For the holidays, my wife and I took a road trip from Hampton Roads, VA down to Fort Lauderdale, FL to be with family. I figured that it would be fun to do the trip with a list of the radio repeaters from Virginia to Fort Lauderdale, and I would attempt to get some contacts.
Using many different repeater websites, I made up a convenient list, and I programmed them all into the Yaesu FT-7900R using the Mac version of Chirp. It was also my first foray into the world of Yaesu's "hyper memory" concept, which I know I'm not using to its full potential.
Using many different repeater websites, I made up a convenient list, and I programmed them all into the Yaesu FT-7900R using the Mac version of Chirp. It was also my first foray into the world of Yaesu's "hyper memory" concept, which I know I'm not using to its full potential.
Radio Setup
I set up the radio with four "hyper memories". The first one was my local channels (with all non-amateur radio frequencies on skip while scanning), the second one was my local channels (all available for scanning), the third was the repeater frequencies for the trip, and the fourth was for when I arrived in Fort Lauderdale.
Repeaters
Initially, I planned to use all of the repeater frequencies in the attached file, but I ended up paring them down to only one per major metropolitan area on the trip. Here's the list of final repeaters and my report for them.
ham_radio_repeaters_road_trip_to_florida.pdf |
- Suffolk, VA: N4SD: 146.790- (Constant interference)
- Roanoke Rapids, NC: N4WFU: 145.310- PL 131.8 (Up)
- Rocky Mount, NC: N4JEH: 443.700+ PL 107.2 (Not good signal)
- Smithfield, NC: K4JDR: 444.025+ PL 100.0 (Up)
- Lumberton, NC: W4NHV: 147.045+ (Up)
- Florence, SC: W4ULH: 146.850- (Up)
- Walterboro, SC: KG4BZN: 147.135+ (No signal)
- Savannah, GA: W4HBB: 146.880- (No signal)
- Kingsland, GA: KC4WWU: 147.285+ PL 118.8 (No signal)
- Jacksonville, FL: W4IZ: 146.700- PL 127.3 (Up)
- Jacksonville, FL: W4RNG: 146.760- PL 127.3 (Up)
- St. Augustine, FL: KX4EOC: 145.210- (Up)
- Fort Pierce, FL: W4AKH: 147.345+ PL 107.2 (Up)
- West Palm Beach, FL: K4LJP: 146.970 PL 77.0 (No signal)
- Fort Lauderdale, FL: K4FK: 147.330+ PL 103.5 (Up)
I made two great contacts, but my favorite was N4WFU (Barry) out of Roanoke Rapids. Funny enough, he was my final contact of the trip on my way home, but he helped me out by testing 146.52 mHz simplex using his repeater and 200' antenna!
My favorite part of the conversation is when I made a comment that I heard the repeater down in South Carolina (around mile marker 157 northbound on I-95). He good-naturedly explained that I was hearing the repeater in Dillon, SC on the same frequency. He knew about at least four other repeaters on the same frequency. He also told me he made contacts every day with drivers on I-95. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to talk with him on his repeater again.
The conversation with him also showed me that I needed to install an external speaker in my Jeep, because at highway speeds, I just couldn't understand everything that he was saying using the stock speaker in the FT-7900R.
My favorite part of the conversation is when I made a comment that I heard the repeater down in South Carolina (around mile marker 157 northbound on I-95). He good-naturedly explained that I was hearing the repeater in Dillon, SC on the same frequency. He knew about at least four other repeaters on the same frequency. He also told me he made contacts every day with drivers on I-95. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to talk with him on his repeater again.
The conversation with him also showed me that I needed to install an external speaker in my Jeep, because at highway speeds, I just couldn't understand everything that he was saying using the stock speaker in the FT-7900R.
2 meter National Calling
Unfortunately, I did not get any contacts (besides N4WFU) on 146.52 mHz. I figured that it was because my range is so limited (after all, my antenna is only about 5-6 feet off the ground), and because there was probably wasn't anyone covering the frequency.
Final Thoughts
I thought the trip was great overall. I appreciated everyone who talked with me, and I appreciated all of the other conversations I got a chance to listen to as I drove. I wish more folks were on 146.52 mHz. I think I'll make it my New Year's Resolution to cover that particular frequency more often in case there's a traveller looking to make a new contact!