[TWIAR] Southeast Repeater Association Board Okays Mandatory Repeater Tone Policy

[Greg Williams]

NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 27, 2004--The Southeast Repeater Association (SERA)
Board of Directors has approved an "all tone, all the time" policy for
the repeaters SERA coordinates. SERA provides voluntary frequency
coordination for amateur repeaters in eight states. The Board's action
came on a motion from Mississippi Director Steve Grantham, AA5SG, that
SERA amend its coordination policy and guidelines to require CTCSS or
DCS receive and transmit tones on all new FM voice repeaters. Existing
voice repeaters will have until July 1, 2006, to comply. The SERA
Repeater Journal reported the move in its August issue. Repeater Journal
Editor Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, said a need to relieve interference
complaints led to the Board's decision. 

"The point is to stop the ongoing complaints and skirmishes between
co-channel neighbors running carrier-access repeaters," Pearce
explained. "The vote was unanimous, but SERA recognizes that tone isn't
universally popular nor is it a cure-all. And it causes new problems,
particularly for travelers." 

South Carolina ARRL member Laurie Sansbury Jr, KV4C, would agree with
Pearce on that score. He has taken issue with SERA's new policy and with
Pearce's Repeater Journal "SquelchTale" editorial, in which Pearce said
he had "little sympathy for the ham whose radio doesn't have a tone
encoder" and "Radios are cheap today." 

"Not for the senior on a fixed income they're not," Sansbury retorted in
an e-mail copied to ARRL. "Not for a teenager--the future of ham
radio--they're not." 

ARRL South Carolina Technical Coordinator Marc Tarplee, N4UFP, raised
the issue of the potential impact of SERA's tone policy on emergency
operations. "The Amateur Radio Service is expected to provide emergency
communications," Tarplee said. "How does broad CTCSS implementation
enhance or hinder our ability to deliver those communications?" 

ARRL member Mark Cobbeldick, KB4CVN, of Monroe, Virginia, said requiring
CTCSS tone to access a repeater on the 10-meter band has been the topic
of several discussions on the 10-meter FM reflector. "It appears the
SERA has taken a step in this direction," he said. "By having both
encode and decode tones on a repeater, this will help reduce
interference during band openings." He also suggested designating CTCSS
tones on a state-by-state basis, "with a primary tone and several
alternates." 

Pearce notes that while the SERA policy applies to repeaters on all
bands, the problems it aims to resolve most frequently involve 2-meter
machines. He says SERA already has a tone plan for 10 meters. SERA
coordinates repeaters in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and parts of Virginia and West
Virginia. 

SERA has no plans to automatically decoordinate repeaters that continue
to operate without tones, but "SERA would not entertain an interference
complaint from the owner of any repeater who chooses to remain carrier
access," the Repeater Journal said. If a carrier-access repeater owner
getting co-channel interference complains to the FCC, SERA would tell
the Commission that the complaining repeater's owner was opting to
operate outside the conditions of coordination. "SERA would expect that
to be interpreted as a 'no,'" the Repeater Journal report said. 

"If a repeater owner wants to complain about interference, they'll have
to incorporate tone first," Pearce said. 


Gregory S. Williams
k4hsm at knology.net
k4hsm at twiar.org