W3DI Renegade Repeater

[Fred1]

This repeater is no stop nonsense and noise. Pirate radio at best.

 

[n3obl]

Wow I didn’t know we had one in PA. I feel honored!🤣🤣

 

[ecps92]

This repeater is no stop nonsense and noise. Pirate radio at best.

Define Renegade??

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[kv5e]

At least someone is talking on it instead of it just IDing 24x7!!!!!!

 

[mtindor]

At least someone is talking on it instead of it just IDing 24x7!!!!!!

My thought too. 99% (perhaps slightly exaggerated) of FM repeaters out there aren't even used anymore. At least somebody is making use of one

 

[belvdr]

I no longer own a transceiver of any kind, but my friend says that multiple 2m repeaters are being taken offline, because nobody wants to pay for something that is unused.

 

[MTS2000des]

I no longer own a transceiver of any kind, but my friend says that multiple 2m repeaters are being taken offline, because nobody wants to pay for something that is unused.

Repeaters are like cloud based services: one is using someone else' stuff. When that someone else isn't getting something (enjoyment, money, et al), that stuff goes away.

 

[W9WSS]

That certainly isn’t the case in northern Illinois and the region in surrounding states. As a matter of fact, there are no available repeater pairs in the UHF or VHF segments of the spectrum. You can apply for a pair, but there’s a 5 to 7 year waiting period for availability. Granted, there are a handful of inactive systems which become available and are ultimately reassigned to those individuals on the waiting list. But as far as lack of repeater activity in our area, that’s definitely not the case. I am the Secretary/Treasurer of the Illinois Repeater Association so I’ve got a clue what our frequency coordinators do, but I am not personally involved in the coordination process myself.

 

[K6GBW]

In L.A. County we have so many repeaters that we have to wait for people to die and will them to you. That said, the machines are quiet, closed, private or digital. The days of breezing into town and dialing up a local repeater seem to be numbered. All that said, it has spurned a resurgence of simplex activity. You can dial up 146.520 in the L.A. Basin and there's almost always someone there. If you call out you are virtually guaranteed to get a response.

 

[belvdr]

That certainly isn’t the case in northern Illinois and the region in surrounding states. As a matter of fact, there are no available repeater pairs in the UHF or VHF segments of the spectrum. You can apply for a pair, but there’s a 5 to 7 year waiting period for availability. Granted, there are a handful of inactive systems which become available and are ultimately reassigned to those individuals on the waiting list. But as far as lack of repeater activity in our area, that’s definitely not the case. I am the Secretary/Treasurer of the Illinois Repeater Association so I’ve got a clue what our frequency coordinators do, but I am not personally involved in the coordination process myself.

At least there's activity somewhere. Ours started dying off about a decade ago.

You'd hear kerchunking and you'd call out but no response. People only wanted to talk to specific folks.

You'd learn this quickly when you'd call out with no answer, then someone else called directly to a specific person and they responded immediately.

 

[kayn1n32008]

That certainly isn’t the case in northern Illinois and the region in surrounding states. As a matter of fact, there are no available repeater pairs in the UHF or VHF segments of the spectrum. You can apply for a pair, but there’s a 5 to 7 year waiting period for availability. Granted, there are a handful of inactive systems which become available and are ultimately reassigned to those individuals on the waiting list. But as far as lack of repeater activity in our area, that’s definitely not the case. I am the Secretary/Treasurer of the Illinois Repeater Association so I’ve got a clue what our frequency coordinators do, but I am not personally involved in the coordination process myself.

How many of those coordinated repeaters exist on paper only?

 

[AK9R]

How many of those coordinated repeaters exist on paper only?

Or are what we call "garage repeaters", on a 50 foot pole off the back of the garage.

 

[iowajm780]

My thought too. 99% (perhaps slightly exaggerated) of FM repeaters out there aren't even used anymore. At least somebody is making use of one

Tell me about it. I loaded several 2M/440 repeaters in my new radio and nothing but crickets. Thought maybe I screwed something up and not recieving anything. Tried making contacts during the day and early evening but nothing. Sure change from when I was first licensed over 30 years ago when those repeaters were cooking.

 

[cavmedic]

Considering the location, not really shocked. It’s probably plagued with the same jackasses always screwing around on another linked system nearby, and a few GMRS repeaters in the area.

 

[kayn1n32008]

Or are what we call "garage repeaters", on a 50 foot pole off the back of the garage.

No, repeater pairs that are coordinated, but don't actually exist on air. The old boys club of hoarding pairs 'they own' since they once coordinated a pair 40 years ago, but never got around to actually putting a repeater on air.

 

[Chronic]

Is there a feed on Broadcastify ? Link ? i dont see a w3di listed . other ways to listen ?

 

[ladn]

You can dial up 146.520 in the L.A. Basin and there's almost always someone there.

Those two a$$hats in OC that I've posted about before have driven me off "52". I used to enjoy the SOTA and POTA folks plus daily random traffic.

Here in LA, the amount of radio traffic seems to be inversely proportional to the number of sanctioned repeaters . Maybe the coordination bodies (TASMA and SCRRBA) should start requiring repeater operators to provide (verifiable) usage statics when their coordination comes up for renewal.

 

[K6GBW]

Funny you knew exactly who I was referring to!

 

[k6cpo]

I live in the second largest city in California and there is no lack of activity on the repeaters around here. It is cyclic by time of day and day of the week, but the activity is there. My club is actually considering putting up a fourth repeater as we have an already coordinated frequency pair we inherited from another club that closed down.

 

[Skypilot007]

W3DI is a mess because of one person. Anyone from the area knows who this one person is.