
2m amateur radio band endangered? - lightlyused
https://www.f4fxl.org/2m-amateur-radio-band-endangered/
======
gwoplock
As a ham operator this seriously disappoints me. The way it sounds the 2m ham
band was targeted because it is world wide. Taking it is the easy way out for
the producers.

The 2m band is the most prolific uhf/vhf band. Next would be 70cm band but if
you get a single band radio it’s most likely 2m. There is a lot of equipment
out there that would need to be replaced by people and clubs without a lot of
financing. The repeaters serve immensely important roles.

For instance around me in Texas most of the storm spotters for NWS (skywarn)
use 2m bands. Not having the repeaters may mean the difference between people
being dead or alive when a tornado come through. I can’t over state the
importance of these repeaters. But if forced to replace them there will not be
enough funds to get the new equipment, antennas, etc.

I do however have hope the ITU has the foresight to protect the band.

Edit: oh and I forgot to mention iirc the ISS uses 2m as their backup
communication. It’s used at least a few times a month. That’s how prolific the
band is.

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jacquesm
There are millions of 2m transceivers, some of which have appreciable power
output. Attempting to operate drones on this band would be seriously stupid,
even if other uses (which are historically solidly entrenched) would be
banned.

Forgive the pun but I don't think this will fly.

Here is a better article:

[http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2019/june/france-
proposes-1...](http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2019/june/france-
proposes-144-146-mhz-for-aeronautical-mobile-service.htm)

And without an irritating ad-blocker detector, if you want your stuff to be
read don't block it with this sort of nonsense.

~~~
thomasjames
It would be a shame if, in the event this passes, all those transmitters were
to squeal across the spectrum in a coordinated fashion and render the spectrum
basically unusable... hehehe.

~~~
philpem
That'd cost a lot of hams their operating licences...

Though there is precedent for it -- from back in the days of the "Russian
woodpecker", an OTH RADAR system. Some used to key up and play various sounds
at it...

~~~
thomasjames
So, I pray, go we all: [http://www.arrl.org/news/view/radio-amateur-to-lose-
license-...](http://www.arrl.org/news/view/radio-amateur-to-lose-license-as-
part-of-enforcement-case-settlement)

------
CliffStoll
Serious bad news - not just for amateur radio operators, but for community
emergency response groups, local event coordination (bike races, marathons),
and any number of regional Red Cross response teams.

Thales, the French military aerospace company, seems to be behind this band-
grab. They're apparently looking to use the 2-meter band to control drones and
unmanned aircraft.

~~~
thomasjames
This is outrageous.

The good news is that there is enough 2m equipment out there that there could
actually be a feasible mass radio protest and intentionally render the band
unusable. There is no way in hell the FCC or similar authorities abroad could
ever actually track down all the equipment or have the manpower to deal with
violations. They cannot even stop robocalls in the US.

~~~
jlgaddis
I certainly wouldn't encourage or participate in such a "protest" and I hope
that no one I know would either.

It would be extemely detrimental if we lost the 2M band but this is not the
right way to "protest" it.

Fortunately, I don't think this constitutes a real threat to the worldwide
amateur 2M band. A "reassignment" of 144-146 MHz worldwide, as described here,
is simply not going to happen -- not for this purpose, at least.

~~~
ahje
I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted. _IF_ they actually re-assign the
frequency and use it for communicating with unmanned aircraft then disturbing
the comms could have unintended consequences, and the response to such an
incident would undoubtedly be just as disproportionate.

~~~
faissaloo
Any such unintended consequences would simply be their own fault, people did
not agree they could use that wavelength.

~~~
ahje
Really? If international accord is reached and that band is re-assigned for
other purposes, and HAM operators protest by screwing with un-mannen aircraft
and something bad happens, do you seriously think "I never agreed to stop
using this frequency" will be accepted as an excuse?

I'm not a HAM operator, but I agree that it does seem like a really bad idea
to re-assign a band frequently used for stuff like emergency communications.
Still, if someone caused a plane to fall down just to make a point then I
would assign the blame to that person and not the operator of the plane.

~~~
faissaloo
The operator of the plane was unwise to use a band that is already in use,
international accord does not dictate the reality of the situation.

------
Johnny555
I'm a ham and the only radio I own is in the 2m band. I don't use it much day
to day, but usually join in at least one disaster drill a year and help out
with ham support for a local bike ride in an area with little cell service.

If I get kicked out of the 2m band, I doubt I'll move to a 70cm radio, why
spend the money (including helping the local ham club replace their repeater)
if there's no guarantee I can stay there.

The USA gets what is essentially free disaster communications in return for a
few MHz of bandwidth. Seems like a small price to pay.

------
vvanders
Assuming this is legit that's a BFD for the ham community.

144-146Mhz is probably the most active band given the low cost of equipment
and high utility due to not being dependent on the solar cycle.

~~~
CydeWeys
Seriously. 2m is the bread-and-butter of local ham communication. It's used as
widely as the 11m CB radio band, and for similar purposes. Back when I had a
car I had a 70cm/2m dual-band magnetic antenna on my roof that I would use
regularly, as do many others.

It would also be insane to attempt to re-allocate this band for any other
purpose, given how many millions of transmitters on this band already exist
out there. The _average_ car-mounted transceiver puts out 50 W. Many base
stations run at hundreds of Watts, and are attached to quite excellent
antennas (e.g. my parents have an 18 foot antenna on a mast at the top of
their house, with a total base elevation of around 40 feet).

Good luck taking over the band. None of these drones can put out a tiny
fraction of the power that the existing users of the band are already
emitting.

------
taborj
Someone over on another forum that sounds like "read it" mentioned that this
is likely a non-starter. There are more than a few satellites that operate in
this band that cannot be moved to another frequency.

Never mind the fact that there would then suddenly be thousands of radios that
could transmit on air band frequencies now in the hands of folks who ain't too
happy.

~~~
waiseristy
I'm pretty sure HN is fine with direct linking reddit discussions as long as
its constructive

~~~
earenndil
Yep. There have been entire posts who linked to reddit posts.

------
xvf22
Wow that would be a huge loss, I think the last reallocation was the 1.25m
band. This would affect things world wide so it's not a surprise why Thales
group would want to scoop it up.

------
lightlyused
This would totally suck. I just recently got my transverter
([http://transverters-store.com/](http://transverters-store.com/)) working and
am trying to get my antenna in the air. Personally, I don't see this happening
if the ARRL and the other radio societies get involved.

~~~
Curio3ale
Can radio societies compete against Thales, the French military aerospace
company?

~~~
jacquesm
Sure they can. It's _just_ France.

This is akin to shutting down the 27 MHz band for some other purpose, it isn't
going to happen unless there is a very good reason for it and no single
commercial entity should be able to monopolize a chunk of the spectrum for
worldwide use if it is already in use.

~~~
thomasjames
It's also not even the nation state of France. France has many hams who are
likely upset, too. It is a sketchy defense electronics company that has
pitiable revenue. I suspect the French people/the rest of the world would see
this an unjustifiable corporate power play and act of oppression if hams get
the word out.

------
valiant-comma
One interesting bit of trivia (I always wondered about but finally read-up
on): Early on, amateur radio bands were allocated in a manner that ensured (in
all but one case) harmonics would bleed into another, higher amateur band,
rather than into a frequency used for another purpose. Changes in the late
1920’s dispensed with this[1], but we do still see rough multiples in many
cases (160/80/40/20/10 meter, 60/30/15 meter, etc.).

[1] [http://w2pa.net/HRH/family-harmonics/](http://w2pa.net/HRH/family-
harmonics/)

~~~
pierlu
This is the final motivation why the ham vhf band is safe. The proposal by the
french company was simply out of context.

------
nullc
Already many other ham bands are under-serviced by available hardware because
the allocations aren't uniform worldwide.

Fortunately the popularity of 2m means the backlash here will be swift and
forceful, if 2m can't be preserve for amateur use then no band can.

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kabwj
I can’t read it because there’s a modal bitching about my ad blocker which I
can’t close. Way to go.

~~~
ihuman
The notification goes away if you click anywhere in the background where the
page is dimmed.

~~~
lightlyused
Didn't for me.

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ggm
Thales don't care about you.

------
ficiek
>Adblocker detected! Please consider reading this notice.

Tab closed.

~~~
miles
Ads and anti adblockers seem especially out of place on a .org site, perhaps
because the TLD was " _originally intended for non-profit organizations or
organizations of a non-commercial character_ "[0] (though such provisions were
never enforced and now apparently completely absent).

Speaking of adblocker blockers, Nano Defender[1] is quite effective at
blocking them.

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.org)

[1]
[https://jspenguin2017.github.io/uBlockProtector/](https://jspenguin2017.github.io/uBlockProtector/)

~~~
patrickthebold
Non-profits still need money to operate. I don't think there's anything
inherently contradictory about a nonprofit using ads for funding.

------
jlmorton
Can someone explain to me why it makes sense to dedicate 3Mhz of useful
spectrum worldwide to an esoteric group of amateur radio enthusiasts in an era
where we have the Internet?

I understand it may be an active community, but it's tiny. Why should this
valuable spectrum be set aside for this purpose?

Just go on IRC.

~~~
7402
Not so tiny. There are about 3/4 million amateur radio licensees in the U.S.
Japan has over a million.

~~~
Johnny555
Is that three quarters of a million (i.e. 750,000) or 3 or 4 million?

~~~
7402
Sorry about the ambiguity. It's 750,000

[http://www.arrl.org/news/us-amateur-radio-population-
grows-s...](http://www.arrl.org/news/us-amateur-radio-population-grows-
slightly-in-2018)

