On 1 Oct 2005 19:05:09 -0700, wrote:

Korbin posted:

"Well FM on 2, 6 or 10m is not used for Field Day, I don't know why but
its
not."

First, likely I missed in in the original post, but I don't recall him
mentioning the use of FM modulation.

He talked about 146.52 simplex which might as well be mentioning FM.

In every field day and emergency preparedness I have ever participated
in, a.m was the accepted standard.

It's been decades since you've participated, then, because FM pretty
much took over the 2M band in the '70s. There's still a lot of weak
signal work--SSB and CW, but AM? It can hardly be found. And it hasn't
been the accepted standard since the '60s, maybe.

Second, the use of a 75-watt transmitter with a collinear raised
30-feet above the ground on field day?

What are you talking about? Neither of those parameters sound at all
out of line at FD. For VHF you definitely want the antenna as high as
possible. The only thing wrong with the 75 watts is the power required
to make it run. 25 watts would be more than enough.

Evidently TOM doesn't grasp the spirit of the event which combines
with the fact that he isn't a very experienced ham operator.

Apparently neither are you.

Then too, the ham community has eroded considerably since these
exercises were devised. In fact, a competent ham should have been
nearly able to work multiple states with the rig he has described.

I rest my case. With no enhancement, there are a lot of places where
you'd be hard pressed to work out of state with the setup you think is
too much. South Florida would certainly be one of them.

Anybody left alive here that remembers the 2M Gooney Box, the rig that
was the standard for ham emergency communication for more years than I
personally care to remember?

There were probably more Twoers than Gonsets in the '60s. Yes, I
remember.

Its final was a 2E26; Its antenna was
typically a quarter-wave stub (a piece of stiff wire poked into the UHF
connector on the top of its box or an antenna consisting of a half-wave
piece of tv twin line. Its output was anywhere from 5-watts to 10-watts
run into that improvised antenna. When battery powered on field day,
the output of the rig was arguably between 3 and 5-watts.

And you're saying you were able to work multiple states with that
without enhancement?

Still on field day exercises conducted in preparation for an emergency,
even the low power rigs with a minimal antenna could garnish at least
50 contact on field day, but this was during the 1970s. Ham radio has
seriously declined since that time. This is why I ceased to renew my
K2JEZ General Class license around 1982.

K2, huh? New York City? That explains why you were able to work
"multiple states." You have, what, six of them within 100 miles? Try
that in any state west of the Appalachins.

Read into my above comments what ever you want.

Whiny old timer, out of touch with reality, loss of memory of old time
ham radio, ****ed because of Incentive Licensing, lets other people
determine his enjoyment of a hobby, still hanging around the amateur
radio newsgroups despite being unlicensed for nearly a quarter
century.

Yeah, what a credible story.

--
LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

http://www.woodbutcher.net

Proud participant of rec.woodworking since February, 1997