[W8MWA] Road map to the future?

Tue Sep 22 23:32:51 EDT 2015

Dean,
Thanks for your input. Please see my comments again they are inline below. 

73,
--
Josh Smith
KD8HRX

Email/jabber: juicewvu at gmail.com
Phone: 304.237.9369(c)

Sent from my iPhone. 

> On Sep 22, 2015, at 10:35 PM, Dean Thompson <deanot26508 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I am not seeing any replies from other club members on this,
> I for one am interested in getting my echolink box set up on a local repeater, if not this one I will try the WVU repeater.  Echolink does have some advantages, example being... One of our hams moved away just over a year ago, would it not be nice for him to stop in and say hi on the Monday net?.  As Josh mentioned, it is also nice for when we are out of town.

I agree echo link has some nice use sees and I would like to see it available on the MWA repeater. Although I think the ability to break/reestablish this link from the repeater side and I am not sure what is involved in making that a possibility. 

> 
> We need more feedback on this, more replies as this affects us all in some way or another.

We definitely need feedback from everyone in the club. Most importantly from Bill(WR8S) as the technical person who takes care of the repeater and from Randy (N8OZY) as the repeater trustee. 

hopefully they are able to weigh in on this via email but if not we have a good topic to address in the October meeting. 

> Josh has made some good points, and I look forward to moving forward on some of these ideas.  First we need to either replace the aged repeater or repair it, having a digital mode would be nice also.

I agree our number one priority needs to be in repairing the repeater (even if that means replacing some of the equipment). I also would like to see us have a digital repeater of some sort in addition to our existing analog repeater NOT in place of as I think asking everyone to replace their existing equipment just to access the repeater would be a disaster for the club. 

> 
> What is the situation for a new repeater? can we afford one? do we need to chip in, raise some funding somehow?

I think we need to first get the existing repeater back to its optimal condition and see what that does to our funds. Then we can start to plan for expanding our repeater system - hopefully into the digital space. 

> 
> http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=249&encProdID=4105F1B8AE65079CAD2D26735B83B302 this is the system fusion repeater if anyone is interested, and I just noticed it uses C4FM which is what my Yeasu 991 can run, so that is a plus for me.. lol

That seems like a good deal on the repeater. Unfortunately I believe most of the expenses with building out a new repeater will be in the ancillary things that go along with it - antennas, feed line, duplexes, filters, etc. 

> 
> I don't know if this is bogus or not, but the above repeater is $500 on a club special, see here http://www.radioinc.com/oscmax/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=3791
> 
> I hope to see you all at the next meeting, Josh and Josh, keep up the chat, I feel some headway is being made.

Thanks again for the input. 
> 
> Dean (KD8YNY)
> 
>> On Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 9:02 PM, Josh Smith <juicewvu at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hello Josh,
>> 
>> Please see my comments inline again.
>> 
>> Josh Smith
>> KD8HRX
>> email/jabber:  juicewvu at gmail.com
>> phone:  304.237.9369(c)
>> 
>> 
>>> On Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at 4:31 PM, Josh Prichard <wvunderground at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Thanks Josh....
>>> 
>>> I'm hoping I didn't come off as harsh as that was not my intention.  Sometimes I do have problems getting my thoughts out correctly.  If so I do apologize.  
>> 
>> You didn't come across as harsh.  No need to apologize.  
>>  
>>> 
>>> This is the club I'll join.  It seems like a club with good users.  Sure there is a difference of opinion but that is any club.  Everyone was nice and friendly.  I think the club has a good future.  Just gotta get everyone back to being excited about it.  
>> 
>> Thank you for joining our club.  I think you'll find its a good club and worth the investment of your time and effort.
>>  
>>> 
>>> Being everything to everyone is kinda hard to do in a club setting.  Everyone has different ideas on what the club should be.
>>> 
>>> The future for the repeaters and etc... it would be nice to hear some activity on the repeater.
>> 
>> I agree it would be nice to hear some activity outside of the Monday evening net, I have no room to talk here though because I am as guilty as anyone of not using the repeater.
>>  
>>>   I know with cell phones, ham radio is starting to taper off on usage. 
>> 
>> I agree with this with respect to the local repeater as a means to foster communication amongst hams in the local area.  I also think that the ubiquity of emaill/instant messaging/text messaging has as much or more to do with this than the cell phone does.  Just think 10 or 15 years ago we would probably be having this discussion on the repeater instead of over email.  I don't necessarily think this is all a bad thing though.  At least email is easier to store and keep a record of for later reference.
>> 
>>  
>>> This is the reason why I was talking about echolink.  Since I'm not usually in town but will be moving in soon.... I had a want to talk on the local repeater up there.  Would have been nice to be able to remote into the repeater and strike up a convo about local stuff and start to make friends.  If someone is traveling that would also be a nice addition as well.  Echolink is now on smart phones so one can download it and boom instant radio that works away from home.
>> 
>> Echolink is definitely interesting and a useful mode.  I've experimented with it in the past and useful to access a local repeater when away from the area.  Unfortunately as you've noticed there isn't much activity on our repeater currently so I'm not sure how much luck you would have had striking up a conversation even if it were accessible via echolink.
>>  
>>>  
>>> 
>>> As of right now the digital repeaters in WV are as follows.....
>>> 
>>> DMR which is separated into two different link networks.
>>> 
>>> DMR-MARC network - uses motorola dmr repeaters - has been active in the states for some time
>>> Bluefield, WV 1 repeater
>>> Beckley, WV 3 spread out to cover a lot of area.
>>> See here for current map:  http://www.dmr-marc.net/repeaters.html
>> 
>> Thanks for the information and the link to the map.  I am glad to know there is a presence in the Beckley area as it is where I am originally from and still travel there often to visit family.  I may try to pick up a cheap DMR HT before I head down there the next time and try to access them.  Do you have any recommendations for such an HT? 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> DMRPlus - uses hytera dmr repeaters
>>> None yet in WV but its just now getting started in the states.
>>> 
>>> FUSION
>>> Clarksburg 1 repeater
>>> Pt. Pleasant 1 repeater
>>> 
>>> DSTAR
>>> Mount Hope 1 repeater
>>> 
>>> Digital offers some nice features. 
>> 
>> It's definitely more bandwidth efficient and I also like the slow speed data and text messaging capabilities present in most digital solutions.
>>  
>>> In doing some more research on fusion... i agree with you that it would be nice to leave the current analog system online and put a digital system in place as another repeater. 
>> 
>> I think this is a requirement not just a nice to have.  Like it or not Analog has too large of a footprint to just do away with anytime in the near future and its proven technology.  I know our repeater has been used more than once to coordinate communications to areas otherwise cut off due to winter storms even as recently as 4 or 5 years ago.  I was (un)fortunately out of town when that storm hit and was not able to participate so someone else on the list can provide more details of this event.  I think until such time as everyone has digital radios and the system has proven itself to be as reliable there will be a lot of reluctance to get rid of the current analog system.
>> 
>>  
>>> To have the fusion in place of the analog system you would have to run the output of the fusion in analog mode and the input in dual digital/analog mode.  That would almost defeat the purpose of digital as it adds an analog route in.  Sooooo my new suggestion based on the info I have acquired.  Install a new fusion repeater and then perhaps link it into the analog system later on.  
>> 
>> I like this idea.  Unfortunately I do not know if space is available at the current repeater site or if we'd have to look for an alternate site to host a new repeater.  It's something we should discuss as we go forward with deciding what the future of our repeater looks like.
>>  
>>> Or perhaps start with a UHF DMR repeater then move to fusion a little later on. 
>> 
>> We currently have an analog repeater that is in some form of disrepair.  I really like the idea of making our UHF frequencies our "experimental" repeater and I think we should investigate using any/all of the digital repeater modes on this frequency.
>> 
>>  
>>> DMR we could also link into the analog vhf repeater.  Would be nice to get a dmr repeater on the air at the university club as well..
>> 
>> As you might have noticed from some of the discussions the university club is pretty much defunct right now but Dr. Vanscoy is trying very hard to revive it.  Hopefully she is successful and if she is we could embark on a project like this.
>>  
>>> Could use the same talkgroups on both repeaters and have a wide link network started.
>> 
>> Just curious - I know that with some of the digital modes (DSTAR in particular) linking over the air is not possible and all links must be over the internet.  Is the same true for DMR or is it possible to link multiple DMR repeaters using only RF?
>> 
>>  
>>> 
>>> So yes.... I will try to put together an info packet/presentation on the digital systems for the next meeting. 
>> 
>> Thank you very much for trying to put this together.  The next meeting will be on October 20.  Would it be possible to let me know by the 13th if you will be able to put together the presentation or not so we have a bit of time to put together an alternate?
>> 
>>  
>>> I'm hoping my DMR dongle has came in by then.  If so I'll setup a DMR hotspot and let the group take a test drive.  I have been doing a few months worth of research into different digital modes so I do have some info handy.
>> 
>> Great.  I am very interested in theys technology and would love to see it in action.
>>  
>>> 
>>> As a side note.... how this reflector is setup.... its a tad hard to carry on a good conversation.  If you don't reply to the reflector you just reply to the user and no one else really sees the reply. 
>> 
>> The reflector is set up pretty much identically to any email list I have ever used and having been in the IT industry for a while I have subscribed and continue to subscribe to lots of mailing lists.  Looking back at my reply it went to both you (in the to: field) and the list (in the cc: field) and looking at my email archive I did receive my reply via the list so all subscribers should have seen it.  Please let me know if you have any specific questions regarding the list.
>> 
>>  
>>> I'm in the process of setting up a DMR website that will hopefully group some info together for those interested in DMR and possibly other digital modes. 
>> 
>> Great, I've spent some time reading a bit about DMR the past few evenings and while there is a lot of information out there it seems to be scattered all over the interwebs.  A central place that collects a lot of this information would be very valuable.
>>  
>>> I'm adding a forum in as well.  I have a club forum setup on there as well that is only avail to members of the club if anyone would be interested.  Otherwise perhaps we can setup a forum on the w8mwa page.
>>>   It would allow everyone to discuss club business in a better format and have separate areas for members and non members of the club.  Plus an area to talk about anything and everything under the sun.
>> 
>> 
>> It's just my personal preference but I much prefer mailing lists for this type of discussion but by no means does my preference cary any weight.
>> 
>>  
>>> Here is mine.... http://forum.dmrwv.com
>>> It's a work in progress as I just started it.
>>> Also if help is needed with the website I would be more than happy to help.  I have quite a bit of experience with websites etc.  
>> 
>> Thank you very much for the offer.  Randy Crowe (N80ZY) and Bill Shultz (W8RS) are the primary care takers of the website.  They are both subscribed to the list and I'm sure will be reading this.  But do mention it to them during the next club meeting.
>> 
>>  <snip>
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> Josh
>> 
>> 
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