In my area there have been several repeaters taken off the air for various
reasons. Mostly for non use. There were a few "super repeaters" that covered a
wide area, but for some reason, even they don't get much use anymore. I guess
Nextel and the like killed them. Its funny...there is a university system in
the area, that has machines all over the state and in surrounding states as
well, but I never hear anyone on it. None of the older local machines are in
use. There is a "Super Repeater" that is single site, and has the same crew
operating it as it did in the early 80's. It's great to hear the guys I've
known for over 25 years still operating!!
Myself, I had an 80 watt UHF repeater than had 220, 6, and 10 meter remote
bases. I never expected the 6 and 10 meter links to be used locally. I wanted
to give my users the option of working a distant station on the higher bands.
This was successful to a limited degree. But as with the gentleman before
stated, there were few local 6 meter users, and even fewer 10 meter locals. I
did manage to converse with the 10 meter machine in the Virgin Islands on a
regular basis when the sunspot cycles were hot...but at the bottom, literally
nothing on the air. Likewise 6... I had a great shot to both Florida and the
midwest (particularly Wisconsin, for some odd reason) on a regular basis. The
220 link was used to link to another repeater in a shore community about 70
miles away. It worked great at both ends, but there was a lot of dead spots in
the middle. I finally took it off that site after the owner of the building
sold the use of the roof to a cell phone
company for $450,000!!! Money talks and you know what walks. I have to say, it
was a great run because I was on that roof from 1984 to 1999. The machine is
now at my house in a small city, and is strictly UHF with he 220 link still on,
but all of the remote gear is still in the cabinet, but not in use.
Pointman
________________________________
From: "peme...@comcast.net" <peme...@comcast.net>
To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sun, December 27, 2009 10:07:31 AM
Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Any Repeaters Taken Off Air Permanently?
I have taken at least 3 amateur radio repeaters off the air in the last two
years. These
repeaters where all located in a large metropolitaian area ( 3 million
residents).
2 meters - This was a repeater used for user access to a multi-state repeater
linking
system. - Reason - No support from the local amateur community and I lost the
main
repeater site due to a sale of the property where the tower was located. I ran
this
repeater system for 4 years. Its frequency was re-issued for other uses within
a few
months after I shut it down.
6 meters - No users on 6 meters in the area. I operated this repeater on and
off for
about 10 years. Lots to 6 meter repeater pairs available in the area.
10 meters - Repeater was not serving the local radio community. 10 meter FM
ground
wave coverage was poor, so no local support. This repeater was mainly used by
amateur radio operators located in an area in about 1200 mile radius around the
repeater
transmitter. It gave good coverage to the US east coast ( from the center of
the US). The
only 10 meter repeater that gave good coverage here was located in the Virgin
Islands.
I opereated this repeater for about 15 years ( thru multiple sun-spot cycles).
Another
repeater is now being just established on the vacated frequency pair in the
area.
Paul K0LAV
White Bear Lake, MN
----- Original Message -----
From: "railtrailbiker" <railtrailbiker@ yahoo.com>
To: Repeater-Builder@ yahoogroups. com
Sent: Saturday, December 26, 2009 10:53:36 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Any Repeaters Taken Off Air Permanently?
Hi:
Are there any current or former repeater owners/operators out there who have
recently taken a repeater off the air on a permanent basis?
If so, what were your reasons?
Tony
