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VK2TV > RSGB 30.06.07 17:20l 69 Lines 3473 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 23579_VK2TV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Re: ZL1ABS > repeater farce
Path: DB0FHN<DB0MRW<OK0PKL<OK0PCC<OM0PBC<OK0PPL<DB0RES<F5GOV<F4BWT<F6BVP<
VK2TV
Sent: 070630/0110Z @:VK2TV.#MNC.NSW.AUS.OC #:14311 [Kempsey, QF68JX] $:23579_VK
From: VK2TV@VK2TV.#MNC.NSW.AUS.OC
To : RSGB@WW
# Generated by: TstHWin v2.21b - Registered to VK2TV
# On : 6/30/2007 11:10:41
# UTC: 6/30/2007 1:10:41 A
>From: KB2VXA@NJ2AR.#CNJ.NJ.USA.NOAM
>To : RSGB@WW
>
>Hi Michael and all,
>
>Here's a nice guideline that should satisfy. The ARRL does not hold
>repeater licenses, that's an individual thing so there are many private
>owners and with club repeaters there's a trustee whose callsign is
>usually that of the repeater and in some cases the club's callsign. The
>repeater ID may be MCW or voice every ten minutes while in operation, it
>may or may not ID when idle. If so equipped the controller may make voice
>announcements periodically along with an ID and things like time and
>temperature are on demand using standard DTMF codes. Status is also on
>demand, however when running on backup power it may signal by other means
>such as a different courtesy tone at the end of each transmission. This
>way users are aware and use the repeater sparingly.
It's interesting to see how different administrations handle licensing of
other than private stations.
In Australia, individuals can't establish a repeater, it must be licenced and
operated by a group, and repeaters are allocated callsigns from a specific
callsign group, VK#RAA to VK#RZZ, where # is the state numeral.
In the early days of "official" repeaters*, the early 1970's, the licensing
authority was quite cautious when it came to repeater operating conditions.
The callsign had to be sent at least once each five minutes (from memory)
while the repeater was being used, the repeater was not permitted to ident
when not being used (i.e it wasn't allowed to beacon), a timer had to be fitted
to ensure disconnection of power to the tx in the event of a lockup (this was in
addition to the normal time-out timer), and circuitry had to be there to ensure
the tx couldn't operate in the absense of a received signal. There are probably
more that I've forgotten over thirty-odd years.
* Prior to the early 1970's there were a number of repeaters operating
without official sanction. Probably the best known of these was at Orange
in the central west of NSW which operated from around the mid 1960's. It
was established by the ham radio technician for the electricity supply
authority and was installed at their site. The input/output offset was
292kHz. In those early days of 2m FM there was only 3 channels, called A, B
and C. Channel B was 146.000MHz with A and C being 146kHz below and above
channel B. I'll bet that brings back some memories to early VK users of 2m
FM. I vaguely recall that VK3 may have used some alternate frequencies for
channels A and/or C but forty years is stretching my grey matter.
The last time I looked at (perhaps that should be looked for) repeater
requirements I couldn't find any, apart from the licensing requirement.
A variety of ident methods have emerged over the years. Sydney operators
circa 1971 may recall the old slotted disc ident generator at VK2WI/R
(this was prior to the VK#rxx series being allocated) and its terrible
keying chirp. This was replaced with a voice ID featuring a sexy female voice
that announced VK2WI/aaaaaaaah. That didn't last long!! After that was the first
of the all electronic keyers with boards and boards of TTL logic and that terrible
diode matrix to make the dits and dahs appear at the right time.
If I going I'll take over David G4EBT's waffle award, hi.
Cheers ... Ray
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