My repeater has no autopatch on it, if it was on back when it was popular
I'd probably have it and if it wasn't costing much I'd have left it on but
now, I carry my cell phone everywhere and if that's not working, if I have a
problem, I always have either 2 meters on me if I'm in an area I don't know
or if I don't plan to use it except in an emergency, or 900 MHz. I'd carry
900 MHz always unless in an area I don't know except that hand held is a
little heavy, big and bulky and I can't put it in my pocket but it's good
for walking around the city I live in because it looks like what the police
have from a distance and 90% of the people see the radio and don't get any
closer than that distance. Having that hand held on me is a practice I
started when I first got my license and it's saved my butt and that of
friends and family so many times I can't even count it including when my
wife got hopelessly lost on her way to a job interview. She doesn't have her
license yet but is thinking about it, anyway, I happened to be talking to a
friend at the time on the local repeater who was not far from her, so I
actually was on the phone with her, had her turn on the mobile 2 meter radio
and she was responding through me, but didn't have to talk on the phone
while driving other than a couple "OK" and YUP I see it" responses to me to
relay to him.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Raymond Bishop" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2012 5:20 PM
Subject: Re: Third party rules.
> Interesting you all bring up Auto patches. I am the trustee of a repeater
> (W0KE) in my area which still has an active Auto patch. It is not used
> much
> anymore but it is still active. Only club members actually have the code
> to activate the patch feature. We block the radio operator side of the
> conversation. You can hear the person called but not the party calling.
> I
> understand most of the other repeaters in town have an auto patch but they
> as it has already been stated are no longer used. So, this is the sign of
> the times and how HAM radio is advancing. Things that we used to take for
> granted are now being slowly replaced. Mobile phone is the way to go.
> Just
> wanted to put my two cents in to the fray.
>
>
>
> Raymond Bishop, NV9B
> Philippians 4:6-7
>
>
> **** Be kind to your email friends. If you forward this, please remove all
> previous addresses before you send it on and use the BCC area when
> forwarding to several friends. ****
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Colin McDonald
> Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2012 16:10
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Third party rules.
>
> I'm not sure I know anyone, except perhaps my 87 year old grandmother, and
> my GF's 92 year old grandfather, that don't own a cell phone.
> Why use auto patch when you can easily make a more or less private call to
> who you want?
> And, it's full duplex instead of half duplex like auto patch.
> radio ops are used to keying up and talking and then listening to the
> other
> persons transmission, but most people aren't, so having a meaningful
> conversation over auto patch with a non-ham is almost impossible.
> The only places radio telephone is still used that I know of is in remote
> areas of north western, and northern canada where there is no cellular
> coverage. And with that, it's all commercial and operated by the regional
> telco...we have one repeater here with auto patch, and it doesn't work
> most
> of the time...it's more of a novelty than a reliable or useful feature.
> Yes, I do pay for my cell phone air time, but I'm going to have that
> regardless, so I might as well use the far more convenient and reliable
> cell
> phone rather than a flaky or potentially unreliable autopatch.
> And if my cell phone battery goes dead, well, I always keep enough change
> in
> my wallet to use a pay phone if I have to for an emergency or something
> very
> important.
> I've also asked hams on the repeater to make a phone call for me when my
> cell battery is dead, and I'm not near a pay phone, and I just happen to
> have a handheld on me.
> I pretty much always have a charged HT in my backpack when I'm travelling
> around the city or out of town just in case.
> I haven't heard phone patch on HF in probably 20 years either.
>
> 73
> Colin, V A6BKX
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2012 9:39 PM
> Subject: Re: Third party rules.
>
>
>> There's only one repeater I know of in my area with auto patch anymore
>> and
>> each club member who chooses to, can pretty much only call home or
>> whatever
>> emergency number they designate. Other than the amateur radio news line
>> every week, I don't think that auto patch has been used for anything else
>> in
>> 7 or 8 years at the least, maybe more than 10.
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Harvey Heagy" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2012 6:44 PM
>> Subject: Re: Third party rules.
>>
>>
>>> There was a time when we had to do that too. There was at least one
>>> person
>>> who was bringing up the autopatch without identifying himself and
>>> placing
>>> calls to either long distance or 976 numbers. I had to bring down the
>>> patch
>>> a few times myself when he did that, or tried to. The club eventually
>>> blocked most of these numbers as well as long distance numbers, and when
>>> someone would try to do that, they would get a response in code, "SRI,"
>>> which I believe is an abbreviation for sorry.
>>> Harvey
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "COLLEEN ROTH" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2012 4:43 PM
>>> Subject: Re: Third party rules.
>>>
>>>
>>>>i have to say that there can be as many flaky people on the low bands as
>>>>on
>>>>UHFSTVHF.
>>>> Not all poor operators are on UHFSTVHF.
>>>> Colleen Roth, N8TNV;
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