The Ham Radio 20 Meter FMC Net?

[N7KGA]

Good morning;

Is the ham radio "Family Motor Coach" net (FMC net) on 20 Meters at 14.262 Mc still around somewhere? It used to be hosted by Leon who lived down in Texas, but I have learned that Leon died about two years ago. Is the net still active? Did someone else take it over? Where is it now?

The last time that I checked into that net was probably about five years ago, and it was only as a guest. I did not have a motor home RV back then. I do now, and I was hoping that the net might still be around, noting that now I can be a fully participating member of the net.

Enjoy, and 73;

Ralph, N7KGA

Latte Land, Washington

n7kga@arrl.net .

[dickandlois]

Hi Ralph,

Welcome to the FMCA Forum !

There is a Amateur Radio Chapter. There is an article in the December issue of Family Motor Coaching. Page 80.

I gleaned this info from that article, It mentions Les and Carole Wright, Call sign AA7YC. Les and Carole's are F274078.

Les is the Chapter President, The group runs communications nets, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Gathering at 1:00 PM Eastern Time across the country.

Larry and Karla Dayhuff, also mentioned-- F404927. Larry has the extra class, N7LWD and Karla is K4KLD.

Wish I could confirm the 20 Meter Band, but I have a feeling its the hot spot !!

Happy DX'ing Rich.

[TomDussault]

Hi Ralph,

I am wondering the same thing. Is there any Amateur Radio activity among Motorhomes? It would seem the ideal situation. I'd like to find an HF Net. Repeaters are fine but I'd like to find something beyond that. It would be fun to check in from all of our locations. And maybe do some DX? If not, maybe we need to start something?

Tom K1NEW

[TomDussault]

Hi Rich,

I just saw your reply. That's good news.

Thanks,

Tom

[N7KGA]

Good morning;

There has been some progress. The main frequency of interest on 20 Meters now is 14.3075 Mc. Both the Recreational Vehicle Service net (or the RV Service net that started as a part of the Wally Bynum Caravans back in 1963), and the FMCA-ARC net can be found on that frequency.

The RV Service net comes on beginning at 1800 Zulu or 1300 EDST or 1400 EST, on 14.3075 Mc USB at least on Monday through Friday, but often there does seem to be people there on an informal basis on Saturday and Sunday.

I believe that the FMCA-ARC net comes on following the RV Service net on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so that will be probably in the range from 1830 Zulu to 1900 Zulu or so. But not on days beginning with a "T." At least the frequency is the same.

There is at least one VHF net out there, including an EchoLink Net on Tuesdays at 9:00pm ET (6:00pm PT) on Conference Node *FMCA-ARC*. I do not know about the repeater in what city that may be associated with that EchoLink Node.

This has been an interesting activity searching out the nets. Larry Hayduff, N7LWD (who used to live out here), and who can be found in the FMCA-ARC [ www.fmcaarc.com ], provided a lot of this information. I am still looking.

Enjoy, and 73;

Ralph, N7KGA

Latte Land, Washington

[skiprd]

Just stumbled across this thread. Here's a list of RV-related ham radio nets that I put together several months ago:

RV Service Net (http://rvsvcnet.wbcci.net/)
Eastern/Central Nets (40m) 7.191 MHz 0700 EST and 0800 EST / 7-days (both confirmed)
Rocky Mountain Net (40m) 7.184 MHz 0630 to 0800 MDT Mon-Fri (not confirmed) (MDT may be a typo)
Pacific Net (40m) 7.268.5 MHz 0900 to 1000 PDT Mon-Fri (not confirmed) (again, PDT may be a typo)
Daily 20m Nets 14.307.5 MHz 1200 and 1700 EST Mon-Fri (confirmed)

FMCA ARC Net (http://fmcaarc.com/index.php/nets-and-schedules/)
Daily Net (20m) 14.307.5 MHz 1300 ET Mon-Fri (confirmed)
Echolink Net 2100 ET Tue via Conference Node *FMCA-ARC* (confirmed)

ARRL RV Net (http://rvradionetwork.com/)
Daily Net (40m) 7.265 MHz 2000 EST daily (not confirmed)

Good Sam's Radio Hams (40/80 nets, mostly in California?) (not confirmed)
(http://www.srhams.org)

I check in to the RV Service Net Eastern/Central 40m net from time to time. It pretty much booms into central Georgia. I'm still in the process of figuring out how to operate from the MH, so most of my experimenting has been conducted from the shack.

Hope that helps,
73 K4EAK Skip

[N7KGA]

Good morning, Skip, K4EAK;

Thank you for providing your list. There are more than I had thought, although I also admit that for nationwide net coverage during the day, I had been concentrating mainly on 20 Meters.

However, I think that the FMCA-ARC Net on 20 Meters follows the RV Service Net on 14.3075 Mc mainly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at this time.

40 Meters is a possibility down into California, but I am not sure that I can get much further east than Idaho, Western Montana, Utah, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, part of Nevada, and maybe Wyoming and Colorado. I know that I can cover those states on 80 Meters at night fairly often, and usually down into Arizona, from my location here in Latte Land. For me, 20 Meters has been my main long range band most of the time during the day, although it does not really seem to wake up during the Winter until perhaps around 0700 PST or 1500 UTC in the morning. Of course, this is from the home station.

I have the feeling that true mobile operation, or even operation from a parked motor home, will not be as easy. There will be a Hi-Que screwdriver type vertical on the front of the Winnebago Elandan for mobile operation, and I will mount a Hustler-Newtronics Type 6BTV vertical antenna on the 2 inch square tube receiver on the back for parked or "portable" operation from 80 Meters to 10 Meters. The 6BTV is only about 27 or 28 feet long, but it is better than the mobile antenna, and the assembled 6BTV without the capacity hat sections will slide very nicely into the 30 foot long 4 inch diameter plastic tube along the right side of the roof. I can also put out more radials when parked. One nice thing about a vertical antenna is that it is always aimed in the right direction. The radios and everything else are pretty easy.

At least I know that there is a selection of radio nets out there for us to play with and for keeping in touch. Thank you, Skip.

Enjoy, and 73;

Ralph, N7KGA

Latte Land, Washington