[PPRAANet] Re: Thursday Night Net

[dan80915 at comcast.net]

I believe in the old addage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" when it comes to doing things. The main objective of having the PPRAA net on the repeater is to enable more hams to hear and join the net, not to test simplex coverage vs. repeater coverage.  It is working. Last night, we had 15 participants including someone in Palmer Lake with a HT.  I don't understand why we would have any need to encourage more simplex use, since the coverage on repeaters usually outperforms someone on simplex.  Plus the repeaters are not very busy, so its not an issue of having to use simplex because of busy repeaters.

As for some concerned about new hams making a fool of themselves, the only fools are those who don't ask questions.  We have a fine PPRAA club for new hams to join for free, which has over a hundred experienced hams to help Elmer new hams.  All one has to do is ask. 

Dan, AC0CC

 

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: amxlady at att.net 

> Ken, 
> 
> Thank you very much for your kind response. I am still a bit confused, though, 
> with regard to your choice of frequencies. The Colorado Council of Amateur 
> Radio Clubs, of which PPRAA is a member, has a band plan established as a way to 
> minimize interference on neighboring frequencies from those of us with an 
> altitude advantage. 
> 
> The Colorado 2 Meter Frequency Use Plan, from which I am copying this 
> information, states "FM Voice Simplex Frquencies/26 Cahnnels, 15 KHz channel 
> spacing." The first one is 146.400. It proceeds in 15 KHz increments. I will 
> save the brain damage and list the relevant frequencies: 146.520, 146.535, 
> 146.550, 146.565 and 146.580. 
> 
> When I first became involved in amateur radio, I was told that the entire point 
> of running the PPRAA net on 146.580 was to demonstrate simplex coverage in the 
> Colorado Springs area and encourage more simplex use. This was the way that 
> some new hams got on the air without making fools of themselves in four or five 
> surrounding states. 
> 
> There are a great number of newly licensed hams and many who are new to the 
> area. There are some terriffic resources in the area who can give you programs 
> which would help new (or new to the area) hams learn about the band plans, local 
> and wide area repeater coverage and general good operating practices. It really 
> wouldn't hurt any of us to get a quick overview of ground wave propagation, 
> multipathing and using reflection as a means of extending range. A lot of new 
> hams are terrified of making a mistake. I was guided by older members of the 
> club, many of them presented programs which reinforced the things we had to 
> learn in order to pass Element One. 
> 
> Several of the folks who have weighed in on this topic and one whose name was 
> taken in vain are well qualified to do programs for you on a wide range of 
> topics. A great place to start might be the band plans. That way we don't end 
> up with newbies (or old farts) ragchewing in the CW/EME frequency range. 
> 
> Just my 2 cents. 
> 73, de KC0PBR 
> -- 
> Reputation equals character minus 
> what you have been caught doing. 
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