Ham Radio Activity At Walt Disney World, Orlando
I really recommend that if you are a ham radio operator staying at Walt Disney World, Orlando, that you check out Disney Emergency Amateur Radio Service or D.E.A.R.S. Here is the web site for that club: http://www.wd4wdw.org/. The web site shows the following information:
147.300 +.600 PL tone 103.5? and ?D-Star
442.000 +5.000
WD4WDW B
Gateway Enabled
After I arrived at the Saratoga Springs Resort, I broke out my ARRL Repeater Directory for 2011-2012 and input all the frequencies for Orlando. D.E.A.R.S was the only one with any significant activity and the only repeater that I was able to make a contact on. I took along my Wouxun KG-UV3D because if ham radio was bust, I could use the FM radio and listen to NPR. Also, if I lost my HT, the financial cost would be way less than my Kenwood unit. Programming the Wouxun for repeaters is a pain. It is best done using a computer and the USB cable purchased for that radio. I had my Apple laptop and using Bootcamp, I restarted into the Windows operating system so I could load all the frequencies into the radio. The Repeater Directory lists both input and output PL tones, all being 103.5. But, when I specified input and output PL, I got nothing. The Wouxun allows you to turn on the green channel activity light for any channel you want. I turned that on for all the channels to further my troubleshooting. I then turned off the PL tone for output and I was able to listen to voices. I did make a contact with KG4URL, a brief chat. That operator, Jim, was a bit confused when he heard my HT tone when I turned my HT on and off. At his end he heard two tones, one from the repeater and one from my radio. I told him that I had BEEP turned on. Jim said that most all the repeaters in the area have repeater beep. It has been my experience that many Southern California repeaters do not have beep tones. I thus recommend that you turn that (Wouxun KG-UV3D menu item 11) off if it is a feature offered on your HT.
The next issue that I picked up was a comment made on the D.E.A.R.S. repeater. An operator said that when he got near a Disney or Links bus his HT would misbehave. He figured that those two buses transmit signals and interfered with his HT. If you have never been to Disney World in Orlando you should be impressed if not amazed by the bus service here. It is all free. They have a LOT of buses. The buses run on routes about every 20 minutes or less. I have been told that there are 1,500 drivers. This is the best bus service I have ever seen. I have been told that each bus is outfitted with GPS and the drivers do not have to activate any of the voice announcements because it is done for them by the on board electronics. Sorry, I degrees. My point is this. If the Disney buses do create electronic hash and it affects your HT, your going to be affected on EVERY road way in this resort because there are buses running all the time. You should be fine away from the buses.