Messing with 1.25M

Last night, N0YNT (Matt) and K0YAK (Sam) tried out their HTs on two of the local 220 MHz repeaters. I think that it was the first time either had been on the band.

Both of them were in St. Paul, which is the very best place to be if you want to toy with 1.25M. All four repeaters are out that way, with the Burnsville 224.540- (PL 100.0) being the most distant. The proximity to the excellent Arden Hills 223.940- (PL 100.0) makes St. Paul attractive for the band using even an HT and a stock duck.

I gave the two of them signal reports on both machines. They were readable on both, though not very quiet, but they were using very little power and marginal antennae (stock ducks). My experience with N2PSR (Matt) on the band proved that even an extremely basic SO-239 ground-plane indoors at ground level provides a dramatic improvement in signal going into the repeaters.

The availability of cheap 220 MHz Chinese HT's could potentially turn things around for the future of the 1.25M band. While these HTs are not particularly good, they get people on the band and allow them to use better antennae. The thing that keeps people off the band is that "everyone knows" nobody is on the band. So, the more hams that have access to the band through the use of an HT, the easier it is to create a "buzz".

I could see an enterprising ham selling SO-239 ground-plane antennae at Hamfests this Spring. With the Maple Grove W1SBD 224.400- machine coming into service, and the 223.940- machine re-linked to the HandiHam network by cross-band, there could at least be a "novelty effect".
UPDATE: I see that Centerfire Antennas already sells a decent 1.25M ground plane antenna for the band -- $33 including shipping. I doubt that somebody will sell them cheaper and still make money at a Hamfest.

The real advantage of 1.25M is in mobile use, where you have the distance effect of two metres while having a limited ability of signals to bounce off buildings to reach repeaters that might ordinarily be inaccessible. But, if hams get into the band through HTs and home stations, at least they'll be exposed to 1.25M.