Hello, everyone!
I wanted to share a fun experiment that’s been growing here in Tucson over the last few months. It all started one night on the air when someone posed a challenge: could we actually reach each other without relying on the repeater network?
That simple question sparked a semi-regular tradition. We now meet up on Friday evenings to test our equipment and explore local propagation.
The Technical Journey
We originally started on 462.700, but quickly realized that running without tones meant we were bumping into signals from the Heliograph 700. To keep things clear, we’ve shifted to using the TAC channels listed on the Southwest Community Radio System (SWCRS) page. It’s made a world of difference in eliminating interference while we test.
No Net, Just Radio
To be clear: this isn’t a formal, organized net. It’s just a casual meetup to see how our gear handles the Tucson terrain. Since we can’t all hear each other perfectly, we often have stations acting as relays—passing traffic to help others align their directional antennas or just keeping the conversation flowing for an hour or so.
Want to join the fun?
If you’re in the Tucson area and want to experiment with us, we’d love to have you. We coordinate our frequencies and timing through a dedicated Slack channel.
Just drop an email to WRCU527@swcrs.org to get an invite. We hope to hear you on the air soon!
73,
Darren WRCU527