Does anyone use 2 meter FM anymore?

[Jeffhs]

Hi,

I am wondering whether 144-MHz (2 meter) FM is even active anymore. This band was at one time full of 2-M FM repeaters (I was a member of a Cleveland radio club in the '70s which operated several such repeaters), but these days, 2m seems all but dead. That is, there are a few repeaters still on the air and operating in this area, but they don't get much use anymore. When I was first licensed as a Technician class ham (WB8NHV, 1970s), I lived in a Cleveland suburb and was able to use several of the area's 2m repeaters; in fact, as I said above, I was a member of a Cleveland-area amateur radio club at the time.

However, these days, in 2012, it seems to be a different story altogether. I moved to an area 30 miles east of Cleveland in late 1999 and had to give up most of my amateur gear, although I kept my 2m gear and my membership active in the repeater club I had been with since the '80s, and am still active on their local repeater every week or so for the club's 2-meter net. However, I notice the only activity seemingly on this repeater anymore is that net. I live about 2 miles from the repeater and can get into it with my Icom handheld just fine; in fact, the 2m net I just mentioned, which meets on Thursday evenings at 7 PM eastern time, is still there and is doing quite well.

However, that net seems to be the only activity I hear on the repeater these days. I was trying to test a new speaker-microphone I purchased for my HT the other night; I must have made several calls over the repeater, but there was no response. I am sure I am getting into the repeater, as I could hear the squelch tails (two, one for each remote input) and a short beep after I announced my call sign; I knew from that that I was at least getting into the repeater just fine, but there was no response from any other station, if any, on the frequency.

The above makes me wonder whether anyone in this area even uses 2m FM anymore, except for the radio club's weekly 2m net which I just mentioned. As I said, I have tested my 2m HT by transmitting to another HT tuned to the repeater's output frequency, and even on simplex (146.52); the HT works just as it should, both on that simplex frequency and through the repeater itself.

I sometimes wonder if anyone much uses 2 meters in a car (mobile) these days. I don't think so, since so many of today's automobiles have computerized systems such as ABS (braking), electronic fuel injection, and others. These systems could be adversely affected by strong RF fields, which could cause problems if a stray signal from a 2m rig (for example) gets into the system.

Has anyone here had such problems when using a 2m (or any other band, including HF) amateur radio transceiver in a mobile environment these days? As I said, due to the very real possibility of stray RF signals getting into modern cars' computer systems, I am thinking mobile 2m (not to mention HF) is just about dead, if it isn't already. That is, years ago, before everything (or nearly everything) in modern automobiles was controlled by computer systems, mobile 2m and/or HF ham radio was much more popular than it is today; after all, until the use of computer systems in cars became commonplace by about the '90s or so, the only real problem with using a 2m rig mobile would be interfering with the car radio.

It wouldn't surprise me, in fact, if there is or could be a notice in the owners' manuals of today's cars warning against the use of any kind of radio transceiver in that car, the problem, of course, being malfunctions of the car's computer systems caused by stray RF signals. The safety of the driver and of any passengers in an automobile, after all, is more important than any accessory in the car, including the car radio or any 2m or HF mobile amateur gear.