Wilderness Protocol discussion

[Wrightwood]

I ran into discussions about the Wilderness Protocol in a number of places including ARRL and would like to get some feedback from those that have been around for a while.

Have you ever heard of this being successfully used ?


The purpose of this operating suggestion is to offer stations that are in the wilds or in areas that are not near repeater stations a chance to be heard when it is needed the most!

The Wilderness Protocol is a suggestion that those outside of repeater range should monitor standard simplex channels at specific times in case others have Emergency or priority calls.
At least on every hour at the top of the hour

The primary frequency monitored is 146.52 MHz;
secondarily or alternatively 52.525, 223.5, 446.0 and 1294.5 MHz respectively.

The idea is to allow communications between hams that are hiking or backpacking in uninhabited areas, outside repeater range an alternative opportunity to be heard.

This is NOT just for hikers, back packers, or similar situations....it is for ANYONE to use at ANYTIME...that you need assistance. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOOSE BY NOTING THIS "WILDERNESS PROTOTYPE" AND USING IT IF YOU NEED IT.

[clint]

Well....there are so pros and cons here. First off I have never heard the term Wilderness Protocol. Sounds like something some well meaning but ill informed ham thought up.

But I already do this and have for years. 146.52 is the national 2 meter calling frequency. Although few newer hams recognizas that and even most old hams nol longer care about that becasue we so seldom use it that way anymore. When I drive cross country if i'm not on a repeater or already chating with a car in caravan on simplex. I monitor 146.52. Just this last weekend driving along 395 and some connecting secondary roads we had it on. Until I began to hear a bunch of noise from people using it for simplex and then I shut it off. And there is the problem.

Try listening to 146.52 on top of Mt. Baden-Powell. And here is what's wrong with the last statement "you have nothing to loose" I don't spend time the wilderness to listen to simplex chatter from all over the country. Those frequencies are not designated for emergency use. They are open calling frequencies and can be very busy.

[Toolman]

Yea...Clint it right...In fact during VHF-UHF contests, if you log a contact on that frq. you do not score a grid square point. You can make contact, but then need to move to log the contact.

 Most VHF-UHF contesters use SSB because the distance is greater and your scored more effectively on distance and grid squares accumulated. But the FM portion does get heavy traffic from newbie contesters.

 I use to go up to Mt. Gleason and set up several Yagi's for the spring contests and work into Mexico, Nevada, Arizona on 2mtr. 6mtr, and 440 SSB. As far as Canada and Florida on 6 during openings.