2M Repeaters Problems
jaugu...@verizon.net
I am sure many of you have the same problems I have regarding 2M
repeaters, especially if you are active from a base station with an outdoor
antenna.
PROBLEM 1:
Unfortunately, some repeaters do not require a "PL" tone to activate. As
a result, I am activating two repeaters (same frequency) at the same time.
In every case, one of the two repeaters does not require a "PL" tone.
PROBLEM 2:
Unfortunately, many repeaters do not pass the "PL" tone onto the output.
Consequently, I am hearing more than one repeater on the same frequency.
With "PL" tones on the outputs, we can use "tone squelch" instead of the
"normal" tone. Not only will we be able to activate the repeater we want,
we won't hear the repeater(s) we don't want to hear while monitoring or
scanning.
PROBLEM 3:
Because I often have my radio in scan mode, I often hear the "tail end"
of an initial transmission. Someone may be calling someone (?), but I hear
his/her call or the last part of his/her call. If everyone using a repeater
(including simplex), would first "key up" and wait a few seconds before
speaking, this would greatly reduce this problem.
John N3AOF
PS, Email address is not valid.
Mike Y
<jaugu...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:qpu9b5pijbrnkhm6b...@4ax.com...
> Hi,
>
> I am sure many of you have the same problems I have regarding 2M
> repeaters, especially if you are active from a base station with an
> outdoor
> antenna.
>
> PROBLEM 1:
>
> Unfortunately, some repeaters do not require a "PL" tone to activate.
> As
> a result, I am activating two repeaters (same frequency) at the same
> time.
> In every case, one of the two repeaters does not require a "PL" tone.
Actually, some would say this is the base station problem. You should only
be using as much power as necessary to make the call. Granted, there are
times when no matter what, you bring up more than one repeater, but then
it's really YOUR responsibility to do something. Cut power, go directional
with a beam, whatever. As a responsible operator, you should be flooding
the countryside and bringing up every repeater you can.
Where I live, there's also another repeater that could be brought up from
quite some distance. I heard the 'long distance' repeater (over 80 miles)
one day in my car as I was sitting waiting for my daughter at a friends
house. Two guys talking, one bringing up not only the lond distance
repeater, but the other guy 'chunking' into the local repeater. So I backed
off the squelch and listened for a while. One guy was portable on an HT. I
couldn't hear him at all except through the long distance repeater. The
other guy I could hear on my local repeater. I could even hear him direct.
Then the guy on the HT asked his buddy if he could hear him direct on low
power, and the strong signal guy said yep, he was full quieting. And wanted
a signal report because he had just wired up his Tokoyo HiPower 160w amp.
Ok, these guys were both close to their local repeater. They were even
close enough that one was using LOW POWER and they could hear each other and
both get into the repeater. But the other guy, close to the repeater, just
had to use 160W to make the call. Now who's the lid?
> PROBLEM 2:
>
> Unfortunately, many repeaters do not pass the "PL" tone onto the
> output.
> Consequently, I am hearing more than one repeater on the same frequency.
> With "PL" tones on the outputs, we can use "tone squelch" instead of the
> "normal" tone. Not only will we be able to activate the repeater we want,
> we won't hear the repeater(s) we don't want to hear while monitoring or
> scanning.
Who said the repeater has to pass the PL? In fact, who says the PL has to
be the same for the repeater transmit as for the receive? I kneow of one
case where there were MULTIPLE inputs to the repeater, using differerent
PLs, different than the PL the repeater output.
> PROBLEM 3:
>
> Because I often have my radio in scan mode, I often hear the "tail
> end"
> of an initial transmission. Someone may be calling someone (?), but I
> hear
> his/her call or the last part of his/her call. If everyone using a
> repeater
> (including simplex), would first "key up" and wait a few seconds before
> speaking, this would greatly reduce this problem.
Yeah, there's quite a few people who 'quick key' and they chop off the
start, even with regular listening. But when you talk about your radio
being in scan mode, do you really expect everyone to change their behavior?
But seriously, what's an acceptable delay? I have a 100 channel scanner.
What if I have a 200 channel? A 400? 1000? Sorry, but your problem just
doesn't have a practical solution. If you want to be able to scan and be
guaranteed to get every bit of every call, get multiple radios. Or get a
radio that has dual VFOs/dual band and leave one VFO on the repeater you
just don't want to miss things on, and let the other one scan.