Southern California Club Xterra
Southern California Club Xterra => SCCX General Discussion => Topic started by: PainRoller on October 29, 2015, 04:38:59 PM
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I have put together a Comms plan with simplex and repeater frequencies. Once I confirm some of these repeaters are still operational, I will email an Excel and CSV file to everyone so that you can program your radios. It will look something like this, but with better formatting:
INCIDENT RADIO COMMUNICATIONS PLAN Date/Time Prepared
10-13-15 0600
Ch # Function Channel Name Receive Frequency (MHz) Receive Tone (kHz) Transmit frequency (MHz) Transmit Tone (kHz) Remarks
1 Convoy Primary Trail Frequency (SCCX Simplex) 146.5350 none 146.5350 none Main group channel
2 Convoy Backup Trail Frequency A 146.4750 none 146.4750 none Fallback channel in case above channel is too busy
3 Convoy Backup Trail Frequency B 146.4900 none 146.4900 none Fallback channel in case above channels are too busy
4 Convoy Backup Trail Frequency C 147.4800 none 147.4800 none Fallback channel in case above channels are too busy
5 Convoy Backup Trail Frequency D 146.5500 none 146.5500 none Fallback channel in case above channels are too busy
6 Travel - Hailing National VHF Simplex 146.5200 none 146.5200 none Wilderness Protocol and general hailing
7 Travel - Hailing National UHF Simplex 446.0000 none 446.0000 none Wilderness Protocol and general hailing
8 Distance Victorville repeater 146.9400 none 146.3400 91.5 Open repeater
9 Distance Barstow VHF repeater 147.1800 none 147.7800 151.4 Open repeater - Linked to Ludlow and Newberry Springs
10 Distance Ludlow VHF repeater 147.8850 none 147.2850 none Open repeater - Linked to Barstow and Newberry Springs
11 Distance Newberry Springs VHF repeater 146.7000 none 146.1000 none Open repeater - Linked to Ludlow and Barstow
12 Distance Las Vegas VHF repeater 146.8800 none 146.2800 100.0 Open repeater by Las Vegas on Mt. Potosi
13 Distance Needles VHF repeater 146.7600 none 146.1600 131.8 Open repeater by Needles
14 Long Distance Silver Peak (Bishop) WIN repeater 444.6000 none 449.6000 100.0 WIN system linked repeater, system covers several states
15 Long Distance Ridgecrest WIN system repeater 147.9750 none 147.3750 100.0 WIN system linked repeater, system covers several states
16 Long Distance Ridgecrest WIN system repeater 448.8000 none 443.8000 100.0 WIN system linked repeater, system covers several states
17 Long Distance Barstow WIN system repeater 449.0800 none 444.0800 100.0 WIN system linked repeater, system covers several states
18 Long Distance Victorville WIN system repeater 448.9000 none 443.9000 162.2 WIN system linked repeater, system covers several states
19 Long Distance Palomar (San Diego) WIN system repeater 449.0800 none 444.0800 100.0 WIN system linked repeater, system covers several states
20 Long Distance Hemet WIN system repeater 446.8600 none 441.8600 100.0 WIN system linked repeater, system covers several states
Prepared By: Incident Location: Mojave Desert
Sage Bromax County: San Bernardino State: CA Latitude: 35.00 N Longitude: -115.6500 W
Use the minimum power level necessary for clear communications.
Use repeaters for initial contact, or in case of emergency. When within range, switch to a simplex frequency.
The WIN system is mostly UHF. See complete listing and site location map here: http://batchgeo.com/map/dd38a77a78536badb47ce3eeaef65c0a
First of all, Bromax - you da man! Thanks for hooking us up on Comm plans for both DV and Mojave Treks.
I'm trying to input all of this data into the software to program both hams. The software lets me choose the power setting for each channel.
Can someone please tell me how to figure out what power I should set each channel at (in an easy to understand way so my eyes don't roll to the back of my head ::) )?
Is there a power difference needed for 2M vs. 70cm vs. 6M, etc? ???
Our Yaesu power options are:
5/10/20/50 watts for 29/50/144Mhz
5/10/20/35 watts for 430Mhz
The Baofeng has Low/High only (which I think is 1 and 5 watts)
So do we need more than 5 watts for Convoy convos or to hit any of these repeaters?
Any help is moocho mucho appreciated. ;D
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Just leave it on 5 watts if you're going to program it in the computer.
If you're stepping on someone with 5 watts, we can move channels.
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Like Steve said, 5w should be plenty. I can talk all day long from the coast hitting the Mt. Palomar or Laguna, San Clemente, Catalina Island repeaters using 5w. More important than your power output is your antenna. Now if you are a long way away talking on simplex, that's when you can bump the power up to be helpful or at the shadow of the repeater coverage. All my presets are set to minimum power but I have the option to boost it up with the touch of a button on my station. As to the Baofeng, I think 1w might be a little slim so I would think about the 5w setting.
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I concur. Leave the Baofeng on 5W. The Yaesu you should be able to raise or lower the power fairly easily.
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4rthed.
most radios make it pretty easy to bump the power up so all my stations get programmed at the lowest setting. If you find you are not getting a response or opening the squelch on the repeater, you can bump up the power.
Sent from my rooftop tent while stargazing
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Thanx Guys!! Super helpful as always! :-* :-*
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Personally, I would program the Baofeng to 1W instead of 5W. I'm not familiar with the Baofeng's interface specifically, but you should be able to switch it into high power pretty easily if you're having a hard time hitting your repeater or talking to someone on simplex with only 1W of power. Handheld radios have very sensitive "finals," which are the circuits that control the transmission and they're worn out quickly if you talk on the radio a lot with the highest power settings (think of running your car at high RPMs all the time and what it does to your engine). Although, at a price of only $30, I suppose it's no big deal to have to replace the radio if/when the finals do burn out. Even still, with your mobile Yaesu installed, you're likely to only use the handheld when you're walking around camp or spotting someone or going for a short hike or something, and you shouldn't 5W of power to talk with the rest of your group over that short of a distance.
As for the mobile radio - again, lower power (5W) tends to be better for the simplex frequencies, because we're usually in close range with one another. If you're programming repeaters that you know you'll be far away from, it doesn't hurt to set them up for one of the medium power settings. As stated, you can very quickly change the power setting on a Yaesu (it's one button on my FT-7800), but it'll revert back to whatever you have programmed into the memory as soon as you switch the channel and come back to your saved one.
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This'll be super helpful once I get rolling with the HAM myself, thanks. :)
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Joe - excellent info! Thank you for thinking about our Baofeng's sensitive bits.... ;)
You're right - the Baofeng is mainly for hikes, around camp, and spotting - or when Mike is bored sitting in the apartment. So I'll try programming it at 1W. And thanks for the awesome explanation - My eyes didn't even glaze over!! WOOT! ;D
Now where are those power buttons.......
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Joe - excellent info! Thank you for thinking about our Baofeng's sensitive bits.... ;)
You're right - the Baofeng is mainly for hikes, around camp, and spotting - or when Mike is bored sitting in the apartment. So I'll try programming it at 1W. And thanks for the awesome explanation - My eyes didn't even glaze over!! WOOT! ;D
Now where are those power buttons.......
What repeaters have you tried to hit thus far with it?