Our repeater group has four hilltop 440 MHz repeater sites which are currently linked via 430 MHz full duplex links through a central hub site on the ground (low level site - not a hilltop). This has worked great, but it looks like we are losing our hub location and this has led to some discussion within the group.
Some of us want to take the hardware at the hub (controller, antennas, link radios, filters, etc.) and relocate the hub to a new location. Depending on how far we move, this might entail re-aiming link yagis on the hilltops but, more than likely, not. Another group wants to do away with the hub altogether and perform linking from site to site to site to site. The thought being that it would free up the RLC3 controller that we use at the hub for other uses, we wouldn't have to worry about maintaining the hub site, and would not even have to find a new site. Downside is moving all the link hardware to the hilltops. Since there are a lot of "old hands" out here, I thought I'd ask for opinions. What are the pros and cons of linking multiple sites via a hub vs. linking point-to-point? What's the "best" method and why? Thanks, in advance, for your help and opinions. -- Rich
