Controllers are like religion - everyone has their own one true way.
In many cases you can track a personal preference back to the
first controller that they were introduced to - I know folks that
grew up with Link RLCs, understand them and won't touch
anything else.
Ditto on others and Computer Automation Technologies (CAT Auto).
There's a list of controller manufacturers on this page:
<http://www.repeater-builder.com/rbtip/supplyindex.html>
Mike WA6ILQ
At 07:13 AM 07/16/10, you wrote:
Hello all.
I'm looking at replacing an MSR2000 and homebuilt controller with a
Quantar and commercially built controller.
Last controller I played with was an RC96 so it's been a while.
The repeater setup is pretty simple.
VHF MSR2000 with a simple courtesy beep and CW id'er. Two 5 DTMF
digit commands allow us to turn the repeater on and off. The
controller acknowledges the commands with a simple CW "R".
There's a UHF link (MCX100) down to a hub repeater which allows
linking to other repeaters.
The VHF repeater can be linked from the local side or the UHF link side.
Two 3 digit commands allow us to turn the link on or off. The link
has a 5 minute inactivity timer that takes the link down if nobody
is using it from the local VHF side.
Two additional 5 digital DTMF commands allow us to make the link
permanent and remove it. This is used during Canwarn operations.
The courtesy beep changes to a boop during local activity while the
link is up.
During linkup, the last 3 letters of the callsign are sent on the
link and the local side as an acknowledgement the link is up.
That's it. Pretty simple system that has been in use about 10 years
now. The only reason to change it out at this point is to add
another P25 capable repeater to the area.
I'd like to keep the current functionality and possibly add a
Weather Alert function.
I have a remote serial port available at the site for
programming. Some sort of command line interface would be best.
I've looked at some of the Link Communications products and I've
heard good things about them.
Any other recommendations?
Thanks,
--
Steve <steve.jones at rogers.com>
VE3XF
