bill Croghan wrote: >>I know I can retransmit NOAA, but they (ARRL) told me that it can not be >>automatic. This is what I wanted to do. So then I asked about the weather >>alert radio changing my courtesy tone to a "W" so I could then bring up the >>link. The ARRL could not give me a straight answer on that one. > > > I'm a broadcast radio engineer not a lawyer, but my reading of the rules > and > interpretations over the years has been that the problem with lack of control > is > when the repeater transmits because someone/something other than a licensed > ham > causes it to transmit. If the receipt of the weather alert radio changed the > courtesy tone but did not cause it to be transmitted, I believe, in my never > to > be humble opinion, that the result would be both legal and helpful. If the > repeater, at some point shortly thereafter should ID, on it's own or because > of > a user keying up, and the courtesy tone were heard, a controlling amateur > could > then turn on the relay of the WX receiver, or play back a digital recording of > the alert that caused the tone to change. It might be stretching the rules a > bit, but after changing the courtesy tone, maybe the controller could be set > to > ID every ten minutes until acknowledged. To fit into most EAS machines, the > alert is usually less than 2 minutes in duration and that is a pretty easy > thing > to digitally record with modern stuff. That way, the playback could be > repeated > for others to hear as many times as needed, BUT ALWAYS UNDER THE CONTROL OF > THE > HAM. Sounds to me like a good idea. I've often wanted to see a distinctive > courtesy tone or letter to indicate emergency in progress to warn hams away > from > tying up a machine that was in the midst of something critical. Another tone > might indicate RACES active, still another one Club meeting tonight. Just a > few > letters of the Morse alphabet could indicate a lot. Might even encourage the > no-coders to learn the code!. > > Bill Croghan, CPBE, WB0KSW > Chief Engineer, > KOMP/KXPT/KENO/KBAD > Lotus Broadcasting, Las Vegas, NV
Remember-the CONTROLLER is controlling the transmitter, NOT NWS! You as the trustee have programmed the controller to do a certain function when it receives a certain input. As long as you have means to override it and turn it off remotely, YOU are controlling the transmitter. Now, when this occurs, the repeater is no longer operating as a repeater, but as a remotely controlled station, so 'automatic opertation', as defined by the FCC, cannot occur. So just make sure you have means to override it and turn it off either by phone, or RF above 222 Mhz. -- Jim -------- "The higher you are, the harder it is to pump." -Cleveland Mayor Jane Cambell, after the big black-out of 2003 Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
