I have saved this explanation, so I can use it for a reference when I am ask a question that applies (-:. Thank you for a very good piece of work. 73 de John Godfrey KE5NZY BARC Pres. DISTRICT B ADEC ASTEN NM
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 1:20 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Another take on Open/Closed RPTRS This argument can fall in line with all the other arguments online and on air about "the way it used to be done". Before the ARRL Repeater Directory, if it had a tone on it, it was considered 'closed'. If you made the proper contacts amongst the closed repeater group, you were bequeathed with the tone freq., and given access. How you got the tone in your Prog Line or Motorola was your business. After the Directory started coming out, it was understood if the control tone was published in the Directory, it was considered 'open', unless noted otherwise. Any repeater with no tone was open unless labeled as closed. The base argument is, if a bunch of hams get together, pool their money, build/buy a machine, acquire tower rights, get a freq. pair, and put a repeater on the air, if they want it to be exclusive, that is their right. You don't like it, do all the things necessary and put up an open machine. And the real bottom line comes down to, that same bunch of hams that want a closed machine, do it usually to avoid having to deal with the type of individual who does not want to learn the etiquette of a particular repeater. Some repeaters are there for a specific interest group and they like to keep things on subject for the most part be it a DX operators machine, a boatanchor operators machine, or whatever. There are folks who don't want RACES, or ARES using their machine for nets, or races, or parades, or mock disasters. When a ham notices that when using a repeater, and he finally lets up on the PTT, and finds the machine gone, he might consider the control operator does not know him, like him from previous runins, or approve of his conversation. This might be cause for self examiniation, and not an attack on closed repeater operators. In most things in this life, you have to earn some respect before being allowed full benefits, and access to a repeater is no different in many cases. Many times, the saying, "If you ain't kin, you ain't in", applies to repeaters, just like it applies to small Southern Baptist churches. Yes, nobody 'owns' a frequency, but like land at the beginning of this country, it was who got there first, and staked a claim, and to h**l with the Indians.. Charlie W4MEC in NC
