Astro digital amateur use in Orlando, FL area?

[JustinMoon205]

Hi guys,

There is a UHF Astro digital capable repeater in Orlando area on 442.075. Does anyone on the board use this repeater? I have been monitoring it for several days, but I have not heard any digital traffic on it and very little analog traffic. Just curious.

Thanks!

-Justin

[N4DES]

I was on it just a few weeks ago when I was up there for a family vacation....threw my call out a few times and didn't get any responses.
The busiest I have seen it is during the Orlando Hamfest.

[batdude]

orlando is one of the most ham-unfriendly places, except maybe the northeast, to use amateur radio.

there are so many tourists ... that none of the locals are eager to respond to any calls.

it's a kickass repeater - still on one of the highest towers around... but prob on 10 or so digital users in the whole area.



doug

[123]

back 10 years ago when I still lived in Central Fl I used to use this repeater all the time and usually had a large round table rag chew. The repeater was very busy most of the time with users from Daytona to Lakeland

Several of us used MDC1200 for IDs back when this was a analog only repeater with many of us using Sys Sabers and Astro sabers. I think when the owner switched it to mixed mode it scared many of the local analog only users away to other repeaters. Some of us moved I myself included and the others that remain are veteran's to the area so if they do not know you, they wont respond. But trust me, they are listening.

And I will admit, I do that myself to the ham repeaters I monitor. Unless the conversation is of technical value, I usually dont get on the air. Unless I am just bored and have nothing else better to do. Which I rarely monitor ham anyway because I stay on commercial and public safety channels.

[MSS-Dave]

Hmmm...

I think all of the guys that have access to this box on digital (myself included...) work a various mix of jobs that may or may not take us out of listening mode. There are only 1 or 2 mobiles being used with the rest being portables and not all of us tote those around all of the time. If we are on the road, it's more likely we'll be listening. Make a few more calls but feel free to use analog as well since 90+% of the users have both modes. I run PL squelch on my analog mobile so if someone is on digital, I don't hear them unless I have the APX on scan or on that channel.

P.S. Nice talking to you Mark on your way through the area....


Dave

[123]

Does anyone on the board use this repeater? Justin

Justin,

Since you are not getting much action in Orlando. If you have a VHF radio I convinced one of my buddies to switch his MSF 5000 to a 125W Quantar Mix-mode on
147.375 + offset
PL 127.3
NAC 293
Location: Lakeland, Fl. {Southeast section}

You will for sure get a response from him. I will also be in town next week with a convoy of friends. So the repeater will be alive next week for sure. Just throw your call out there if you happen to see the yellow light flashing with no audio. We tend to stray off to different talkgroups and "modes" when rag chewing among ourselves.

I am trying to get another repeater owner in Tampa to switch to a Quantar as well. Stay tuned...

[alex]

One neat thing I saw recently with respect to linking P25 networks was using a Quantar with two receivers. In this configuration they were using the in cabinet repeat feature and scanning the two receivers. The second receiver was tuned to the next closest repeaters output. This fixes the double vocoding issue as the raw data is simply rebroadcast at each site.

It seems like a very basic concept but the first time I had heard or seen this done using P25.

-Alex

[123]

One neat thing I saw recently with respect to linking P25 networks was using a Quantar with two receivers. In this configuration they were using the in cabinet repeat feature and scanning the two receivers. The second receiver was tuned to the next closest repeaters output. This fixes the double vocoding issue as the raw data is simply rebroadcast at each site.

It seems like a very basic concept but the first time I had heard or seen this done using P25.

-Alex

I had been thinking about doing this myself, I am glad to hear it works !
Is there a latency issue on the 2nd receiver? I wouldn't think there would be but just had to ask since you seen this working already.
Also, is there a delay or clipping of the first part of transmissions in picking up audio from either receiver while its scanning?

[alex]

I had been thinking about doing this myself, I am glad to hear it works !
Is there a latency issue on the 2nd receiver? I wouldn't think there would be but just had to ask since you seen this working already.
Also, is there a delay or clipping of the first part of transmissions in picking up audio from either receiver while its scanning?

They are doing this in Germany. I saw the repeaters and asked about this and if I could get a codeplug from the station to figure it out. I would expect there to be a little delay and probably some clipping... You would probably have to set tail to be only a few hundred MS on the repeater to make sure it goes back to scan.

If I get more information I will pass it along. I wish I had known it was here I would have brought a portable with me to listen even if it was in german.

-Alex

[123]

I had been thinking about doing this myself, I am glad to hear it works !
Is there a latency issue on the 2nd receiver? I wouldn't think there would be but just had to ask since you seen this working already.
Also, is there a delay or clipping of the first part of transmissions in picking up audio from either receiver while its scanning?

They are doing this in Germany. I saw the repeaters and asked about this and if I could get a codeplug from the station to figure it out. I would expect there to be a little delay and probably some clipping... You would probably have to set tail to be only a few hundred MS on the repeater to make sure it goes back to scan.

If I get more information I will pass it along. I wish I had known it was here I would have brought a portable with me to listen even if it was in german.

-Alex

If you get a chance ask them if they have any clipping of audio. I dont care about a small latency delay but clipping may be a concern.
If they give you the codeplug email it to me.