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« on: September 30, 2019, 1837 UTC »
Yeah, I still do. It is a nice band, for sure. If you go to hamfest, and the group of friend that you have happen to have 222 MHz HT's, Y'all can have the band to yourselves without desense, walking over each other, lower noise from computers, near out of band interference, etc. It has very slightly less range than 2M, but better than 440MHz. I ran into 222MHz EME enthusiasts that loved the 222 band for EME work. Nice S/N ratio, and about the only interference was a close-by VHF TV CH13, but that's about it. Unfortunately, they could really only make contacts to North American stations. The 222 band is also more sensitive to Temperature Inversions as well, more so than 144MHz. During the VHF ARRL Sweepsteaks, it's another very necessary band, due to double points per contact. Even use to include 222 capabilities for Field Day. And the National simplex FREQ of 223.500MHz FM? The few of us that have it can talk there all day long. Now, you'd think that with the up and coming DV (Digital Voice.), modes that 222MHz would be utilized more with that. In the 70's and 80's, 222 was used a lot for repeater linking, with better reliability than 430MHz. So, I'd certainly would like to use it more. Unfortunately, with mainly North America being the primary user of the band, overseas manufacturers pretty much ignore it, compared to the 1.2GHz band. Even 902MHz is starting to get more attention, which is good, but 902MHz, and especially 2.4GHz, is pretty much trashed with Part #15 phones, baby monitors, wi-fi, etc. 1.2GHz is gangbusters in Japan, thus the availability in gear there. I hope that 222MHz can be resurrected. I was hoping that the Icom IC-9700 would include it. My Kenwood TS-2000X receives 222MHz FM / AM modes, but doesn't TX there. For that the Kenwoods, TM-741A, TM-3035A, TM-631A, and TH-F6A, for my 222MHz FM needs. Albeit the TH-F6A does RX in SSB and CW modes there. So, is there 222 hope? That's up to our use of it, or the lack of it.
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Just what motorcycle flick ya talkin' 'bout? Never mind The Pinto, (The beans are better.), what about the Chevette, (Or as we called 'em Shove-Its.), made by: