That's very true, I know of very few in the city I live in and all they get
used for anymore is crank calls to 911 by kids.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Howard, W A 9 Y B W" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2012 7:23 PM
Subject: Re: Third party rules.
> Where do you find a "pay phone" these days???
>
> 73
>
> Howard #3
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Colin McDonald" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2012 4:09 PM
> 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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