fact that he had his own
> car!) but the thing I remember clearly is their base station at the 
> airport. It was the first and only time I'd seen a WRL Meteor SB-175 
> transmitter until I found one of my own 30+ years later. Even though 
> it was one of the two commercial double sideband transmitters  ever 
> sold,  the CAP nets were in the AM mode at that time and that's how 
> the transmitter was used, screen modulated with a crystal for 4585 
> KHz.   I can't remember what their receiver was, but I memorized the 
> frequency and would listen to the nightly state net operations from home.
>
> If there were standards or approved equipment lists for radio 
> equipment, it's hard to believe an obscure rig like the WRL Meteor 
> would be on it!   I suspect there weren't and wings were allowed to 
> buy and use whatever they wanted, which in my area meant they did 
> their radio shopping in Council Bluffs just like most of the hams did.
>
> I know the hobby magazines and online sources still show lists of HF 
> frequencies for various regions - are they still in operation?   If so 
> are they still just using single frequencies or have they gone to ALE?   
> It would be fun to listen in again if there's anything to listen to.
>
> 73, Bob W9RAN
>
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