What 2M and 70CM Frequencies, Including Repeaters, Do you Program?

[MJW89519]

Okay, I've renewed my FCC license and upgraded to General (testing for Extra in January) and bought a BTech UV-50X2, second generation, which I have installed in my truck, and set up as moveable to a home base station as well. I've also got my GMRS license. My big question next is what 2M and 70CM frequencies should I program into the radio and what repeaters?

I've installed Chirp to make programming easy.

So, what do you recommend for 2M and 70CM? I figure the national calling frequencies are obvious, but what else? I've looked at the local 2M frequency plan but that is 20+ and I don't see one for 70CM. Anyway, well, that's a lot.

And for Repeaters, I'm not even sure where to begin. I live in Reno, travel locally of course, but where I anticipate the radio being needed for off-roading is pretty much all of northern Nevada and nearby California. The problem is that using the RepeaterBook, filtering for my location and out a couple hundred miles, I get 100+ repeaters. Again, that's a lot.

What's a practical starting point?

THANKS!!!

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Go to Repeaterbook.com and take a look for repeaters in your area.

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Screen shot of about 1/3 what's in Reno

 

[MJW89519]

Yes, I see the local repeaters, and if I go out to the geographic areas that we often travel to, it’s over 100 of them plus the ones in California where we go to. So are you suggesting that I program all of those into the radio?

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Nope, program in the ones you will use daily at home first, then ones for planned trips.
Depending on the radio, you might end up with a few hundred repeaters in there, most Yaesu radios have 1,000 or more memory channels you can fill, but I don't know anyone with anywhere near that many programmed.
A few dozen usually does it for most folks' local needs and travel too.

Purchase a copy of the ARRL Repeater Guidebook and throw it in the glove box, when traveling, and you change routes so that previously programmed repeaters won't do you any good, open the book, find your area, program in those.
Manually programming a HAM radio is a skill we teach first in our classes, because you may not always have a laptop or PC handy with the software and cable to do it that way, plus, doing it manually gives a better understanding of what is required to connect to a repeater.

 

[GatorJim]

Nope, program in the ones you will use daily at home first, then ones for planned trips.
Depending on the radio, you might end up with a few hundred repeaters in there, most Yaesu radios have 1,000 or more memory channels you can fill, but I don't know anyone with anywhere near that many programmed.
A few dozen usually does it for most folks' local needs and travel too.

Purchase a copy of the ARRL Repeater Guidebook and throw it in the glove box, when traveling, and you change routes so that previously programmed repeaters won't do you any good, open the book, find your area, program in those.
Manually programming a HAM radio is a skill we teach first in our classes, because you may not always have a laptop or PC handy with the software and cable to do it that way, plus, doing it manually gives a better understanding of what is required to connect to a repeater.

Sage wisdom there....

 

[MJW89519]

Aside from the 2M repeaters, what else are you programming in? And for 70CM?

 

[MJW89519]

And do you really add or need to add all of those repeaters? Why or why not? If not, how do you pick?

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Depends on the radio, most of my hand helds are either tri band (2 meters, 1.25 meters, 70 CM) or Quad band (those plus 6 meters) some do all that plus GMRS, so I program in all the repeaters in my area (Pahrump) on all the bands each radio will do, and all the repeaters in Las Vegas, and a few up north, the places I live or visit in other words.

My 50-watt mobiles are either dual or quad band, so same there, the Quad bands mobiles are 2m, 70CM, 6M and 10M, FM only.
There is / was only one 10M repeater in NV, it's up in Elko, but I have used it when in that area. It's off the air now.
There used to be twelve 6M repeaters in NV, but 9 of them are off the air, and I'm not sure about the other 3.
There were 4 in the Reno and Sparks area at one time.


My 100-watt mobiles are HF, VHF, UHF all in one type and those will do AM, SSB and FM on all frequencies.

Saves time, do it once and then they are there if I need them.

I keep a copy of the ARRL repeater guide in each of my vehicles, it has come in handy when traveling for Nye County where I volunteer.

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Saw your reply after I posted above.
I volunteer with Nye County in a number of capacities, and Nye County is very large.

So, I have all those repeaters programmed in, as well as ones on the county's frequencies, so that wherever I am, there is a good chance I can hit a repeater and yell for help if I need it, as there are a lot of areas I visit here in Nye County that have no cell service.

 

[MJW89519]

NYECOGunsmith, thanks. The radio has 200 channels so no space constraint. Same as Nye, I find that 99% of where we go, once off the pavement there is no cell signal, often even while still on pavement once we leave I-80 or 395. Okay, next question, how do you choose the repeater to use? Or is that just trial-and-error until you get someone?

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

For repeaters you can hit every day, or ones when traveling, I listen for a few minutes, then program them in in the order of one's with most trafic first, descending to one's with little to no chatter.
That gives me the best chance of being heard if I need help.
Also, I give precedence to repeaters that are linked, since that greatly extends the coverage area in which you will be heard.

 

[GatorJim]

Yeap to all above, especially the linked ones like the intermountain interlink. You can spend the whole day listening to 880 (in LV) sometimes.

What I did....living in the upper LV area......is first pick a Primary and a Secondary freq for VHF, UHF, and GMRS. The primary usually being the busier repeater, the secondary being a less used but based on repeater location and strongest in strength to where my home is. This can also come into play later on if you start playing with beam antennas, but that's another animal.
Good luck and if you have any questions, please post away....

 

[hmcret]

Nope, program in the ones you will use daily at home first, then ones for planned trips.
Depending on the radio, you might end up with a few hundred repeaters in there, most Yaesu radios have 1,000 or more memory channels you can fill, but I don't know anyone with anywhere near that many programmed.
A few dozen usually does it for most folks' local needs and travel too.

Purchase a copy of the ARRL Repeater Guidebook and throw it in the glove box, when traveling, and you change routes so that previously programmed repeaters won't do you any good, open the book, find your area, program in those.
Manually programming a HAM radio is a skill we teach first in our classes, because you may not always have a laptop or PC handy with the software and cable to do it that way, plus, doing it manually gives a better understanding of what is required to connect to a repeater.

I have to agree with Steve here.

What I did when I lived in Mesquite was create a separate image file that contained repeaters along my route in route order. I always included .52 as well as the destination repeaters I would use. So I had one file for a trip to OK, another to my old stomping grounds in UT. Basically, I had 3 master files: Home image, and the route images. Saved it as the name of the trip. (I made this trip frequently them). Still have this image file for when I want to visit Mesquite from here .

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

I have to agree with Steve here.
.

You don't HAVE to agree with me, this is a free forum, of course there is always that BAN HAMMER poised in my hand, to consider! Just ask Gullwing, Harley or Mac!