"TOM" wrote in message
...
I thought I might share a couple of observations I've made regarding the
Amateur Service; the situation in other locations may differ.

Based upon my adventures last year in Florida when we got pounded by three
hurricanes I was interested in finding out the utility of my Ham two meter
transceiver by taking advantage of Field Day (simulated emergency test) in
June. I raised a collinear with an advertised gain of 7 dB to thirty feet
and powered my transceiver with a deep cycle battery. Operating on the
'National Simplex Calling Frequency' 146.52 MHz with 75 watts output power
I
attempted to find out how many stations I could contact and the extent of
my
operating range during the test. From my numerous calls I was able to
contact NO ONE! Not one person responded to my Field Day calls throughout
the day and I heard NO ONE calling Field Day! Not one Ham could I find
operating Field Day on the two meter National Simplex Calling Frequency!
Yet
to my surprise, I was able to consistently 'key-up' repeaters from
Jacksonville to Palm Bay---approximately 2/3's the length of the state of
Florida. And to consider, this is an amateur service simulated emergency
test in Florida occurring only 10 months after the destruction of Charley,
Frances, and Jeanne. It made me wonder just how interested Hams are in
emergency communications. I did have a nice conversation with a fellow
100
miles away via his repeater.


Since Field Day partakes of many elements of a contest, you aren't supposed
to use the National Simplex Calling Frequency for Field Day activities. Our
group had a VHF station set up for Field Day and we contacted people from
New York to Florida to Texas, etc (we are in Michigan). We used SSB and CW
and both 6 meters and 2 meters. For extended distances, SSB and CW are
better choices than FM. If you had tried the SSB calling frequency, you
might have had better luck.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE