> A community repeater is simply a shared repeater, > When the radio traffic is very sporadic, none of the users > are aware of the other's existence.
In an ideal world... in the real world everyone knows who the other co-channel users are. > It works fine until the number of users is increased to the > point where "collisions" occur. That would be a number greater than 1. > Most community repeater operators use a radio feature called > "Busy Channel Blocking" which prevents other users from > transmitting on top of a user who is using the channel. Should be a type of feature or function programmed into both the radio and some of the better repeater tone panels. Normally never turned on at the user-radio end unless the radio shop is really paying attention at the time of (the radio) programming. > Of course, the FCC requires users to first ascertain that the > channel is free before making a call, ... or simply jamming the other user right off the frequency with a high powered radio. > and that is why most commercial radios go into carrier squelch > mode when the mike is removed from its hangup clip. Until the user wraps a bit of wire or paper clip around the mic grounding hang-up post/pin/connection. > Unfortunately, some community repeater users seem to think > that their subscription entitles them to immediate and eternal > use of the radio channel, and they become annoyed when the > radio won't let them transmit. Annoyed = "have a brain anyurism" or throw (at speeds greater than 50mph) the mic against the wall. > It is for this reason that simple trunked systems with as few > as three radio channels have largely replaced community repeaters. Even using the LTR Trunking format with a single repeater is a much desired operation. > However, community repeaters still have a place in the scheme > of things, when the users have very infrequent and low-key > traffic. And for older legacy radio equipment without the capacity to operate with the trunking system format. Trunking radios cost a slight bit more money per radio versus some of the really low cost units we see flooding the market. Trunking works well and solves a number of long time pesky problems. There are a number of trunking radio data formats available but the most popular consumer public use format is the "LTR Trunking" format. cheers, s.
