2m activity Dublin?

better call saul

Bought myself a Baofeng 2m (just for listening - not licensed) cant hear a thing, situated close to three rock, are the airwaves dead or am i doing something wrong?

martinedwards

never heard a thing when I've been in Dub

better call saul

martinedwards wrote: »

never heard a thing when I've been in Dub

Sugar!

better call saul

Should I sell my rig?

martinedwards

NO!!

keep listening, and scan around for other stuff.

I listen to the busses when the weather is bad. EXCELLENT way of finding out which roads are useable and which are best avoided.

there are other repeaters that are accessible from Dublin.

I know one Scottish guy who regularly uses the Belfast repeater because the Stranraer one is dead.

better call saul

martinedwards wrote: »

NO!!

keep listening, and scan around for other stuff.

I listen to the busses when the weather is bad. EXCELLENT way of finding out which roads are useable and which are best avoided.

there are other repeaters that are accessible from Dublin.

I know one Scottish guy who regularly uses the Belfast repeater because the Stranraer one is dead.

Thanks for reigniting my interest! Any frequencies I should pay particular attention to?

martinsvi

depending on where are you based, keep an ear out on 145.7625, that's kippure repeater. If you are somewhere in mountains (or otherwise elevated), tune in to 145.7875 Cavan repeater, sometimes it get's linked into SEARG network and you can pretty much work most of the country, lot's of activity there. Baofeng also does 70cm, so try 433.225 (Three rock) - I wouldn't call it the most active one but it's certainly not dead.

Anyhow, since you are not licensed, please don't try to key the repeaters, it's really annoying for those who are listening to it

better call saul

martinsvi wrote: »

depending on where are you based, keep an ear out on 145.7625, that's kippure repeater. If you are somewhere in mountains (or otherwise elevated), tune in to 145.7875 Cavan repeater, sometimes it get's linked into SEARG network and you can pretty much work most of the country, lot's of activity there. Baofeng also does 70cm, so try 433.225 (Three rock) - I wouldn't call it the most active one but it's certainly not dead.

Anyhow, since you are not licensed, please don't try to key the repeaters, it's really annoying for those who are listening to it

Wouldnt dream of it! Just listening for now, hope to get licensed at some stage!

better call saul

martinsvi wrote: »

depending on where are you based, keep an ear out on 145.7625, that's kippure repeater. If you are somewhere in mountains (or otherwise elevated), tune in to 145.7875 Cavan repeater, sometimes it get's linked into SEARG network and you can pretty much work most of the country, lot's of activity there. Baofeng also does 70cm, so try 433.225 (Three rock) - I wouldn't call it the most active one but it's certainly not dead.

Anyhow, since you are not licensed, please don't try to key the repeaters, it's really annoying for those who are listening to it

PS someone get on 2m on three rock so i can hear my first contact between amateurs!

Listening now and its all dead

martinsvi

better call saul wrote: »

PS someone get on 2m on three rock so i can hear my first contact between amateurs!

Listening now and its all dead

that's because it is dead! 2m Three rock was shut down years ago, only 70cms, the one I mentioned, is active. If you want to know whether the repeater is alive or not (or in range or not) keep listening it for 15 minutes. Repeaters must identify themselves by either morse or by voice. If 15 minutes have gone by without a peep, you are either out of range or repeater is off.

better call saul

martinsvi wrote: »

that's because it is dead! 2m Three rock was shut down years ago, only 70cms, the one I mentioned, is active. If you want to know whether the repeater is alive or not (or in range or not) keep listening it for 15 minutes. Repeaters must identify themselves by either morse or by voice. If 15 minutes have gone by without a peep, you are either out of range or repeater is off.

Cool i will listen to 70cms for the identifier hopefully!

Is the list of repeaters on the IRTS website out of date?

martinsvi

better call saul wrote: »

Cool i will listen to 70cms for the identifier hopefully!

Is the list of repeaters on the IRTS website out of date?

I wouldn't say it's out of date, it just contains a couple of weird ones - I think the case with a Three rock was that the owner said it's going to go offline temporarily thus they never removed it from the list, there's another one - EI7DNR that's seemingly waiting relocation..

better call saul

martinsvi wrote: »

I wouldn't say it's out of date, it just contains a couple of weird ones - I think the case with a Three rock was that the owner said it's going to go offline temporarily thus they never removed it from the list, there's another one - EI7DNR that's seemingly waiting relocation..

heard some tones on 70cm gonna sit on it to see if theres any activity!

gerrymartin

Had my first qso through the Kippure 2M Repeater today for the first time in a long time. Seems it's been upgraded?
Fair play to all involved.
I'm based in Armagh City so was nice to work a S.Dublin handheld(portable) operator on VHF.
73'
Gerry.

dxhound2005

I heard this item on the IRTS news a couple of weeks back and repeated today.

http://www.irts.ie/cgi/showarchive.cgi?141214.txt

Two Metre Revival

Fingal Radio Club, EI2FRC, and Dermot, EI2HD, are
trying to get some life back into 2 metre
transmissions. With this in mind they intend to, as
and from Wednesday 7th January, on a weekly basis,
start a call-in on 2 metres. The starting time will be
7.30 p.m. and finishing whenever. The frequency will
be 145.525 to start with and it is hoped that other
clubs might take up the mantle on other nights, and
perhaps over time, have a good amount of amateurs old
and young gracing the air on 2 metres again. The
promoters of this proposal point out that, up to some
years ago life on 2 metres was extremely busy night
after night, so they are now aiming to bring back some
activity to the band and perhaps even get some of the
old timers back on air!

pixbyjohn

It will be difficult to revive 2metre activity, normally it was mainly mobile users on the repeaters but with the driving laws nowadays it would not be wise to use a microphone in the car. This idea by Fingal Radio Club might just work for a short while but if people don't randomly use 2 metres then it becomes a chore to keep the channels open by a small amount of users who eventually get fed up again. 2 metre SSB is more a specialist activity by a few and that has dwindled over the past years also. Ham radio is really limited compared to all the other technology available to everyone now, sure your mobile phone can contact so many others via FB, Viber, Skype, Yammer and you are not limited by licence, large aerials, high power transmitters, propagation etc. It is just a fact of life. I love ham radio but it really saw better days before all this new technology came along.

micko45

I listened in last night and there was a good response to it, I couldn't join as kids bedtime, (and not sure my boafeng could cut it) but they are going to do it again next week same time, I will try to join then. Hopefully other clubs will start something similar.

I just got my licence recently and hope to see more activity on 2m.

GekkePrutser

pixbyjohn wrote: »

It will be difficult to revive 2metre activity, normally it was mainly mobile users on the repeaters but with the driving laws nowadays it would not be wise to use a microphone in the car. This idea by Fingal Radio Club might just work for a short while but if people don't randomly use 2 metres then it becomes a chore to keep the channels open by a small amount of users who eventually get fed up again. 2 metre SSB is more a specialist activity by a few and that has dwindled over the past years also. Ham radio is really limited compared to all the other technology available to everyone now, sure your mobile phone can contact so many others via FB, Viber, Skype, Yammer and you are not limited by licence, large aerials, high power transmitters, propagation etc. It is just a fact of life. I love ham radio but it really saw better days before all this new technology came along.

The driving laws are not a big deal - you can just make a carkit. I have one myself, gooseneck microphone and PTT button on the gearstick, with a locking function for true handsfree if needed.

I wish these things would be commercially available though, that would make it a bit easier. In this case I just looked up the schematic of the Yaesu handmike and (roughly) replicated the audio part. With the gooseneck mike some people say they don't hear I'm in the car. Being in Galway I spend lots of time standing in traffic so it's a nice way to pass the time.

One thing I like about local 2m activity is that it's such a simple shared audio channel that's non intrusive. Phone calls are one to one, and you can't just put whatsapp on monitor in the car

deaglan169

you can still use a microphone attached to a two way radio its exempt from law, but its at the guards discretion if they feel it is distracting your driving, that and if you drive past a guard and they see you holding up a mic they will probably think it was your phone and imo not worth the hassle, watson make handsfree mic kits http://www.radioworld.co.uk/WM-S-7000_Watson_Mobile_hands_free_Microphone_with_PTT

GekkePrutser

deaglan169 wrote: »

you can still use a microphone attached to a two way radio its exempt from law, but its at the guards discretion if they feel it is distracting your driving, that and if you drive past a guard and they see you holding up a mic they will probably think it was your phone and imo not worth the hassle, watson make handsfree mic kits http://www.radioworld.co.uk/WM-S-7000_Watson_Mobile_hands_free_Microphone_with_PTT

Ah nice, I didn't know of that one. It's very similar to what I made for myself (except my PTT button setup is much less bulky). It was fun making it myself anyway (and part of the hobby).

I agree it's not worth the hassle of doing without.. And it can be distracting sometimes to use a hand MIC, once many years ago when these things weren't yet frowned upon, I was being talked in to a radio meet and I had to make a sudden turn while talking, ended up with the microphone cable wrapped around the steering column and getting caught on the indicator/wiper stalks. I had to stop to untangle the mess

Since then I've been making my own handsfree setups.

watty

deaglan169 wrote: »

... but its at the guards discretion if they feel it is distracting your driving...

In fact the Mobile phone ban isn't needed really as eating apple, shaving, phone, lighting cigarette, applying makeup, swatting fly/spider* etc was always something that could be used to bring a charge of careless driving. Or even dangerous driving (i.e. poor control at bend or junction or an accident).

Even misuse of handsfree can leave you open to prosecution. Best not to operate other than listen if in town or situation requiring attention. Be prepared to not reply to an "over" if the road needs all your attention. If you're tired only listen!

So I'd not use HF or SSB driving and put off the 2m/70cm FM if it was scratchy or there was a badly set-up Echo Link user. Avoid distraction!

(* A woman killed a cyclist because she didn't pull over to deal with the spider)