How Many 2m/70 cm Repeaters Do You Monitor?

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Kaleier1

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I am new to all the Winsystem, Allstar, and DMR-MARC stuff but got an Alinco DJ-MD5T dual band 2m / 70cm handheld tranceiver a few weeks ago and programmed it with all the local analog and DMR repeaters I could find from Repeater Book, club websites, and from scanning 2m and 70cm.

The problem is that sometimes I will be listening to a conversation that is boring so will change the channel only to hear the same conversation on 3 or 4 different repeaters with some even linked between 2m and 70cm. It seems so many are either on Winsystem All Stars network or Brandmeister Nationwide TG. I get the idea behind having repeaters linked throughout the USA but is it necessary to have so many in the same city all on the same TG?

So my question is, should I just program in the strongest repeater (and maybe one spare) that has the same static TG and delete the rest, or is their an advantage to keeping them all, like perhaps listening or talking on a different dynamic TG on a different time slot or will that be transmitted on all the other repeaters too?
 

MTS2000des

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This is one of the drawbacks to the current implementation of school bus radio technology (AKA DMR) to amateur radio. As there is no solid, uniform repeater/talk group/time slot loading plan or fleet map to follow, the disparate repeaters that are loosely connected may change their talkgroup/time slot assignments so you never really know where the desired talkgroup(s) will be.

Analog linked repeaters, and other digital formats such as D-Star and YSF, are a little more predictable as far as linked traffic. You really just have to experiment with scan lists and using nuisance delete (if feature is available on your particular subscribers, I sold my DJ-MD5 so I can't recall if it support nuisance delete) will come in handy.

The reason some conversations are duplicated on 2 meter and 70 centimeters on both analog and digital is that some areas have repeaters on both bands, thus giving those with a single band radio the ability to talk to those with a radio on the other band. In some cases, a 2 meter repeater will have wider coverage but lack in-building penetration, whereas the 70cm repeater at the same site may offer superior in-building in-town coverage but lack the longer distance of 2m. Many systems are built out this way so that the owners, albeit a club, organization or individual, can serve their desired users with access on whatever band subscriber units they have.
 

prcguy

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Interesting you mentioned the Winsystem. In my area there is probably eight of their repeaters that have the same basic coverage, saturating the same area and they all key up at once. This is in an area where its impossible to get a 2m or 440 frequency pair, the waiting list is probably 100yrs long for that. Why do they need to take over so many repeater pairs and do this?

Then the Winsystem has a history of shoehorning their repeaters into hill tops and places without paying any rent or they get their equipment in under false pretenses. Then they have a history of sticking up uncoordinated repeaters and once operational their super high duty repeater system blankets the frequency and all other repeaters on it making them usable. Then when confronted they will lie and claim their repeater is coordinated and yours is not. The owners and control ops are belligerent. They use strong arm tactics to grow their system, which has ceased to be for the amateur community and its all about themselves. The Winsystem is all about the Winsystem and growing like a cancer.

I would recommend not to support them or use their system.
 

k6cpo

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Interesting you mentioned the Winsystem. In my area there is probably eight of their repeaters that have the same basic coverage, saturating the same area and they all key up at once. This is in an area where its impossible to get a 2m or 440 frequency pair, the waiting list is probably 100yrs long for that. Why do they need to take over so many repeater pairs and do this?

Then the Winsystem has a history of shoehorning their repeaters into hill tops and places without paying any rent or they get their equipment in under false pretenses. Then they have a history of sticking up uncoordinated repeaters and once operational their super high duty repeater system blankets the frequency and all other repeaters on it making them usable. Then when confronted they will lie and claim their repeater is coordinated and yours is not. The owners and control ops are belligerent. They use strong arm tactics to grow their system, which has ceased to be for the amateur community and its all about themselves. The Winsystem is all about the Winsystem and growing like a cancer.

I would recommend not to support them or use their system.
I see I'm not the only one that has issues with the WinSystem. When i was first licensed back in 2011, I thought is was a great idea. Until I heard the owner verbally berate a new ham over his signal quality on the air. Mind you, this isn't just a single repeater but a massive linked system, so everyone on the West Coast or anyone with an AllStar or IRLP node heard it. At that point I removed their local repeaters from my radios and never went back.
 

prcguy

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I've monitored several old repeaters that got gobbled up by the Winsystem where locals were chit chatting only to have the Win gods tell them not to chit chat too long because they are keying up 80+ repeaters at the time. The poor locals were very distraught because they could never use their local repeater any more. Then the Winsystem at one point in time was touted as a great asset for emergency comms. I heard there was some kind of emergency call and the owner of the Winsystem and others told them it was useless to call on the Winsystem for an emergency because its linked all over the place and someone across the country might answer and it would be impossible for them to render help, or something like that. They basically said to take your emergency comms to the cell phone or somewhere else.

And the big machine keeps trying to get bigger and bigger to feed itself and the egos of its handlers. Boycot Winsystem! Or rename it the Loosersystem.

I see I'm not the only one that has issues with the WinSystem. When i was first licensed back in 2011, I thought is was a great idea. Until I heard the owner verbally berate a new ham over his signal quality on the air. Mind you, this isn't just a single repeater but a massive linked system, so everyone on the West Coast or anyone with an AllStar or IRLP node heard it. At that point I removed their local repeaters from my radios and never went back.
 

bill4long

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should I just program in the strongest repeater (and maybe one spare) that has the same static TG and delete the rest, or is their an advantage to keeping them all, like perhaps listening or talking on a different dynamic TG on a different time slot or will that be transmitted on all the other repeaters too?

Just because a repeater is on a particular TG at a given time, doesn't mean it will be there in 10 minutes. Someone may switch it to a different TG.
 

bill4long

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Interesting you mentioned the Winsystem. In my area there is probably eight of their repeaters that have the same basic coverage, saturating the same area and they all key up at once. This is in an area where its impossible to get a 2m or 440 frequency pair, the waiting list is probably 100yrs long for that. Why do they need to take over so many repeater pairs and do this?

Then the Winsystem has a history of shoehorning their repeaters into hill tops and places without paying any rent or they get their equipment in under false pretenses. Then they have a history of sticking up uncoordinated repeaters and once operational their super high duty repeater system blankets the frequency and all other repeaters on it making them usable. Then when confronted they will lie and claim their repeater is coordinated and yours is not. The owners and control ops are belligerent. They use strong arm tactics to grow their system, which has ceased to be for the amateur community and its all about themselves. The Winsystem is all about the Winsystem and growing like a cancer.

I would recommend not to support them or use their system.

I am no fan of the WinSystem for various reasons, and essentially agree with you on all points, but life is too short to give a crap about them. Too many other ways to have fun on ham radio.
 

prcguy

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Just wait until they install another repeater in your area uncoordinated and it wipes out one of your favorite existing repeaters. I could post more info but it would be embarrassing for them, so I won't right now.

I am no fan of the WinSystem for various reasons, and essentially agree with you on all points, but life is too short to give a crap about them. Too many other ways to have fun on ham radio.
 

bill4long

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Just wait until they install another repeater in your area uncoordinated and it wipes out one of your favorite existing repeaters. I could post more info but it would be embarrassing for them, so I won't right now.

Would never happen here in Indiana but if that's true for you, then I understand and agree.
 

ladn

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To get back on topic with the OP's post, the DMR community still needs to sort itself out. I like the idea of repeaters (like the PAPA System) configured with the same talk groups in the same (relative) channel positions. It is, admittedly, a waste of spectrum here in SoCal with so many repeaters overlapping coverage areas.

Personally, I have multiple repeaters and large systems programmed in my radios, but I usually monitor only one or two (I don't scan). When I'm out of the Greater LA area (I frequently travel to the Owens Valley), I'll sometimes scan channels or frequencies because there's relatively little overlapping traffic.

@Kaleier1 might have a better experience by putting repeaters into zones on his MD5. Download a sample codeplug to see how it's done. PAPA has some excellent sample codeplugs for their system. New users can get a free trial membership with access to their codeplugs.
 

alcahuete

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Conversely, the nice part of having the same talkgroups on a ton of repeaters is talking to the same people over a greater coverage area, not dropping out of conversations when you are out of range of one repeater, etc.

Before the Socal TG went dynamic on the PAPA system, I used roaming regularly to stay on the SoCal TG. On one trip, I went from San Diego to Las Vegas (4+ hour drive) without ever touching the radio. Listened to the Socal group the whole way.

But yes, you are right. You could have presumably 10+ repeaters in the same coverage area with the same talkgroups. If nobody is using your specific repeater though, you could always change the talkgroup to something else.

How many do I personally monitor? Zero, unless I'm mobile. I'm a HF kinda guy.
 

ai8o

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How Many 2m/70 cm Repeaters Do You Monitor?
ONE VHF
ONE UHF.

I'm out in the boonies.
One of each ANALOG.

The nearest digital anything is 60+ miles away.

Could hear it, couldn't work it.

Traded my ID-880H for a TYT-7800.
 

kayn1n32008

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I have a ‘local zone’ in my VHF XPR-5550. It has:
-7 simplex channels
-11 analogue repeaters(5 are linked together, but have very different coverages)

Of these 18 channels, 2 of the repeaters and one simplex channel are not included in my scan list for this zone.(15+selected limitation of using a Motorola radio)

I have a total of 21 zones. Every zone but one has a scan listsome zones have multiple scan lists.

This covers everywhere I would travel on a normal basis between the province I live in and the province I regularly travel to. This also covers what public safety is still VHF analogue or VHF DMR.
I don’t always scan, sometimes I just sit on one channel regardless of activity, depends on my mood.
 

bill4long

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the DMR community still needs to sort itself out.

This made me literally LOL. :D The DMR "community" does not cow tow to your whims. Ya got three choices A) find a situation you can live with, B) create your own network/situation you can live with, C) forget about DMR. Your choice. It's hilarious that you think your opinion matters unless you put some intellectual skin in the game. You may as well gripe about the color of the sky.
 

Kaleier1

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@Kaleier1 might have a better experience by putting repeaters into zones on his MD5. Download a sample codeplug to see how it's done. PAPA has some excellent sample codeplugs for their system. New users can get a free trial membership with access to their codeplugs.

I made my own code plug after watching You Tube videos and have a DMR zone and an Analog zone. I also made weather, GMRS, and FRS zones for listening only. Making code plugs is not the problem. I just wondered if I had too many repeaters programmed in since they covered the same area and have the same static talk groups.
 

Kaleier1

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Thanks everyone for your replies. Since I don't travel I think I am going to limit the repeaters I have programmed that have the same TG.
 

bill4long

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Thanks everyone for your replies. Since I don't travel I think I am going to limit the repeaters I have programmed that have the same TG.

You can get your own hotspot then you don't have to worry about repeaters or huge codeplugs. And if you do travel, you can take it with you and always access the same TGs on Brandmeister and TGIF (for DMR) and various rooms for Fusions. (And yes, the Pi-Star Hotspot can cross-link networks. You can use a DMR radio on Fusion and vice-versa.) The MMDVM with OLED display and case are $100 a pop. Cheap!
 
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kayn1n32008

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I made my own code plug after watching You Tube videos and have a DMR zone and an Analog zone. I also made weather, GMRS, and FRS zones for listening only. Making code plugs is not the problem. I just wondered if I had too many repeaters programmed in since they covered the same area and have the same static talk groups.

I only started scanning, since I got my XPR-5550. Hammy gear doesn’t have scan lists(big three) It’s either scanned, or not. They also don’t have a single push button to nuisance delete a channel on the fly. It’s usually buried in a menu, and scan state(added or not) is stored with the contents of the memory. I can edit my scan lists quite easily from my control head.
 

belvdr

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I could program 2m/70cm in here but I can hear the same stuff without them programmed. In other words, they are rarely used.
 

Kaleier1

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You can get your own hotspot then you don't have to worry about repeaters or huge codeplugs. And if you do travel, you can take it with you and always access the same TGs on Brandmeister and TGIF (for DMR) and various rooms for Fusions. (And yes, the Pi-Star Hotspot can cross-link networks. You can use a DMR radio on Fusion and vice-versa.) The MMDVM with OLED display and case are $100 a pop. Cheap!
I may as well just chat on the internet.
 
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