I certainly agree that the portable setup is a great idea. (The following in anecdotal; from a source I usually find to be accurate).
Motorola sent a number of Semi Trucks to the Katrina area. Each had a number of trailer mounted, battery operated repeaters, with telescoping masts. They were on individual single-axle trailers with lifting eyes designed to be hoisted on top of existing infrastructure, or used standalone. The battery life was projected to be over a week. Technical staff was sent along to help in setting them up for whatever application they were needed. It was a total-loss contribution. FEMA Met them at the state line and turned them away, as Martin Marietta was the FEMA contractor of record. Martin Marietta responded by sending a large quantity of unprogrammed radios, with a large bill attached. No good deed goes unpunished. Portable units like yours would have been welcomed; as well as any impromptu form of communications. We all would have been welcomed. We all hope that a disaster of the magnitude of Katrina/Rita never comes to our towns. I hope we all spend a little bit of time considering how to best respond. I know this is off topic, and I am very guilty of extending it out, in both magnitude of posts and further veering off course of the original topic. Apologies to all, David KD4NUE -----Original Message----- From: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of mch Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 5:38 PM To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Alinco Ham Repeater?????? Most bands don't use a 600 kHz split. Why does everyone assume any communications will HAVE to be on 2M? As for the tower, it doesn't have to be on a tower, but many companies make portable towers or even telescopic poles. If you are ever able to attend the Dayton Hamvention, you will see a ton of them. Several of them had VERY large HF antennas on them (such as a 3-element 40M beam). As for explaining loss of communications, ask them if they know what the first priority in a military action is (hint: it's take out their communications). Ask the FDNY about their communications on 9/11. I'm sure a 2W portable repeater on any of the other nearby rooftops would have been more than welcome. It sure beats simplex on a portable. Not everyone has high buildings, but most have good repeater locations. Your backup repeater doesn't have to have coverage equal to the repeater it replaces, but it should be ready to 'plug and play' without having to build it first. It doesn't have to use a Stationmaster. It doesn't have to run 250W output. The point is that you can build an inexpensive portable repeater out of quality components (100% duty cycle) far ahead of the time you need it. Joe M. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > I don't have a suitcase large enough to carry a repeater with > duplexers suitable fot a 600KHz split. > > I am sure that something could be assembled with low enough output to > handle the mobile duplexers that are so abundant for VHF; thre ones > designed for a 5 MHz split. However, I can't see the beauty of a > portable repeater that is 100% duty cycle at 2 watts output. Even if > you were able to get the power output to a level as high as 10 to 20 > watts, that portable tower structure is what I would like to hear > about. > > I would like to see our community reach that level of preparedness; or > concern. I will try to bring it up as an item to be budgeted for in > the next LEPC (Local Emergency Planning Committee) meeting I attend. > I can't quite figure out how to explain to them that they need this > item to correct a situation where their repeater was blown off the > face of the earth, but the antenna and tower connected to it were > un-harmed. > > For the meantime, a few of us have looked at a number of sites within > the city and county with the resources necessary to put up a linked > system; on demand. What we lack in pre-assembled solutions for > unpredictable situatuions, we make up for in redundancy and ability to > cobble something together after the fact. BTW, these are mere fellow > Hams, who have the gear in their shack to do the dirty deed. Not > everyone in the community is an accomplished repeater jockey. > > I do have to agree, in a perfect world, there would be a pre-assembled > solution for every situation. > > However, I will always consider the major part of response to be the > ability to use the resources at hand; in concert with what you were > able to bring with you. My idea of proactive preparedness to disaster > is for disaster not to occur. Disaster, by it's very nature, is not a > predicitable circumstance. > > And FWIW, I would probably do better in disaster response with a few > guys able to cobble together a working setup from what is available; > in a dynamic situtation, rather than a team of specialists whose > off-the-shelf dependency was blown into the next county. The Hams > that put up a wireless network to have connectivity in the early > stages of Katrina response are my kind of guys. They didn't come imn > with infrastructire and nothing to connect it to. They restored > connectivity from the ground up. And, they only came to provide > Amateur Emergency Communcations. A dozen suitcase repeaters couldn't > link the agencies together that needed computer network > communications. Those were my kind of guys; simply not > prepared........ > > YMMV > > David > > -----Original Message----- > From: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of mch > Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 6:57 AM > To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com > Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Alinco Ham Repeater?????? > > Then there is the proactive approach rather than the reactive approach > which you describe. In the proactive approach, you will have a > repeater set up and ready to go - a GOOD repeater that can handle > emergency duty cycle which typically is much closer to 100%. This > repeater will be stored in a suitcase or something and be ready to go > within minutes. The LAST thing I want to rely on in an emergency is a > 'thrown together' repeater that may fail at any time. > > Disaster preparedness is NOT the ability to make something after you > need it. > > Joe M. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > Equally, there are no scheduled disasters, diasaters don't have a > > specified length, and disasters aren't catogorized as caused by > > American Acts if God, or Jap Acts of God. The ability to use 2 > > transcivers to make an quick repeater using the data jack is a > > useful tool. > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
