Northville Amateur Radio Association
NA1RA

Repeater usage guidelines

Let me start by saying, thank you all for your support!

This is a BASIC set of guidelines for the usage of our repeater system. Changes will occur as needed.

Always remember that emergency calls, and emergency NETS (ARES, SKywarn, Etc) have full priorty over the system unless the control operator decides otherwise.

Regularly scheduled nets have priority over everything except emergencies, users are required to relinquish the system at the scheduled start of the NET unless a control operator decides otherwise.

You do not need to be a member of our group to use our repeaters, we welcome ALL properly licensed operators to make use of the system. (If you do become a member and help support the effort it will be greatly appreciated).

Do you want to do any digital or packet communications on our repeaters?? Read this before you do.

If something here is unclear, please ask a control operator for a clarification in private.

DO:

Identify at the beginning, end, and every 10 minutes.

Wait for all courtesy beeps, regardless of how long it takes for them to happen. They are set at different times as some come from other repeaters in the linked system. If you do not wait for the beeps, you will time out the system and make it hard for another station to join the conversation or use the system in an emergency.

Try to leave extra space (beyond the courtesy beeps) in your transmissions to allow stations on ECHOLINK to enter the conversation. Echolink users experience a two second audio delay, this means that the last of your audio is heard by them two seconds after you unkey your "mic".

Break into conversations using JUST your callsign during the time when the last station unkeyed and when the courtesy beep occurs (usually a 1 second window, also don't forget to hold down your key before you speak, or the stations may just think your call is just interference because it didn't come across the links). Don't just start making your call UNLESS IT'S AND EMERGENCY and you have stated such.

Ask for a "CALL PLEASE" if you want to break a conversation in progress to make a QUICK call of your own to another station. You MUST return the system back to the conversation that was in progress if they want it. Please do this quickly.

Key your "mic" for a FULL TWO (2) SECONDS prior to saying anything. You are on a linked repeater system and if this is not followed, you will not get your full message across all the links.

Know where your microphone is at all times. You would be surprised how many embarrassing comments have been made when the mike is open without your knowledge.

Listen for at least 30 seconds before transmitting. Don't just turn on your radio and start talking.

Use plain English, and commonly acceptable amateur language. Avoid slang, CB terms, 10 codes, etc.

"Be professional" sounding on the air.  There are people who just listen in on a scanner or other means. Please portray our "service" as if you were selling it to someone and you wanted them to buy it from you!

Speak in a normal tone of voice. Also, know the special characteristics of your radio and microphone. Some "mics" are "hotter" than others. Especially those found on most ICOM brand radios!

Discourage those people who are compelled to dead key the repeater, or try to hack the repeater codes, by asking the offending transmitting party to identify themselves any time you hear them going about their dubious activities.

Talk across your microphone, not into it. This will alleviate all the breath sounds we naturally make.

Use as little power as needed to solidly hit the repeater.

If you are going to change frequencies, kindly tell us where you are going. Someone may want to talk to you there if the repeater is crowded.

If you are in the basement, on low batteries, or in a known bad position, don't try to transmit unless it is an emergency. Nine times out of ten, all that happens is it just "kerchunks" the machine. Most people assume it is just another person trying to play with the machine.

While it may be considered by some to be illegal to kerchunk the repeater for the purpose of getting announcements and ID's out of the way, go ahead and do it! Make sure to identify immediately after the announcement is over.

DON'T:

Call CQ on the repeater.

Test the repeater by merely kerchunking it. Please use your callsign followed by the word "test" so that we know what is going on.

Talk on the repeater if you are literally right next to each other, or caravanning vehicles. This causes desense to your own receivers (desense is the deafening of ones receiver due to a strong, off frequency carrier nearby). Desense makes your communications harder since you cannot hear each other very well. Please use a simplex channel per the ARRL band plan.

Talk about business on the system. If you make any money at all in regards to what you want to talk about, DON"T do it. This is against U.S. F.C.C. rules. Please tell the other person to call you and talk about it on the telephone.

Use codes or other means to hide the meanings of your transmissions, "say what you mean, and mean what you say." Codes and Ciphers are against U.S. F.C.C. rules.

Go direct (simplex) on repeater output or input channels unless it is either a planned A.R.E.S. (or other drill) exercise, or the repeater is off the air due to an emergency situation. This is why there are specific simplex channels. This is *NOT* meant to inhibit anyone from learning how to use their radios in an emergency by being able to quickly change offset direction, PL, and such by practicing, it is only meant to discourage routine interference problems.

Use "BREAK" to enter a conversation. This is very poor protocol on amateur radio. "BREAK" is only acceptable on public safety and 11-meter (CB) frequencies. Although "BREAK BREAK" is the recognized emergency call, amateurs still recognize "BREAK" as "I need to speak now, it is important." Simply give your call to enter a conversation.

Quick key the "mic" so fast that a breaking station cannot get into a conversation or pass emergency traffic. This makes it very difficult to join in.

Break into an on-going conversation and quickly change the topic, addressing only one operator in the conversation. Remember, talking on the radio is the same as talking in real life. Remember your manners. If you need to have a long conversation with one person in a group conversation, ask that person to change to another frequency.

Finally, the last rule and our favorite rule, "If it feels wrong, it probably is, DON'T DO IT." Instead, ask a control operator in private if its ok.

Remember:
It is okay to make a mistake. You are, after all, human. If you make a mistake, usually the best thing to do is to admit it, learn from it, and not let it happen again. You will find that other amateurs are forgiving, and everyone learns from someone with a good attitude.

Our policy concerning digital communications: Digital communications (voice, packet, cw, psk31, or otherwise FCC approved methods) can be conducted on our repeater system. Please do *not* ever use a digital communications mode during morning or afternoon drive times (5-9am, and 4-7pm) without prior permission from a system operator. Do not *ever* attempt any non-analog voice communications while an emergency is going on or while there is a formal net in progress unless otherwise directed to do so by the net control.  When performing digital communications on our system, please make a voice identification (analog) and announce what you will be doing so as to inform anyone listening (analog voice communications has priority on the entire system for the purpose of this policy). *NOTE*, our system is a linked repeater system, due to the time it takes for PL encoders/decoders and links to activate, it is mandatory to set your TXDELAY functions in excess of 1500 mSec (1.5 seconds) to ensure that your transmission makes it through the entire system.  Currently, there are no provisions is the system to remove courtesy beeps or hangtime, both could interfere with some digital modes. This system does run "flat", unprocessed audio to better enhance quality, and the audio paths are set to minimize clipping (which reduces distortion). Better results may be achieved if your digital signal deviates your fm modulator to about 3.5-4.0Kc (unclipped is better) disregarding PL modulation which is stripped by our system at each point, also digital modes using modulated frequencies below 300Hz will most likely fail as our system filters audio below this point.

All other forms of communications are strictly prohibited at this time without prior approval of the system operators and the club members.

OTHER NOTES:

The Northville Amateur Radio Association gives very high priority to emergency communications. In time of a Skywarn, ARES, or other emergency activation, all routine communications are required to cease and not return until such a time that the net control or control operators decide otherwise. The second priority on the repeater system is the routine nets that we carry. This also means that if a net control comes on the channel at their allocated time, then you MUST relinquish the system to that net control as soon as possible unless your communications are of a priority or emergency nature, at which time the net will wait for you. All Northville Amateur Radio Association repeaters are open for use by all FCC licensed amateur radio operators. There is no need to be a member of our group to use the system, however, any support that can be offered will be greatly appreciated.

This page and all contents are Copyright © 2007 Northville Amateur Radio Association. Portions excerpted from kn4s.com with permission. Contents and rules may change without notification. If in doubt, ask to be sure this set of guidelines is current. This is January 2006 revision 1.