South Coast PMR net report

Hello and greetings

Before the report, a quick thank you to Tango 187, who allowed me to share the use of his ex military mast.  

So the set up for the night was the TYT TH9000D radio and a 1/4 GPA (sputnik) antenna on top of the 12 meter mast.
My QTH was a very cold Ashdown Forest in East Sussex. I'm glad we had a supply of hot water for coffee, as by the end of the night it was below zero degrees  

Now for the nights report.

I turned the radio on and headed to channel 12 to see if the extra height would allow me to reach the Hastings area, which it did  
So here is the list of stations i made contact with.

AMC 1966--Boris--Bexhill--East Sussex
MD 26--Dave--Hastings--East Sussex
CT 940--Richard--Reigate Hill--Surrey
????--Jay--Westfield--East Sussex
TK 08--George--Tonbridge--Kent
????--Sean--Hastings--East Sussex

It was great to be able to talk to Boris, Dave and the rest in the Hastings area, something that the extra height made possible.
So if your round the Rye, Hastings, Eastbourne area, give a shout out on channel 12 on a Monday night.

Now for my report of the chat/net on channel 14.

CamperVan Man--Nigel--Crowborough--East Sussex (Chair Person)
TK 08--George--Tonbridge--Kent
CT 3466--Ray--Near Lingfield--Surrey (working from his sofa)
KP 441--Steve--Ditchling Beacon--East Sussex
CT 1033--Chris--Tonbridge--Kent
????--Dick--Hadlow--Kent
CT 2072--Steve T--Wrotham Hill--Kent
CT 940 & DS 01--Richard & Pru--Reigate Hill--Surrey
CT 2207--Neil--Crowborough--East Sussex
????--Sean--Hastings--East Sussex
KP 441--Steve--Henfield--West Sussex (2nd location of the night)
And myself CI 2290--Ray--Ashdown Forest--East Sussex

I think that is all who called in, but sorry if I have missed you off.

Some of the topics of conversation for the night ranged from Nigel getting a pen & paper, old home computers like the ZX81, Commodore 64 and the like, Cake, classic arcade games like Defender, a Tank game which nobody could remember the name of, Asteroids and as always Nigel did manage to bring up the subject of relays, diodes and capacitors.

That about covers it, thank you for reading and please feel free to comment good or bad.

Cheers N Beers
73 till next time
Ray 26 CI 2290 & 26 CT 2290

Hello and welcome.

Before my report, thank you again to Tango 187 for the use of his mast.

Here we go with a run down of the PMR net held on the 19-04-2021

The weather was warm with clear skies for the beginning of the net, with a temperature of 11 degrees which by the end had dropped to 5 degrees.
I was on Ashdown Forest using the TYT TH9000D and a small 1/4 wave antenna.

Stations who called in are as follows.....

Nigel--CamperVan Man (CVM)--Crowborough--East Sussex
George--TK08--Tonbridge--Kent
Steve EP--East Peckham--Kent
Steve T--CT2072--Wrotham Hill--Kent
Boris--AMC1966--Bexhill--East sussex (walking in a field with a handheld and a beam on a pole)
Chris--Bexhill--East Sussex (worked by Steve T, CVM & Boris)
Paul M--Wrotham Hill--Kent (same car park different car)
Chris--CT1033--Tonbridge--Kent
Joe--Wadhurst--Kent (first time calling in and leaning out of his window with a handheld)
Jon--CT331--Rye Harbour--Kent (worked by Steve T, CVM & Paul M)
Neil--CT2207--Crowborough--East Sussex
Scott--Tonbridge--Kent (worked by Chris, George, CVM & Paul M)
Martin H--FB228--Hellingly--East Sussex
And myself Ray--CI2290--Ashdown Forest--East Sussex

I think that is all who called, sorry if I've missed you off.

Topics of conversation were Solar panels, kids with paint and the mess they can get in, 70's
ham radios, antique furniture and Joe leaning out of the window.

We packed up about 23:00
That about covers it, please feel free to comment good or bad

Thank to all who called

73
Ray
26 CI/CT 2290

Hello all and welcome to my report for the PMR net held on Monday 26-04-2021

I arrived at Ashdown Forest for 8 o'clock and started to set up when disaster struck.
I needed to move the antenna from 1 type of mount to another and didn't have the right size Allen Key  
Not wanting to miss the net, I headed into Crowborough to find Nigel (CamperVan Man) and hoped he had a key to fit. After surprising Nigel by pulling up in front of his van, i was invited in and i explained my predicament. He said why not chair the net from his van, so here goes. . . .

Nigel handed me the mic and i spoke to Martin H (FB223) who was near Eastbourne, we then moved round to Dave (MD26) who was in Bexhill and then Chris in Little common, Chris said that Boris (AMC1966) was also on but Nigel and I could only hear a voice pattern. They then move down to channel 12 and continued the night. So if your around the Rye, Hastings, Bexhill or even Eastbourne on a Monday evening, why not give them a shout.
We then moved round to George (TK08) and Chris (CT1033) in Tonbridge followed by Dick in Hadlow. Paul M QSKed fron Vigo village and was passed round the group. Surprise of the was Joe from Wadhurst calling in while working a handset from up a TREE!

That rounds up my report of the night.

Thank you to Nigel for the use of his radio and the coffee.

That's it till next
73
Ray
26 CI/CT 2290

this pmr is taken off and there is lots have there fav radio i have a few radios my self then i buy a pair from china and there 16 channels but there not on uk freqs so i can not use them until i find i havewhat freq they are tried scanning but nothing tried from 400mhz to 480 nothing i thought they might be 70cm no so we had a go the wife in the garden and in the back room crystal clear down the road about a mile and still a very strong crystal clear, so came back home and my audio on the wifes was clear strong, and the wife audio to was the same, i have a little high spot from the home and its line of sight and i shouted and it was clear and strong and the same back ,they may be 70cm and they were working great, tried my 70cm at home and a little handy there is no screen but it tells you the channel your on not 70cm so i will keep them and try some more tests there are 70cm found the dealer and 16 chans of 70cm it give when testing i can speak with the 70cm handy to my baofeng uv-b5 but the baufeng handy will not talk back will have look into this

stephen Gunrunner wrote:

this pmr is taken off and there is lots have there fav radio i have a few radios my self then i buy a pair from china and there 16 channels but there not on uk freqs so i can not use them until i find what freq they are tried scanning but nothing tried from 400mhz to 480 nothing i thought they might be 70cm no so we had a go the wife in the garden and in the back room crystal clear down the road about a mile and still  a very strong crystal clear, so came back home and my audio on the wifes was clear strong, and the wife audio to was the same, i have a little high spot from the home and its line of sight and i shouted and it was clear and strong and the same back ,they may be 70cm and they were working great, tried my 70cm at home and a little handy there is no screen but it tells you the channel your on not 70cm so i will keep them and try some more tests

Hi Stephen

PMR does seem to have taken off over the past few years.

I can remember when this net started back in 2015, I was on Ashdown Forest using a Motorola Talkback T5522 500mw handy on the first night.
It's a shame that the history of the net is on the tapacrap forum.

As to your mystery radios, could they be for the American GMRS or the German Freenet frequencies?
Good luck finding out

73
Ray
26 CI/CT 2290

Hi Folks. 
I realise I am at risk of embarrassing myself here. But if it helps , it's worth it. I bought walkie talkies made in China. They ship with random test frequencies. I had to change them to pmr466 using chirp. Otherwise they would have been useless.  That was my experience anyway.. I hope you get it sorted... Kind regards

never be embarrassing we all started and had no one to ask for help and we all thought like you, you have joined
a group with lots of great members and ask there is no question is to big or two small enjoy the hobby its a bad habit to break and as all way great fun on a big hill with your pmr handy and chating say 40 miles that you would struggle with 11m cb radio.

Hi all and welcome

Here is my report for the PMR net held on Monday 03-05-21

My QTH for the night was a wet, cold and windy Ashdown Forest in East Sussex
and the set up was a TYT TH9000D and a beam antenna up on Tango 187's mast.

So with the rain coming down and the wind blow i called in just after 8 o'clock.

George (TK08), in Tonbridge, answered my called and invited me to take to the chair and keep things going as there was only a few people on. After a chat with George i went across to Dick, in Hadlow, and continued the conversation. Then Richard & Pru (CT940 & DS01) QSKed in from Devils Dyke and they talked to both George & Dick. Paul M, Vigo Village, called in and joined the chat. Some time later a vehicle pulled into the car park and we found that Richard & Pru had driven across to see us. Richard had a minor radio problem which then became part of a conversation about old/classic radios and the fact that parts are no longer available to keep them on air.
John, over in Westerham, called with a "hello hello hello", it was the first time he had heard anybody and was surprised that his UV5R and mag mount on a tin was working.
At 10 o'clock we decided to pack down and head home.

Counties covered were Kent & East Sussex and even with the low turn out we didn't run out of things to chat about.
That rounds up the report.

Thank you to Tango 187 for the use of his mast and beam, while I was on PMR, he was working the ham bands.

Till next time
73
Ray
26 CT 2290 or 26 CI 2290

Hi all and welcome to a very, very, very, late net report

So it was a Monday, about 20:00hrs on the 10-May-2021.

I drove up to Ashdown Forest (JO-01-bb-14-go) and found that 187 had got the mast up and a beam ready for me to plug in and play.

So i quickly confirmed that we had water, coffee and cups and set up the radio.

Then the invasion started. 2 heavily armed vehicles pulled into the car park and headed towards 187 and I. Heavily armed with radios and antennas turning our bit of the car park into a radio corner. A quick chat with Richard, Pru and Jake before i jumped into the net.

George (TK08), Chris (CT1033) and Nigel (CVM) where chatting away when i QSKed in and was offered the chair. After a round of hellos, Dave(MD26) called in and bought in Boris (AMC1966), someone then mention the antenna farm and took some pictures plus a bit of footage of me doing what I do best, whaffle . Paul M called in and was pasted around the group, then the Reigate Hill posse of Bartman & Joker called in and joined the group. Then Steve T, the Wrothan Hill listening station found a voice and had to join in LOL. I'm not sure if it was George or Chris who called in Dick to the group, but he was then passed rounded. Much to my joy, another of the original net stations, Martin P (HL026), called in.
Ray (CT3466) called in testing his beam, which showed some inprovements over a vertical antenna and before things came to an end, Richard called to check if his mobile set was working.

Towns and Counties covered. . . .
Wrotham Hill Kent
Bexhill East sussex
Vigo Village Kent
Crowhurst Surrey
Hadlow Kent
Polegate East Sussex
Tonbridge Kent
Reigate Hill Surrey
Tunbridge Wells Kent
And Ashdown Forest East Sussex

A big THANK YOU to 187 again, for the use of his mast

That about covers it. Feel free to comment good or bad.
See you next
73
Ray
26-CT-2290 & 26-CI-2290

Hello and welcome to my report for the Eastbourne/South Coast/Tonbridge area chit chat net,
held on monday 17-May-2021

My location for the night was Ashdown Forest, East Sussex. Location JO-01-bb.
My set was a TYT TH9000D and a beam on 187's mast.

If your reading this and thinking, what is 187 doing while the net is on?
He was working the world with a inverted V wire antenna.

Weather report, showers

Now for the list of stations that called and was worked by the net

CT940 & DS 01--Richard & Pru--Reigate Hill--Surrey
TK08--George--Tonbridge--Kent
CT3466--Ray--Crowhurst--Surrey
CT1033--Chris--Tonbridge--Kent
------Paul M--Vigo Village--Kent
CT2072--Steve T--Tonbridge--Kent (the listening station )
Joker--Steve--Reigate Hill--Surrey
Bartman--Andy with a handy--Reigate Hill--Surrey
TE147--Dave--Southend on Sea--Essex
CVM--Nigel & Joe--Woodingdean--East Sussex
CT3135--Darren--Brighton--East Sussex (worked by Nigel & Joe)
PIP57--Paul--Bracknell--Berkshire
And me CT2290--Ray--Ashdown Forest--East Sussex (keeper of the records)

That rounds up the stations that called in.
Topics of conversation ranged from, a Superstar 360FM CB that has had a different facia stuck over the front, Ray's antenna, the rain, stabbing yourself with pliers and where's Dick.

Thank you all who called in
See you next time
73
Ray
26 CT 2290 & 26 CI 2290

Hi all

Welcome to my report of the Monday night PMR net held on the 24-May-2021

For the 3rd Monday night it rained more than it was dry on Ashdown Forest.
My choice of radio was the TYT TH9000D and the home made mag mount.

Here is the list of stations in attendance

The phantom keyer with his UV5R roger bleep.
George (TK08) in Tonbridge
Paul M up on Wrotham Hill
Nigel (CamperVan Man) & Joe in Wadhurst
Steve T (CT2072) aka The listening station up on Wrotham Hill
Bill (CT482) in Hadlow
Scott in Tonbridge, worked by George & Paul M
And myself Ray (CT2290) on Ashdown Forest

Not so many called in, so only 2 counties covered Kent & East Sussex.
Topics of conversation ranged from the Russian tradition of giving cake to visitors to 3D printing, bad jokes to politics, antenna testing to exploring mines & tunnels and the skip conditions on 11m over the last 3 weeks.

Thats it for the report. Sorry if i have missed off.
Feel free to comment or give it a like/dislike
Till next time
73
Ray
26-CT-2290 or 26-CI-2290

Welcome one & all to my report of the PMR net held on Monday 31-05-2021

After 3 weeks of wet nights, it was a pleasure to have a dry warm night.

So, i arrived at the car park to find Richard (CT940) and Pru (DS01) chatting to 187.
I parked my van next to 187 and hooked up a Yeasu 817 to the 8 element beam on top of a ex army mast some 10 metres in the air.
Just after 8 o'clock I (CT2290) called out on channel 14 to let the others know i was about.

Chris (CT1033) answered my called and we had a chat and then I was in the chair.
From Chris it was over to Steve T (CT2072 aka the listening station), from Steve T it was on to George (TK08). Paul M called and he was passed around the group follwoed by Dick.
Ray (CT3466) called in, and the some time was spent experimenting with his beam, which produced some very encouraging results.
A voice was heard saying "can you hear me", if you are reading this, yes you was heard and 2 of us did call back.
Paul M called to say that due to to much sun he was going to leave the net early (hope you was feeling better for Tuesday).
Nigel (CamperVan Man) and Joe then pulled into the car park for an eyeball.
Steve R then called in and joined the group and the coversation.
At 10 some stations went QRT and by 11 the net was over.

Conversation topics ranged from me waffling to Nigel and his secret stash of biscuits, the German CB allocation with the repeater, vandals and what difference antenna heights make.

We also had a visit from 2 Lotus Exige cars that used the suset as a back drop for some photographs and a couple of visits from the police.

Towns and counties covered where
Cuxton in Kent
Crowhurst in Surrey
Tonbridge in Kent
Hadlow in Kent
Wrothan Hill in Kent
Vigo Village in Kent
Ashdow Forest in East Sussex

Thank you to 187 and all that called in.
73 and don't forget to hit the like button!

Ray
26CT2290 & 26CI2290

I assume this to be the motley crew here? 

morris wrote:

I assume this to be the motley crew here? 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10215973005156686&set=pcb.946786319414264

Not being on bacefook, I cannot confirm or deny the picture is of the "motley crew"

Nice to see some S/SE interest - I'd try and catch up distantly on my T2 gear, but I guess that'd be seen as cheating despite being a legit T2 ticket holder and having legit gear to use to keep things on the level.

Razz229 wrote:

morris wrote:

I assume this to be the motley crew here? 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10215973005156686&set=pcb.946786319414264

Not being on bacefook, I cannot confirm or deny the picture is of the "motley crew"

It must be the same mob, i can`t imagine there are any other motley crews lurking around Ashdown Forest 

A5H5ATAN1C wrote:

Nice to see some S/SE interest - I'd try and catch up distantly on my T2 gear, but I guess that'd be seen as cheating despite being a legit T2 ticket holder and having legit gear to use to keep things on the level.

Please excuse my ignorance but what is "T2 Gear"

morris wrote:

Razz229 wrote:

morris wrote:

I assume this to be the motley crew here? 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10215973005156686&set=pcb.946786319414264

Not being on bacefook, I cannot confirm or deny the picture is of the "motley crew"

It must be the same mob, i can`t imagine there are any other motley crews lurking around Ashdown Forest 

Was there any drug taking, corsa driving chavs or doggers in the picture?

A5H5ATAN1C wrote:

Nice to see some S/SE interest - I'd try and catch up distantly on my T2 gear, but I guess that'd be seen as cheating despite being a legit T2 ticket holder and having legit gear to use to keep things on the level.

"some S/SE interest" The Monday night PMR net has been around since 2015, when my hair was thicker and darker  

As for gear, anything goes.
We have people using converted taxi radios, hand helds, bake bean tins and string, 817's & Baofengs, all pushing 0.5 to 3 kilowatts of power!
It's about making contact, making radio freinds, chatting and having a laugh.

If your about on a Monday night listen in or even give us shout, channel 14, 446.16875mhz.

Hello, greetings and welcome

Here is my report for the PMR net held on Monday 7th of June 2021

I arrived at "radio corner" Ashdown Forest late due to a late finish at work and found Mr 187 busy putting up the mast.
After a quick hello, I jumped in to get the guy ropes staked out and the pegs in for the inverted v antenna. The beam i was using was already on top of the mast.
Once done, it was coffee time before calling out, well not strictly calling out, more answering a call, I turned on to hear me being called.

So here is the list of stations, in no particular, that were on the net.

Ray--CT3466--Crowhurst--Surrey
Dick--Hadlow--Kent
Boris--AMC1966--Bexhill--East Sussex
George--TK08--Tonbridge--Kent
Richard--CT940--Riegate Hill--Surrey
Paul M--Vigo Village--Kent
Steve--KP441--Horsham--West Sussex--Mobile (worked by Richard CT940 and heard by me)
Chris--CT1033--Tonbridge--Kent
Jay--2997--Crawley--West Sussex--(Pedestrian mobile on a walkie talkie)
Steve T--CT2072 aka The listening Station--Wrotham Hill--Kent
Joe & Nigel (CamperVan Man)--On the Downs near Lewes--East Sussex--(Pedestrian mobile on a walkie talkie)
Paul--PIP57--Bracknell--Berkshire (I heard you calling but you didn't hear me reply  )
And myself, Ray--CT2290--Ashdown Forest--East Sussex--Recording the night on parchment with a quill and ink

Topics on conversation, Joe & Nigels walkabout, the success of Ray making contact with George, me being late and some other random stuff

Thank you to Mr 187 for the use of his mast and beam.
Thank you to all who called

That about sums the night up, so feel free to leave a comment and don't forget to hit the like or dislike button

73

Ray

26CT2290 & 26CI2290

I might listen out on Monday, hell I might even drag out some really obscure stuff and op from the local hillside if I get enough of a good day mobility wise.

But I'll avoid, if I do, trying to drag up the big portable para - pain the ass to shift and draws way too much attention when people see you assembling it as they seems to think I'm spying/snooping when I do.

Well, 'since 2015' is kinda a recent thing given a lot of nets I've followed and in my years actively taken part in have been going way back to war surplus radio days, so 446 FM nets are relative infants age wise, as far as S/SE England examples goes.

@Morris, T2 refers to Tier 2 spec gear.

Legal TA certified Tier 1 446 (DMR and PMR 446, although PMR FM items far are more often marketed here) are the low power items you commonly see as license exempt 446 sets.

Tier 2, are the high power gear (upwards of .5W) used commercially where you need a license for (we use Tier 2 gear reprogrammed for 2cm/70cms for DMR ham side under the usual ham license within ham allocation), but a single Tier 2 license holder has a license which allows many group users to to use T2 gear as part of normal group use without each needing their own ticket. It's a relatively cheap 5 year license when you consider that you can virtually be license holder for a very large group operation on 446. It's a commercial license but you don't need to be a documented business/commercial user to qualify. But where I see value, beyond the crazy group size potential, is that there's far better grades of gear under T2 spec and far more qualifying gear out there at a much better value for what you get.

So, to use one scenario, you could buy a Tier 2 spec DMR set which can be setup with different user profiles, have a 446 Tier 1 constrained 'zone' encapsulating the full 446 FM setup found on most Tier 1 FM gear, in another 'zone' have a Tier 1 digital simplex DMR446 setup, A Tier 2 commercial DMR profile of channels/groups in another, a Tier 2 FM in another, and other zone profiles for whatever else the radio is usable certified or certified exempt.

So I keep my Anytone HH with work specific T2 DMR setup on one zone, a fallback T2 FM 446 setup in another, one for analogue FM on ham channelised frequencies and repeaters on 2m/70cms, a set of digital DMR zones on 2m and 70cm for repeater and repeater gateway access, a few different ones for ham hotspot use, a rarely used DMR446 hotspot focused zone in case I need to setup a temporary mini repeater for non-ham use.

So, since I use DMR dual band gear for both ham FM/DMR and commercial/leisure FM/DMR, I use whatever I need for spoken ID/Call or chose where not defined on commercial/leisure DMR/PMR and on such zones, any digitally sent ID is programmed on a zone by zone basis and I just use accordingly - on the ham oriented zones, I use and have my RadioID issue id (linked to my UK ham call) preset on those specifically.

End result, a mobile used as a base and a HH that's configured to be usable on a legit basis for commercial and leisure non-ham use and ham use respectively, but as it's dual band gear, you can have any combo of zones active selected across the two receive sections and switch to whichever you need to for on-air as needed.

Police don't think it's legit, but they've backed off when I proved it was legit setup and use and that occupied time they could have better used elsewhere with better reason. Security hate me, generally people avoid me like the plague when I have the AT with me, and I've not bothered since it's all above board and screw them.

But unless you've need for repeater access/gateways access scope or longer range by legit means or need more commercial grade gear, T2 spec stuff is overkill for most 446 use - but where you can use it, big value for not a lot of money in radio terms.

Added benefit - I'm in control of avoiding firm issue garbage when under contract since I just clone the setup they use (if non-public) to mine since cloning is easy on most sets and after recovering the clone mapping, I create a hybrid of my setup with the clone config on a spare zone on my sets.

Makes more sense to me, I guess, than to others I suspect.