I was in a group that operated a 426 MHz ATV repeater (transmitter) for over 10 years in Dallas (1980's), whose initial purpose was the "rebroadcast" of color weather radar from a local TV station for mobile storm spotters. This was well before the days of the Internet providing free and easy access to their weather radar images as they do today. Back then, it was a big deal to have the radar image in your car as you storm spotted. We got the video from the TV station, beamed it up to the top of a building on 1.2 GHz, downconverted and then fed all of this into an ATV transmitter/amplifier to a 5 dB omni gain antenna atop a 73 story building, the highest in Dallas. We controlled the system via phone line at the station. We eventually shut down the system after Internet images were becoming easy to acquire and we eventually gave up our cheap rented location. We knew the FCC was aware of the system from the first, as we approached the local FCC office in Dallas with our idea and they said "Great idea". We took that as a "yes" and the rest is history. The system was only active during severe storm times and regularly scheduled RACES training nets. We never heard of anyone mentioning that the system was indeed in the broadcasting mode for over a decade.
Roger W5RD ---- Original Message ----- From: "Wayne" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 9:33 PM Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Re: Amateur Repeater ID's > This suddenly got me wondering, I plan to try ATV, and would it > supposedly be a violation of the rules sending when you don't know if > anyone will actually receive it? > > As far as a QST, that could be considered as a one way transmission when > you really think about it. > There are parts of the rules that tend to be in the grey zone rather than > B&W... > Yet part of the idea is to be able to experiment, and that is sometimes > going to be one way no matter how you slice it. > > I do agree that having a repeater simply sit there and ID every 9 or 10 > meniutes with nobody using it is not a good idea. > I had to solve a minor detail with the controller I now have. The PSE > 508 series has an option for a recorded message to be played at a given > time interval. If I had it set to CW ID, and had the timer for the message > set for 9 minutes, it would wind up doing so every 9 minutes. Not what I > really wanted. I did resolve that, and the recorded message is the voice > ID, which will revert to CW if someone keys up while it is in ID mode. > At least it now only ID's one time after the last activity and not again > till someone keys up the repeater. It would be nice to also have another > message, timer can be set for a long time. It does say voice recorded > message for ID and/or announcement, so it would seem I can do both. Still > learning all of the details for the controller, but it is a fast and > fairly easy way to put a Mastr II station with the normal shelf online as > a repeater. > > Anyway, it is a bit common for some repeaters to ID at times when they > have not had a user. But there again, it could be annoying to some of > those monitoring for activity using a scanner, who only want to hear when > a user comes on the repeater... > YMMV > > Wayne WA2YNE > Imperial, Tejas > 441.950 TX 446.950 RX 167.9 > > > On Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:12:34 -0500, Robert Pease <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > >> I agree with your thinking, but along that line couldn't a repeater ID >> and time announcement be considered a QST, an announcement to all >> amateurs that the repeater is there with info about the repeater owner, >> PL and Time? >> Rob KS4EC >> >> ________________________________ >> >> From: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com >> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dan Hancock >> Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 8:44 AM >> To: repeater builders >> Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Re: Amateur Repeater ID's >> >> >> >> First let's agree on one thing, amateur repeaters are amateur stations. >> Second, let's admit that the rules prohibit amateur stations from >> one-way transmissions, except for general calling for a contact (CQ's) >> and announcements of interest to amateurs (QST's). >> Hence, having the repeater ID periodically when not in use would >> constitute one-way transmissions (broadcasting). >> Now let me play devil's advocate. What if the periodic ID used when the >> repeater was not in use was "CQ de WR8DAR"? That would not be just an >> ID, but rather an invitation for contact (an invitation to use the >> repeater). Wouldn't that put things in a different light? >> Dan N8DJP >> Re: Amateur repeater ID's >> Posted by: "kb1we6r" [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> <http://us.f431.mail.yahoo.com/ym/[EMAIL PROTECTED]&YY=104 >> 68&y5beta=yes&y5beta=yes&order=up&sort=date&pos=0> kb1we6r >> Date: Tue Apr 8, 2008 12:49 pm ((PDT)) >> >> As an OO, my interpretation of the rules is that it would >> be >> considered a beacon, and they are only allowed on certain >> frequencies. And the ones that do the hourly chimes too! >> (I have given verbal advisements). >> >> Remember, users are scanning MANY repeaters, if they had to >> listen to >> that for every repeater, they (or their wives) would go >> postal!! >> It also is covered in the "good engineering practice" rule. >> >> Keith WE6R >> >> >> > -- > Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/ > > ------------------------------------ > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
