 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
|
|
Review used with permission. Monitoring Times Magazine © December 2004, from ON THE HAM BANDS, by T.J. "SKIP" AREY, N2EI
Any ham who travels out of range of their local repeater system, or, for that matter, many hams in or near large metropolitan areas, would enjoy finding this little book stuffed in their stocking. To me, while the Repeater Directory was always a useful tool, it really came into its own with the advent of multi-memory, computer programmable UHF/VHF transceivers. Now, before I go trekking out of my local repeater area, a short session with the Directory lets me drop any number of repeater systems into my handheld. It sure makes making contact with the local ham community a lot easier when you're already up on the area machines.
The new edition includes updated listings for thousands of repeaters across the United States and Canada on all bands. These listings include frequencies as well as CTCSS and DCS information. The Directory now includes IRLP (Internet linked) nodes as well as traditional systems. Most importantly, you find out which machines are set up as open, public places. A common new user gaff is to get on a "closed" repeater without prior permission from the group or individual running the system.
In addition to this useful information, the Directory provides a number of useful guides that are especially helpful to new or infrequent repeater system users. This includes operating tips for newly licensed amateurs. I wish I had this information when I was starting out. I would have sounded a lot smarter from the get go.
The 2004/2005 ARRL Repeater Directory would also be something worth seeing under the tree, or, for that matter, any time of year.
