At 08:27 AM 05/31/08, you wrote:
Being in Nebraska - near, if not in, tornado alley - weather events
have had a high priority on our repeater.
When our machine first went on the air 30 years ago it was a primary
means to relay real-time spotter information from the field to our
local National Weather Service (NWS). It was not uncommon for a
spotter observation to be passed to NWS only then to hear a Tornado
Warning broadcast on NOAA weather radio a few seconds later. In
those days, it was crucial to pass the weather net traffic because
that is what often times generated the NWS warnings.
On the hardware side, when we rebuilt our repeater system a few
years ago we added the WX-200 along with a LinkCom RLC Club Deluxe
II and we've been extremely happy with the combo. The WX-200 is, of
course, the full radio receiver and SAME decoder in a single
rack-mount package priced at $399. CAT does offer the WD-100 SAME
decoder (you supply the radio) at $159; a very reasonable way to get
the features on a budget.
Which is a good thing - at some radio sites the RF level is
high enough that the CAT receiver has problems.
The option of putting the WD100 decoder behind a Micor
or MastrII receiver crystalled up on the weather channel
is A Good Thing.
Mike WA6ILQ
