Overland Bound Ham Radio Net

[HappyOurOverlanding]

146.520 is the "National Calling Frequency" for 2m FM. There is usually someone somewhere monitoring it. When I'm mobile away from home, I always keep one side of my radio tuned to it and I've heard lots of chatter on it. Good idea on a topic of discussion though!

Still learning how to do that monitoring one talking on another thingy[emoji12]

 

[jeep670]

Same for 446.000 on UHF/70cm

 

[TerryD]

Still learning how to do that monitoring one talking on another thingy[emoji12]

Some radios are better at it than others. My main mobiles are dual watch so I can RX two frequencies at the same time. I keep the local repeater on one side and local ARES simplex on the other. When I'm out of town, one side I tune around to repeaters near me and the other stays on 146.520.

 

[ru108]

There is a huge thread on QRZ about a ham emergency frequency (or lack thereof) with all kinds of back and forth. I went cross eyed a few times while reading it, but the consensus is the same as previously mentioned of 146.520 and 446.000 being the accepted national calling frequencies for emergencies. Etiquette then dictates the stations move a few MHz up or down after contact is made in order to pass more detailed info, if its an emergency, or to rag chew. Of course there's nothing actually enforceable about that, but its supposed to be common courtesy and not everyone does it in all areas.

Like Terry said, most with a dual band will generally have the "B" side of their radio tuned to one of the calling frequencies most of the time. I've got a Yaesu FTM-7250 in my Tundra, which is my daily driver. Its dual band, but not a true dual monitor radio like the FTM-400 I have in the 4Runner, but I do have an option to scan to a second frequency that I set it to at five second intervals. I generally stay on one of my local repeaters and let the radio do its thing in the background when I'm local. If it catches something on .52, then a quick push of a hot button on my mic will take me straight to it. With the 400, one side is generally on a repeater with the other on .52 or, if I'm travelling, the "A" side will be on .52 with the "B" side on either 144.390 for APRS if I want it to be known where I am without being asked or 446.000 if I don't. Either way, if somebody hollers, I'll usually hear them.

 

[brien]

Just about every radio has a scan (and/or dual standby) function that lets you monitor two or more frequencies at the same time. on my TM-D710G and my FT-90R I almost always have them on scan since they are able to scan so fast. I can have it rip through a few dozen memory channels a second. This lets me monitor .52, .46, and a whole host of repeater systems all at once. For those that have a Baofeng, you can set A to whatever frequency you are using for your normal communications, and then B to say .52. Then select Menu > TDR (7 - Dual Standby) and turn it to ON. Now as you are using A you will still hear any comms that come through on B. If you need to respond for any reason, just hit the [A/B] button to switch over to B to respond. The scan function on Baofengs is really really slow, so I suggest sticking with TDR unless you really need to monitor more than two frequencies.