Thanks; For some reason, I thought 70CM Repeaters were unavailable in UK, and my W32A might be "contraband". Yes the W32A can work 420-450 MHz, (Mine will :-) ). Yes voice GSM is what we need for the trip. WIFI will have to suffice for data needs. --- On Fri, 11/1/13, Joe Leikhim rhyolite@nettally.com wrote:
I am planning a trip to UK and was wondering about VHF repeater usage.
- I have an ICOM W32A and it does not generate 1750 Hz tone
as far as I can tell (US Version). Is CTCSS widely used in OK?
All 2m repeaters use CTCSS, info on repeaters and coverage maps are at http://www.ukrepeater.net/
- The radio is dual band 2M/70CM but I can disable 70CM
band from front panel. Will Customs hassle me for that model?
Don't know but I've not heard of anyone having problems. BTW can't you open up the 70cm coverage to give 420-450 MHz ? That would enable you to use the UK 70cm repeaters.
- Any recommendations for good PMR446, dPMR or similar
radios (low cost) to communicate with my wife should we get separated? Preferably something readily available and using AA (not AAA) batteries. 4) Is GSM still the way to go for basic cell phone service in UK? We got my son a used blackberry? "world phone" for his trip last year and it seemed spotty. Maybe he was getting SIM cards for the wrong provider?
If all you want is voice and SMS text messaging then yes GSM is what you are after. For data/internet use you'd need 3G. It's worth checking the coverage provided by each of the Four networks in the areas you'll be visiting before you buy a Sim.
Personally I've found Vodafone and O2 give best voice/text coverage as they use the 900 MHz band, other networks EE (Orange/T-Mobile) and 3 are only on the higher bands, 1800 and 2100 MHz with shorter ranges.
Coverage Maps: Vod -http://www.vodafone.co.uk/our-network-and-coverage/uk-coverage-map/ O2 -http://www.o2.co.uk/coveragechecker EE -https://explore.ee.co.uk/coverage-checker 3 -http://www.three.co.uk/Support/Coverage
73 Trevor M5AKA
On 11/01/13 21:15, Joe Leikhim wrote:
Thanks; For some reason, I thought 70CM Repeaters were unavailable in UK, and my W32A might be "contraband". Yes the W32A can work 420-450
We don't have 220MHz, but we do have 70MHz - maybe that's what you were thinking of?
MHz, (Mine will :-) ). Yes voice GSM is what we need for the trip. WIFI will have to suffice for data needs. --- On Fri, 11/1/13, Joe Leikhim rhyolite@nettally.com wrote:
We have 2m and 70cm, which run from 144MHz to 146MHz and 430MHz to 440MHz respectively. Because 70cm is second-user to military stuff (as it is in most of the world) there are ERP limits in certain parts of the country.
Unfortunately because of the fundamentally broken nature of the RSGB's pathetic excuse for a website, it's impossible to link to the bandplans directly. So, follow the ridiculous URL below and click on the badly-designed menu at the bottom of the page:
http://www.rsgb.org/committees/spectrumforum/docs/rsgb_band_plan_2012.htm
Here is the rather more effective and usable ETCC website with all the UK repeaters on it:
Hope this helps ;-)
On 11/01/13 21:15, Joe Leikhim wrote:
Thanks; For some reason, I thought 70CM Repeaters were unavailable in UK, and my W32A might be "contraband". Yes the W32A can work 420-450
Incidentally, in the UK you are allowed to have any kind of transmitter for any band you like, whether you are licensed or not. You're not allowed to transmit with it, though.
You're also allowed to receive anything, but under the WT Act you may not be able to act on or pass on any information that you receive. So, sitting in the house listening to the last few remaining FM fire brigade radios is fine, phoning the local paper or hopping in the car to go for a look is right out ;-)
There's another interesting aspect of this that pops up on aviation enthusiast mailing lists and forums, where you get people posting stuff along the lines of "ZOMG THE UK HAS DRACONIAN LAWS AND IT'S A POLICE STATE BECAUSE YOU CAN'T STREAM SCANNERS LISTENING TO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL!!11!!!!11111"
Well, the law says you can't pass on any information without permission, which suggests to me that if you obtain permission from NATS to stream local ATC chatter, then it will be fine. I asked NATS about that at a visit to their control centre near me, and they said that in principle they don't really care what you do, to satisfy the letter of the law you'd need to ask permission, and no-one has ever contacted them to ask permission to stream ATC traffic.
So there you go - you don't ask, you don't get.
participants (2)
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Gordon JC Pearce -
Joe Leikhim