Tony, et al I read through many of the comments everyone has posted, all equally reasonable, and justifiable. I would like to comment on this. Back in 2004, June QST or somewhere around that time, a Correspondence article was published by the ARRL entitled "Use what we have." To this day, I will make the stand that by going off that statement is what saved my club from getting disbanded. I don't remember all what I wrote, but I do remember that my point was to do just exactly that - use what we have. In my home area in the Black Hills of South Dakota we have three VHF repeaters, now all linked together and a South Dakota State Link that ties users from the west side of the state tying in several repeaters making to someplace in Minnesota. The local repeaters got more use and the link was active when my voice was on it making some noise or the area's special ham that likes to throw his call out at 3AM or... kerchunck them. Everyone does it, although not very often so there's no reason to make a huge fuss. The guys around the area have an evening weather net around 2100hrs on the state link and on the local repeaters in the areas to help keep activity on the machines and let be known the system does exist. The state link is a wonderful but under used system because of statements that have already been said, and at the same time reverse has been said. The other side was said as well, is that there could be too many machines in the local area. Not everyone will have their radios on scan as I do, most seem to have a favorite spot for their group of friends and be happy with it. We had a small ordeal a few years back about the VHF repeaters and the possible complete removal of them and came to quite the bit of controversy. It was mentioned there were too many repeaters for the area, given the local ham populous of about 200 and it may have been the reason for little activity. >From what I see, it all boils down to this. Everyone is going to have whatever >they like, repeaters and stuff will come and go, but the two main things are >these, and these only - Let us use what we have and always be encouraging >others to get on the air - new comers, soon to be licensed and those that >haven't keyed the mic in a while. Ask them to press the button and make some >noise. That's what we came to do in the first place. ~Benjamin, KB9LFZ
________________________________ From: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com on behalf of Tony L. Sent: Wed 21-Nov-07 18:59 To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Usage of Linked Repeater Systems vs. Stand Alone Repeaters Our club operates a RF full-time linked repeater system in metro New York City, currently comprised of four (4) repeaters. We've observed that the addition of a new repeater into the system doesn't always equate to added usage. In fact, we've noticed that many of the linked systems in metro NYC typically aren't as busy as local area stand alone systems. We're puzzled as to why people seem to shy away from most, but not all, of the very wide coverage area systems. The busiest repeaters in our area seem to be the "no frills" stand alones. Are voice IDs, courtesy tones, and coverage footprints beyond a 25-mile radius just more than people can handle nowadays? Comments anyone?
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