[FADCA] Updating Digital Network Support for EMCOMMs

[wchast at utilpart.com]

Rich Garcia wrote:
> Another thing that must be thought of (and I am sure many of you
> have) is the rapid decline of suitable digi and switch locations.
> With every passing day many of the mom and pop radio shop towers and
> even county towers are sold to large national corporations that can
> care less of who we are or what we do. In other cases towers are
> going away (as torn down and not rebuilt). 
> 
> We can have all the equipment and technology in the world but without
> a suitable location for it with proper emergency power, grounding, and
> hurricane survivability what will it do for us during and after an
> emergency ?
> 
> Money and technology is one thing but more important than that and
> much more difficult and time consuming is the negotiation and working
> relationship with suitable site owners. I have yet to see anyone be
> able to crack one of the large national tower corporations for space
> on their sites. 

Perhaps this is another point where some sort of leverage from Homeland
Security would help. If these people could see some sort of return even
if it is a tax deduction they might be more inclined to work with us.

The problem is that there are going to be loads of repeater ops and others
who are trying to get the same sort of access, and you can be sure that
once the tower op gets just enough to make his due he is not going to
allow anymore on there.

There needs to be a filtering process that determines who is "more
elegible" and that those be given priority so that you do not have 
bunch of voice repeaters grabbing all of the space and leaving us
holding the bag.


Chuck Hast
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
To paraphrase my flight instructor;
"the only dumb question is the one you DID NOT ask resulting in my going
out and having to identify your bits and pieces in the midst of torn
and twisted metal."


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