Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446

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Werthers
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Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446

Post by Werthers »

Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446 when they have 70cms simplex that they can use legitimately?

I don't understand why amateurs choose to "pirate PMR446 from high powered transceivers certain numpties running silly power like 50 watts on PMR446? risking there license.

70CMs simplex needs more activity so why not use that?
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Re: Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446

Post by LeakyFeeder »

Simple... u dont have to watch what u say on 446.. had me ticket since 94 n 446 is good fun..like a breath of fresh air..

Oh n anyone is free to use it....even those with a ticket๐Ÿ˜‰
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Re: Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446

Post by Werthers »

LeakyFeeder wrote: โ†‘16 Jul 2021, 22:29 Simple... u dont have to watch what u say on 446.. had me ticket since 94 n 446 is good fun..like a breath of fresh air..

Oh n anyone is free to use it....even those with a ticket๐Ÿ˜‰
Not quite... its a bit risky unless your mobile or portable but doing it from home is a bit risky because its illegal if running higher power than 500 mW. Don't get me wrong I generally don't have a problem with it. You can still have the same fun on 70cms simplex. The only difference is you say your call sign and keep to the terms of your license its all good and you can run more than half a watt with antennas of your choice without worrying about getting caught. In my opinion its not worth losing your license over.
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Re: Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446

Post by 26mb04 »

For the same reason most HGV/bus drivers probably have cars: because there are things you can do with a car that you shouldn't really do with a bus/HGV. I can relax on 446, It's a great leveller. It doesn't matter if you've just got your first handy or been on air longer than the RSGB has been established. On 446, everyone is the same.
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Re: Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446

Post by Mikel »

Around my neck of the woods (south Wales/Somerset areas) one reason is because it's where the activity is. I would love to use 70cm but the band is dead.

As an example, yesterday I walked up one of my local hills (Mynydd y Grug) which is only 375 m (1,230 ft) high but I could see over to England from the top, because it was a nice clear day (and fecking hot!).

I sat on a patch of grass and after a can of warm Strongbow I called out on 433.500MHz with my Yaesu VX6R with 5W into a 40cm Watson WHXX270 antenna (great twig by the way) and nobody came back. I kept calling and eventually got fed up so scanned up and down the band a number of times, both with my VX7R and my Uniden3500 scanner and it was dead, not a sausage, I could not hear one station calling or one QSO taking place, apart from a few repeater idents (sod the repeaters they don't count).

I could hear a few 'bleeps and farts' around 433.92MHz from some car key fobs, weather stations, garage door openers etc but no voices.

I then put out a call on 446.09375MHz (channel 8 PMR446) and I immediately got a reply from a mobile station in the Bristol area.

I had a string of contacts, all across the water, not bad from my handy on a little hill at the bottom of the Rhymney Valley. Some stations were licensed amateurs and some were not, it was probably a 50/50 split.

This was not a one off, I get the same experience from home as well. You could increase the 70cm activity maybe but then I would not have talked to the stations with no license that I did on 446.

I can remember the days when CB was not legal in the UK and I had a string of imported AM CB's, this was in the late 70's, there were six of us all in one street with illegal setups, it was like this in many places around the UK. No mobile phones back then and most people could not afford a phone in the house, so to be able to contact your mates across town whenever you wanted was a revelation.

It was a stressful time and everyone expected a knock on the door from the local GPO/Buzby guy (no OFCOM then) to confiscate your equipment, or if he came with the law to lock you up.

Thing is it was fun back then and because it was illegal it was exiting and the people involved had enthusiasm. There were some very clever people involved in illegal CB back then (some fully licensed amateurs around here) and there are some very clever people involved in the 446 movement at the moment with many of them being once again fully licensed amateurs around here.

I am not particularly worried about getting caught, I've got more important things to worry about in my life than losing my license and if OFCOM want to do a bit of sheep and cow pat dodging and follow me up Mynydd y Grug then they deserve a medal, in fact If they did I would be so impressed they would be welcome to share my warm Strongbow! (I must invest in a cooler bag)

It is important not to think too hard about it, 446 is just a laugh simple as that, you will always get the Victor Meldrew types, moaning and groaning and moralizing about it (you know who you are!) these type of people were born to moan and complain, it defines who they are, these same types were moaning about us using illegal CB in the 70's. (partly thanks to us pioneers, CB was legalized in 81!)

You only live once and you are a long time dead, so just get out in the fresh air and have a laugh,(and Strongbow) it's as simple as that :thumbup:
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Re: Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446

Post by dc260 »

With zero enforcement on such frequencies and catering to a wider audience, it does start to make sense why more choose to use PMR446. Also you have to keep in mind that in some areas, 446 is more populated than 70Cm. In my view I do not have any issue whatsoever with amateurs who choose to use 446.
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Re: Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446

Post by dc260 »

Werthers wrote: โ†‘17 Jul 2021, 19:43
LeakyFeeder wrote: โ†‘16 Jul 2021, 22:29 Simple... u dont have to watch what u say on 446.. had me ticket since 94 n 446 is good fun..like a breath of fresh air..

Oh n anyone is free to use it....even those with a ticket๐Ÿ˜‰
Not quite... its a bit risky unless your mobile or portable but doing it from home is a bit risky because its illegal if running higher power than 500 mW. Don't get me wrong I generally don't have a problem with it. You can still have the same fun on 70cms simplex. The only difference is you say your call sign and keep to the terms of your license its all good and you can run more than half a watt with antennas of your choice without worrying about getting caught. In my opinion its not worth losing your license over.
I don't think it's risky at all, Ofcom won't respond to complaints regarding 446 as it's an unlicensed band, as long as no interference to business licensed radio is caused (With a high quality transmitter, this won't occur) then it doesn't pose any risk at all, the only risk you could say would be social (other amateurs who would judge negatively on those operating on 446).
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Re: Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446

Post by Mikel »

dc260 wrote: โ†‘18 Jul 2021, 14:19
Werthers wrote: โ†‘17 Jul 2021, 19:43
LeakyFeeder wrote: โ†‘16 Jul 2021, 22:29 Simple... u dont have to watch what u say on 446.. had me ticket since 94 n 446 is good fun..like a breath of fresh air..

Oh n anyone is free to use it....even those with a ticket๐Ÿ˜‰
Not quite... its a bit risky unless your mobile or portable but doing it from home is a bit risky because its illegal if running higher power than 500 mW. Don't get me wrong I generally don't have a problem with it. You can still have the same fun on 70cms simplex. The only difference is you say your call sign and keep to the terms of your license its all good and you can run more than half a watt with antennas of your choice without worrying about getting caught. In my opinion its not worth losing your license over.
I don't think it's risky at all, Ofcom won't respond to complaints regarding 446 as it's an unlicensed band, as long as no interference to business licensed radio is caused (With a high quality transmitter, this won't occur) then it doesn't pose any risk at all, the only risk you could say would be social (other amateurs who would judge negatively on those operating on 446).
Good comments, think you have described and judged the present state of affairs very well.
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Re: Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446

Post by Transwarp »

As long as not causing any issues crank up the wattage (just a little now mind!) and enjoy, it's all radio.
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Re: Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446

Post by Otter »

Don't have to use callsigns. More activity. Lack of self-appointed band police. People don't look down on you for having a callsign issued after 1980.
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Re: Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446

Post by paulears »

People forget that leisure, non-business radio is just like social media. There will be super snobs, slime balls and everything in between. There will be in essence, people you wish to talk to and those you don't.

I'm so old, and licensed for a long time and have ALWAYS found people I wished to talk to and those I didn't. The same with my Facebook friends, and even the users on my business repeater. Marine radio has exactly the same sort of thing but they change procedure depending on channel. On 16 and 14, everyone follows the standards - people call each other sir or ma'am, people are polite and accepting of the occasional idiot leisure boater. These very same people will often be found on an out of the way, unused locally channel where they can curse and swear and nobody says anything.

Some hams are pretty horrible, and some a bit creepy, but the majority pleasant enough, but ham radio is a big club - always has been and some people don't fit in. Oddly, these people don't get it! Never have, and it's never changed. My generation didn't like the one before, and every decade has been the same.

The truth is simple. The radio system, format, cost and band is irrelevant if there is nobody you want to talk to or who wants to talk to you. On the 70cm band almost certainly there were lots of people listening, but they simply did not wish to respond. I do it all the time. On marine band I hear people call for radio checks. It happens a lot. I decide if they are going to get a response from me. Sometimes, I'll grab the mic and tell them they are loud and clear in Oulton Broad - my office is in the harbour area. Sometimes though, the person is just not somebody I wish to talk to. It might be somebody clearly a beginner with their radio procedure messed up, or it could be somebody clearly officious and sanctimonious. The other day it was "come on, come on, somebody give me a radio check - over". Others are the type that will take five minutes to complete the process - the ones who read the manual in their exam and say "This is yacht Marie, This is yacht Marie, This is yacht Marie, can anyone give me a radio check please. This is yacht Marie, This is yacht Marie, This is yacht Marie, over" - they're not getting an answer when I'm busy with something. On the other hand you get somebody say "This is Rib 2 can I have a radio check please". They might get "Rib 2, this is Caldwell Slip - loud and clear. out"

You pick who you speak to by gut reactions. Personally, I'd rather talk on marine than ham or 446. Here, 446 seems inhabited by the kind of people I'd not wish to mix with. Probably wear baggy grey bottoms and have stained hoodies from compost in their roof space - with tattoos from the local place where the tattooist has dyslexia.

This - please is not serious, but no way do I wish to talk to them. Equally I don't wish to talk to the posh plum in the mouth old fossil in a ยฃ600,000 yacht!
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Re: Why do licensed amateurs feel the need to use PMR446

Post by InTheClouds »

Just to add I have never really felt I have been looked down on as a ham on HF. Firstly hearing other UK locals even within 20miles is quite rare... all the other full call sign hams which I now am, seem to have mutual respect. In fact even as an M7/2E I found UK full licence hams either ok or non existent.. maybe the full licence holders just avoid you a bit as M7/2E or alternatively are friendly/happy to have a chat/advise.

Is band Police/looking down on others a VHF UHF thing ?

As a long haul dxer I live on HF, these days full licence UK hams stations find me on rare occasion. I think they know I am a fairly serious DXer so don't really even respond to me unless they are curious about my station or whereabouts. Of course you do get the short hops where it is interesting to chat around the UK 200-400miles.
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