Repeater Operating Practices

[KA2ODP/7]

Amateur Radio Repeater Operating Practices

The following guidelines appear in the “ARRL Repeater Directory”, published by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). They have been adapted and expanded upon to better fit the local operating practices here in the Great Falls area and the repeaters sponsored by the Great Falls Area Amateur Radio Club (GFAARC).

1. Monitor the repeater for a while to become familiar with its operation.

Many local repeaters have a unique sounding “courtesy beep” and give a call sign and/or other announcement on the hour and half hour. The 146.740 MHz repeater also has a 2-second input delay feature that can be activated. This is used to prevent stray signals from constantly keying it up. The Highwood Baldy repeater site is jammed packed with various public service and business band repeater systems. Sometimes the combination of various signals inside and outside of the building create false or phantom signals that are very short in duration.

To prevent the “74” repeater from constantly being triggered by these false signals, the 2-second input delay feature can be activated by the repeater custodians. This means you must wait 2-seconds after starting to transmit before talking, to avoid the first words being missed and not retransmitted. More recently a 100 Hz sub-audible tone requirement was added as the best overall solution to phantom signals keying up the repeater. See paragraph 16 for more information on sub-audible tones.

2. To initiate a contact over a repeater, simply give your call sign and indicate that you are “listening” or “monitoring”.

This announcement indicates you are interested in talking with anyone else who might be listening. The use of the general call “CQ”, as used on the HF bands, is NOT used on FM repeaters.

Due to the popularity of dual-band radios and the scanning of numerous memory channels, many hams also mention which repeater they are using. This helps others to know which band or repeater you are on in case their radio resumed scanning before they had a chance to glance at the display.

A typical call over the 146.740 MHz repeater would be, “KD7XYZ listening on 74”. This type of informational announcement is open ended and does not restrict others from using the repeater. If half an hour later you need to leave the radio, you do not have to announce that you are “clear” of the repeater. Just move on to your new task. Otherwise you are making an unnecessary one-way transmission.

It is generally understood that an announcement of “listening” means at that very moment and for approximately the next 10-15 minutes. Folks should not expect you to instantaneously reply to their call over the repeater based upon hearing you announce that you were “listening” 3 to 4 hours ago.

Why mention the repeater frequency you are listening to? Because many folks have their radios in scan mode. If they are driving they might not have time to glance at the radio display to see which repeater you are coming over. Add a dual band radio with the 2-meter and 70-cm sides both in scan mode and it becomes even harder to figure out the right frequency to reply back to you on. Mentioning the repeater you are on just helps people find the right repeater frequency quicker so they can reply.

Please don’t “ker-chunk” the repeater (hit the Push-to-Talk button briefly without identifying yourself) “just to see if it is working”. If you are testing a new antenna or just want to know if you can still reach the repeater, just give your call sign and say “Testing”. This lets everyone know that you are just checking your equipment and not necessarily looking for a contact.

To contact a specific station over a repeater, simply give their call sign followed by your call sign.

Such a contact attempt would sound like, “KD7XYZ, KD7XYZ, this is KD7ZZZ on the 74 repeater”.

If you know for certain the other station is monitoring the repeater, you can shorten the call to just “KD7XYZ (pause) KD7ZZZ”.

But what if the other station is not available? Most hams will wait about 15-30 seconds before repeating the contact attempt. After the third attempt, simply say “No contact. KD7ZZZ clear” or “Nothing heard. KD7ZZZ listening”. This lets other hams know you are finished with your attempt to contact the other station and the repeater is available for them to use.

3. Identify legally!

Per FCC rules you must identify yourself at the end of a transmission or series of transmissions, and at least once every 10-minutes during the communication. When new stations join in a conversation as others are leaving, be sure to let the departing station give their call sign on their final transmission. Jumping in on a conversation and starting a new conversation right away forces the departing station to wait around to awkwardly insert their call sign in the middle of the new discussion as the only way of legally identifying at the end of their series of previous transmissions.

FCC regulations require the transmitting station to identify with their call sign. Someone else cannot identify for you. YOU must give YOUR call sign at the end of the conversation to meet the ID requirement.

By the way, since the FCC assigns call signs for the basic purpose of identifying your transmissions – saying “This is “KD7XYZ for ID” is unnecessarily redundant! Just give your call sign and call it good.

4. Pause between transmissions.

This allows other hams to access the repeater. The “courtesy beep” on many repeaters is used to create a pause between the transmissions of two stations so that other stations can insert their call signs. This allows others to join in the conversation or transmit priority traffic (someone may have an emergency!). By the way, the official term is “courtesy beep”. It is NOT a “roger beep”! A “roger beep” is an illegal device used on bootleg CB radios.

5. Keep transmissions short and thoughtful.

Your “monologue” may prevent someone with an emergency from using the repeater. If you talk long enough, you may actually “time out” the repeater. The repeater transmit timer limits the length of time the repeater is continuously transmitting to prevent overheating. Once the “time-out” timer is activated it may take up to 5-minutes for the repeater to reset itself and return to normal operation. To avoid this, periodically wait between transmissions for the repeater to completely drop out in order to reset the timer.

Remember that your transmissions are being heard by many listeners, including public service officials and other non-hams with scanners. Please don’t give them a bad impression of the Amateur Radio Service. Don’t be an “alligator mouth”!

6. Use simplex frequencies whenever possible for lengthy conversations.

If you can complete your contact on a direct frequency, there is no need to tie up the repeater and prevent others from using it. In the Great Falls area, popular simplex frequencies include: 146.520 MHz (Nationwide FM simplex calling frequency), 145.550 MHz, and 146.445 MHz (also used for transmitter hunts).

This is not intended to discourage open-ended roundtable discussions where participating stations frequently pause to allow new stations to join in. Due to the wide area coverage of the 146.740 MHz repeater and its links, hams from all over North Central Montana get together and chat.

Please note that while this is a general rule for repeater use, it is not really an issue in the Great Falls area. We need more activity on our repeaters! But keep it in mind when visiting a big city and using their local repeaters.

7. Use the minimum amount of power necessary to maintain radio communications.

This FCC regulation requirement minimizes the possibility of accidentally triggering distant repeaters on the same frequency. Obviously you don’t need the full 1,500 watts authorized to the Amateur Radio Service to talk to a buddy across town. Dial back the output power! When using a handheld radio, reducing the output power also reduces the battery current drain, so your battery will last longer.

But the trade-off of using lower power is not being able to reach a distant repeater. The 146.740 MHz repeater, located on top of Highwood-Baldy Mountain, requires the full 5-watt output from a handheld radio in order to be used. If you do not have a clear view of Highwood-Baldy Mountain, even 5-watts may not be enough. The 147.300 MHz repeater is located on the edge of Great Falls and therefore works well with the 5-watt output of handheld radios.

8. Don’t break into a contact unless you have something to add to the discussion.

Interrupting a conversation in progress is just as impolite over the repeater as it is in person. To indicate that you would like to join the conversation, just give your call sign during the pause between the transmissions of the other stations. This simple act both announces your presence and legally identifies your transmission. If you hear a station give their call sign during your contact, please acknowledge their call sign and invite them to join in the conversation.

Do NOT routinely use phrases such as “Break!”, “Break, Break”, or “Breaker!” In radio communications message handling, the phase “Break” is used to indicate a pause in information or a change of subject. The phrase “Break, Break” is used for priority or emergency traffic. Contacts in progress cease immediately. All operators prepare to copy the emergency traffic and offer assistance. The phrase “Breaker!” is from CB radio and has no place in Amateur Radio. You studied, passed the exam, and earned your FCC issued Amateur Radio call sign - use it proudly!

During roundtable discussions involving several stations, remember that FCC regulations now only require that YOU identify your own station. Sometimes when you are driving a car it can be difficult to remember and recite all the call signs of stations participating in a conversation while still watching out for traffic. Relax and just remember to give your call sign while you focus on driving! Repeating a long list of call signs can also be a time waster – unless requested by a new station just joining the roundtable discussion.

During nets, be sure to listen carefully to the preamble given by the Net Control Station (NCS) at the start of the net. The preamble identifies the purpose of the net and the check-in procedures. Many nets are "directed nets" where a roll call roster of specific station call signs is given. Once the Net Control Station has finished the roll call of listed members, visitors will be invited to check-in. If you are uncertain if you are a "member" or a "visitor" to a net, the answer is simple. If your call sign is not listed on the roll call roster, you are a visitor!

Jumping in right at the beginning of a directed net with your call sign, or interrupting a net in progress, indicates that you have priority emergency traffic. As with using the phrase "Break, Break", all contacts in progress cease immediately. All other radio operators will stand-by and prepare to copy the emergency traffic and offer assistance. The Net Control Station will ask what your emergency traffic is. If your only reason for jumping in was to "skip to the head of the line", the Net Control Station will politely ask you to stand-by and wait until visitors are invited to check-in.

If the Net Control Station asks if there are any stations with priority traffic, QST’s, or other announcements, just transmit your call sign and wait. The Net Control Station will acknowledge you and write your call sign down, along with the call signs of any other stations indicating that they have traffic for the net. When ready, the Net Control Station will refer to the list and direct the various stations by call sign to go ahead and give their QST or announcement. Do NOT simply jump in and start giving your announcement while transmitted over the top of other stations trying to contact the Net Control Station!

Whether on the HF, VHF or UHF bands, ALWAYS listen carefully to the preamble given by the Net Control Station at the start of the net! As mentioned before, the preamble identifies the purpose of the net and the check-in procedures. Save yourself a lot of embarrassment! It can be bad enough to look like an idiot on a local VHF net. But doing it on an HF net means everyone around the world will associate your call sign with someone who is clueless or just plain inconsiderate.

As a specific example, hurricane nets on the HF bands are typically focused on assisting stations located in the affected areas. The Net Control Station is coordinating the passing of emergency or priority traffic for radio operators in the devastated areas hit by the hurricane. Breaking in to the hurricane net to announce that the weather is sunny and mild at your location will get you an instant rebuke from the Net Control Station. The best practice for hurricane nets is to just listen and monitor the traffic. If the Net Control Station announces that he has message traffic for your state or city, and you are capable of handling it, then check-in and state that you will accept the message traffic. Otherwise, just monitor the net.

9. Repeaters are intended primarily to facilitate communications from mobile stations.

During the commuter rush hours (6:00 – 8:00 AM and 4:00 – 6:00 PM) base stations should give priority to mobile stations using the repeater. This is not the time to have a long monologue with another base station just across town or attempt to make random Echo Link contacts.

You can still chat with another station, but please always listen for other mobile stations that might want to use the repeater. In fact, monitoring the repeater from a base station can literally be a life saver if a mobile station has a vehicle break down or comes upon an accident scene. This is especially true during the winter months or severe weather!

10. Some repeaters are equipped with an “auto-patch” feature which, when properly accessed, connects the repeater to the local telephone system.

This enables the amateur radio operator to place a telephone call from his mobile or portable station. While the FCC has lifted some of the restrictions related to business communications by amateur radio operators, keep in mind that a club or repeater custodian is permitted to set the policy as to what type of phone calls are permitted. Check with the sponsoring club for specific restrictions before using the auto-patch function. The auto-patch is a bonus feature that involves a monthly telephone bill that the radio club has to pay!

Calls made over the repeater auto-patch are NOT private. Even someone with a scanner will hear the entire conversation. Be sure to warn folks who answer the telephone that you are on the auto-patch so they are aware and act appropriately. Many things that can be said over a private telephone circuit cannot be repeated over the air! As the initiator of the auto-patch call you are responsible for what the person on the other end of the connection says. If your family or friends cannot have a conversation without using inappropriate language, do NOT use the auto-patch to contact them!

The correct way to access the auto-patch is to first listen for a few minutes and ensure no one is using the repeater. If all is quiet, give your call sign and state, “Accessing the auto-patch”. Enter the appropriate control tones and dial your number. When finished with the call, shut down the connection. Give your call sign again and state, “Clear of the auto-patch”. This lets other users of the repeater know that you are finished and the repeater is available for regular contacts.

Sometimes a mobile or portable station with a weak signal into the repeater will be unable to activate the auto-patch function. Although their scratchy voice can be heard and understood, the signal distortion prevents the repeater from decoding the DTMF tones. Those monitoring the repeater should offer assistance if the person is trying to report a vehicle accident or other emergency. You can bring up the auto-patch and let them talk directly to the 911 dispatcher.

Special Note: Due to the proliferation of cellular telephones, many repeaters today no longer have an “auto-patch” feature. This is true of the repeaters sponsored by the Great Falls Area Amateur Radio Club (GFAARC). We are limited on how many special features our repeaters can support. It was decided to remove the “auto-patch” feature so we could connect and provide the popular Echo-Link and IRLP connections. These new features were more often requested by the current club members.

11. The 146.740 MHz repeater also has an Echo Link connection provided by Jim, N7YO.

The Echo Link access procedures are similar to auto-patch operations. After listening for a few minutes to confirm the repeater is not in use, give your call sign and state, “Accessing Echo Link”. Enter the appropriate control tones to connect to the desired repeater that is also connected to Echo Link. When finished, shut down the link, give your call sign, and state, “Clear of Echo Link”.

Avoid tying up the repeater by leaving an Echo Link connection active when not being used – that ties up the repeaters on both ends! Shut down the connection and return the repeater to local use. Please remember that for many Amateur Radio operators who live outside the Great Falls area, the far reaching Highwood-Baldy repeater is the only one they can access!

12. If you really like using Echo Link, consider making the connection directly from your home computer instead of tying up the 146.740 MHz repeater.

The Highwood-Baldy repeater has a very wide area of coverage and therefore serves far more club members and traveling hams than the short range repeaters located right in Great Falls. There are hams as far out as Lincoln, Havre, Malta, Denton, and Roy that use the Highwood Baldy repeater. If you are home and have Echo Link capability on your computer, use that connection direct to the desired distant repeater instead of tying up the local repeater by using a radio connection.

This policy applies to personal communications. Periodically, during club sponsored events such as National Skywarn Recognition day, the repeater will be connected via Echo Link to allow local participation in such special events by local hams. The use of club repeaters during club sponsored events by club members is acceptable and has priority over personal use.

Likewise, the use of club repeaters for non-club public service events is prohibited without prior approval of the GFAARC Board of Directors. (This means making a personal appearance at a GFAARC Board Meeting at least one month prior to the event date to request approval.)

13. All repeaters are assembled and maintained at considerable expense and inconvenience.

As an example, the Highwood-Baldy repeater site is difficult to reach even on a nice summer day. During the winter months snow can block access to the site well into late May! Those who are regular users of a repeater should support the efforts of keeping the repeater on the air. At a minimum this means being a paid club member, since a portion of our membership dues goes into the repeater maintenance fund.

Volunteering to help when a repair expedition to a repeater site is announced is another great way to support the repeater and the club custodians who keep it running. It can make for an interesting day outing, and you will learn more about radio systems!

14. FCC rules permit repeater owners/custodians to restrict who may use their repeaters.

There is no “guaranteed right of public access”. Repeaters are not “public facilities”, they are privately owned equipment. The repeater trustee is responsible for all communications that go out over the repeaters. Individuals that fail to abide by club policies or FCC regulations may be barred from using the club’s repeaters. The FCC may take action against those who fail to abide by the restrictions imposed by a repeater owner. See Section 97.205 (e) of the FCC regulations for more information.

15. The 146.740 MHz repeater is a wide-area coverage repeater.

With the addition of the linked Fairfield repeater (147.260 MHz), much of north central Montana now has 2-meter / VHF coverage. Because of this, 146.740 MHz is the primary repeater for area ARES operations. In the event it is off the air, check the 147.300 MHz, 146.680 MHz, and 147.120 repeaters for ARES activity. The local FM simplex frequency used for ARES operations is 146.520 MHz.

In the event of a natural disaster or other type of emergency, tune to these frequencies to find out if ARES operations are being initiated. As with the discussion concerning Echo Link, the use of club repeaters for ARES activities has priority over personal use. As always, emergency traffic has priority over all other activities. Please keep a pencil, notepad, and blank ARRL Radiogram near your radio at home in case a mobile or portable station requires assistance, or a station has message traffic for the Great Falls area.

16. If you have the right frequency and transmit offset programmed into your radio, but still can’t seem to transmit through the repeater - check to see if a sub-audible tone is required.

The 146.740 MHz and 444.350 MHz repeaters require a 100.0 Hz sub-audible tone on your transmit signal in order to activate the repeater. The sub-audible tone feature is often used at crowded repeater sites to prevent stray signals caused by inter-modulation or harmonics from falsely triggering a repeater. Some repeaters require the sub-audible tone all the time, while others have the tone feature activated by the repeater custodian only during periods of problems with stray signals. As a note, the 146.740 and 147.300 MHz repeaters both require the 100.0 Hz tone all the time.

Most modern 2-meter and 70-cm Amateur Radios come equipped with sub-audible tone encoders for the transmit function. Use the menu functions on your radio to select the required tone frequency from the 38 standard sub-audible tones typically available in every radio.

For most radios, using the tone function is a 2-step process. First you use the menu functions to select the correct tone frequency (such as 100.0 Hz). Then you must "turn-on" or "activate" the tone function for the VFO frequency or memory channel you are using. Many radios display either a "T" or a musical note to indicate the tone function is activated. If you select the desired tone frequency, but fail to activate the tone function, the radio will not transmit the required tone.

Only activate the tone function on your transmit signal (encode). Do not activate the tone function on your receive signal (decode) or you will never hear anything. The repeater does not retransmit the sub-audible tone, and only requires it on your transmit signal going in on the repeater input frequency. Most ham radios give you three options for using sub-audible tones: “encode” (on transmit only), “decode” (on receive only), and “encode/decode” (on both transmit & receive). Toggle through the options and select the “encode” option to ensure the sub-audible tone goes out on your transmit signal.

A repeater directory book from the ARRL is a great reference tool for repeater frequencies and required tones. Get one for the home station and your vehicle! The desktop edition has more room along the margins for updates to be penciled in. Some folks purchase a repeater directory periodically, keeping the old one at home and the newest one in the vehicle.

There is a lot of information contained in the repeater directory, including band plans, and listings of Echo Link / IRLP nodes. The information contained in the band plans alone tell you of all the various operating modes and activities that take place on the VHF and UHF Amateur Radio bands. Besides FM, there's also Morse Code (CW), Single Sideband (SSB), satellite communications, digital, and various other weak signal modes being used on different frequencies within the 144-148 MHz 2-meter band.

Operating FM voice over a 2-meter ham repeater is just the tip of the iceberg. Explore some of the many things you can do with your Technician license!