On 5/25/2010 12:53 AM, J. Moen wrote:
Thanks for making my point -- the D-STAR part is the easy part, and if you go non-ICOM, it's nearly free. The hard, and expensive work, is the traditional repeater part of it, which you have outlined very well.
Yeah, I was just supporting your point with details, Jim. Sooooo many hams think a repeater is something you slap up on a piece of RG-8U on a Comet in your backyard...
For the record, I can't say I've ever "put up a repeater", but let me explain that... I realized early on that repeaters that performed well were up on high mountains around here, which meant site rent, and then got involved in various clubs/organizations that already had repeaters they'd let anyone they trusted to, work on them. Spent a lot of time being mentored by the folks already taking care of those systems. Some of whom put them up and rebuilt them and learned all these lessons the hard way over a few decades. They have great advice.
I learned that most organizations are DYING for QUALIFIED people to work on all repeater systems. They need not only good technicians, but technicians who know how to get along with others (rare in Ham Radio) and people they can trust to troubleshoot and "do no harm" when a system has a problem.
Also the number of hams willing to purchase and keep their own service monitors and other necessary test gear is really, REALLY low.
So fo years I've helped with rennovation/revamp of repeaters, and/or installing repeaters at sites that already have some infrastructure. Never a complete "from the ground up" install, so to speak... because the systems that are up are already on the best sites for coverage. No point in putting things lower, unless you have a specific local coverage need.
Last year when we *moved* a repeater from one building/tower system to another. We took the time/money to give it all new antennas and hardline on the new tower, etc... it was worth it. (Carrying a 6' rack cabinet full of MASTR II stuff with four guys on the corners, like a sarcophagus, with straps, through mud, is entertaining.)
So yeah, I've touched all the "moving parts" of a repeater system, and could install a whole one, but the real need out there these days is in people with skills to help maintain and revamp existing systems. An additional side effect to this is that once you're involved and serious on the analog side, you have a "respect platform" in your local group of techies to say, "Hey guys, X repeater isn't really used all that much. Do you think we might consider doing a D-STAR repeater on that pair?"
There are some built-in "gotchas" with a D-STAR system that make it a LOT harder to figure out the problem if you have no analog repeater experience, too. Things like how to check a D-STAR system for de-sense if you've never seen it on an analog repeater... it won't make as much "sense". (No pun intended.)
(Recall that we've actually seen people on the list say things like, "It can't have desense! It's digital!" Sometimes folks get excited and forget that the laws of RF physics aren't repealed as soon as you slap a "digital" label on something! GRIN...)
Like anything worth doing, it's worth learning to do it right, and it's worth the money too... in the long run. Like most things worth doing, you also never really ever quit learning about whatever topic it is. I learn something new every time I go up to a repeater site.
Had a very interesting thought recently: We have different license classes by band... why not an "Infrastructure" license? If you're going to install infrastructure you must pass a test that includes questions about how infrastructure is different than a typical single-user station, bandplan coordination, legalities as they relate specifically to infrastructure stations, etc etc etc. Not just for repeaters, all infrastructure. Those topics all apply, even on HF infrastructure. Fascinating thought. Would be pretty easy to flesh it out with a good generalized question pool, too. Sends the right message, too... "You're responsible for something that can cause more people problems than just your single-person station." Etc.
-- Nate WY0X
