[NLRS] Calling frequencies

[Charlie Betz]

Jon,

I agree in priciple with what you suggest.  I would add however, that 
getting people to spread out to call CQ is only half of the solution.  We 
also need to stress that for this to work we have to get everyone to scan 
the bands looking for people that are CQ'ing somewhere other than the 
calling frequencies.  It has been my experience in the last few years that 
this is not happening very much.  Maybe it's the "chicken or the egg" 
scenerio at work that is causing this. (When people scan they don't find 
anyone calling, therefore they stop scanning.  Because people have stopped 
scanning, when someone does CQ off the calling frequency, no one answers).

About 15 years ago I remember having similar discussions to this one and we 
proposed the same ideas and they worked pretty well.  One of the things that 
really helped make it work back then was the fact that there were three or 
four large multiop groups within ~150 miles of the Twin Cities who took the 
lead in picking frequencies and doing most of their operating there. It got 
people into the habit of scanning the bands and many of the scanning station 
found if they parked temporarily between the multiops, the other stations 
who were scanning would find them.   It was usually pretty easy to make 
contacts 40 to 50 KC from the calling frequency.  Unfortunately as the 
multiop groups disappeared, so did the operating practice.  Maybe it's 
better in the larger metro areas, but lately over here in Eau Claire if I 
set up at 144.185 or .190 and call CQ, I'll get a few responses, but not 
many.  If I sit and call on 144.200 it seems like I usually only have to 
make a couple calls and someone answers.   I have 17 elements at 80' and run 
1 kW on 2m, so if I can be worked on 144.200, it should be just as easy to 
work me on 144.185.  Yet I seem to work fewer stations off the calling 
frequency.  The only plausible explantion is that many of those stations 
aren't scanning very much.  I personally would much prefer to operate at 
144.185 (or somewhere else removed from the calling frequency) in order to 
avoid some of the chaos on 144.200.

These days most all of the rovers here in the upper midwest have adopted the 
practice of picking a set of "fixed" frequencies and spend most of their 
time operating there.  It certainly does spread them out, but in my opinion 
(and I stress it an opinion) it has not been as effective as having the big 
multiop stations to help spread people out.  The reason I say this is that 
with the multiops, they almost always had a presence on 6m and 2m and were 
usually fairly loud, which made them easy to locate and therefore spurred 
activity.  Most of the rovers stations in this part of the country tend to 
be single op stations and it seems that many of them, for whatever reason, 
are not able to monitor their 2m frequency when they are operating on 
another band.  I have found it very difficult to work many of the rovers 
that go out in June and Septemeber simply becasue I cannot find them.  The 
higher I go in frequency, the sharper my antennas become, which makes it 
hard to locate a rover if we are not looking at each other.  With the 
proliferation of bands that many of the rovers carry these days, it seems to 
have made that problem worse in that even more time is spent away from 2m. 
Maybe it's just me, but if other people are having similar problems trying 
to locate rovers, is that contributing to fixed stations not adequatly 
scanning the bands?  One other observation is that when there are a lot of 
rovers out and about, many of them tend to congregate above 144.220.  You 
will occasionally find fixed stations in the mix calling CQ up there, but I 
think most of us tend to avoid that area for fear of interfering with the 
rovers.  I know I usually try to call CQ elsewhere.  Perhaps many of the 
fixed stations are concentrating on finding rovers and therefore do not look 
lower in the band (below 144.200) for other fixed stations that may be 
calling CQ and therefore the tenancy is towards the calling frequency?

Please understand I am not trying to condemn the operating practices or 
skills of rover operators (or any fixed stations either for that matter) I 
am merely stating what I have observed.  I am trying to understand what has 
caused the shift back towards the calling frequencies and it is my opinion 
(and again I stress it is an opinion) that there are a number of factors 
that have contributed to it.  It is easy to say "spread out".  It is much 
more difficult to actually put it into practice, especially if people try it 
and don't see results.  I think for it to work, we need to understand why 
people are congregating on the call frequencies.  I think the posts I have 
seen are a good start and I hope my comments will spur more discussion.  I'd 
like to have a better understanding of what others are observing.  I'd like 
to hear more from the rovers too in terms of difficulties they have and 
especially in terms of what I may be doing wrong in trying to locate them. 
If altering my operating habits make it easier for me to work others and for 
them to work me, then I want to know what I need to do.

I think if we can get a better understanding of what is pushing people onto 
the calling frequencies, it will make it easier to find ways to move them 
back off.  If those stations feel they can't work others away from the 
calling frequencies, it is going to be a tough sell.

Charlie, N0AKC