Islip Repeater Group K2IRG Repeater Rules and User's Guide
The Rules
The K2IRG repeater is maintained by the Islip Repeater Group as a service to the Islip community, but all hams are welcome to use it at any time. We ask only that you follow these simple rules:
Follow all FCC regulations. We mean all of them!
Please identify before you send any DTMF commands to the repeater. It really bugs the control operators when an unidentified station starts sending a command string to the repeater. Such activity will be reported as malicious interference to the FCC.
Don't try to "hack" the repeater. All repeater commands intended for general use will be listed on this page as they become available. The other users of the repeater will find it extremely annoying if you start sending random commands to try to figure out if there are more of them and will report it as malicious interference to the FCC. Which brings us to the last rule...
Be courteous to other users. Please. Specific suggestions about how to accomplish this are listed in the User's Guide.
We do ask that you let us know if there is some way we can make the repeater more useful to you or the community. We can't promise to do it (we don't have much time or money to spare), but we'll do what we can.
The User's Guide
This is a brief summary of the options and commands available to all users of the K2IRG repeater. A more complete guide will be available soon.
Courtesy
Please be courteous to other users of the repeater. In particular, listen for several seconds before you start transmitting. If someone else is using the repeater, and you need to make a quick call to another ham, or a quick autopatch, don't just jump in and take over the repeater. Use the "break in" procedures described below and everyone will be a lot less annoyed.
Repeater Quirks
The K2IRG uses an repeater controller. This is a high-quality, well-behaved controller, so there are not many quirks that users need to be aware of. It does have a "kerchunk filter" to reduce key-ups from stray signals, which has the undesirable side effect of losing the first quarter-second or so of audio when the transmitter first keys up. Put another way, this means that if the repeater transmitter is not already on the air, you need to hold your PTT button down for about 1/2 second before you start talking to make sure the first syllable or so of what you say isn't lost in the kerchunk filter.
Break-in Procedures
If you need to interrupt a conversation in progress so you can make a quick call to someone, please just give the suffix of your callsign during a pause in the conversation. When you are recognized, ask if the current users mind if you make a quick call. Since they are courteous K2IRG repeater users, they will of course not mind at all, and tell you to go right ahead.
If you are in a conversation and hear someone give their callsign suffix, please stop immediately and recognize the breaker. Just think of how you would feel if you needed to make a quick call to find out if you needed to buy milk on the way home, and the repeater users just kept right talking for another minute or two until you had driven past the grocery store.
If you need to use the repeater for something a little more urgent, use the word "BREAK" during a pause in the conversation. If you urgently need to call 911, say "BREAK EMERGENCY" or "BREAK 911". Although it is wise to pause and make sure you successfully broke into the conversation, you can continue in the same transmission to give your callsign and dial 911. Please reserve this for those rare situations that are true emergencies and five extra seconds could make a real difference, e.g. to report an apparent heart attack. If you need to report a minor accident with no major injuries, take the time to let the other users recognize your break before making the call.
If you are using the repeater and someone asks to make a 911 call, or uses the word "emergency" when they break, stop immediately and tell them to go ahead. Don't finish what you were saying. Don't launch into a monologue about how eager you are to help with the emergency. Just say "GO AHEAD" (if they used the word "emergency" then say "GO AHEAD EMERGENCY"). As they make their call, if you decide it isn't a true emergency, don't interrupt them to argue. Let them finish, and then express your opinion. You may not understand the situation.
Remember that in many areas, the word "break" is used for routine break-ins. When visitors or new users use it as such, very gently explain that the standard usage on this repeater is to reserve the word "break" for things that are of more than routine urgency, but not true emergencies. An automobile accident with no injuries is a good example of a situation where either "BREAK" or "BREAK 911" would be appropriate.
The example of someone needing to call to find out if they should stop to buy milk is a borderline case. Normally such calls would be considered routine, but if they have been patiently waiting for you to finish your conversation and finally can't wait any longer, or if they are about to drive out of range of the repeater, then they are justified in using the word "break", because it would cause them significant inconvenience to have to stop by the side of the road and wait for you to finish your conversation about the relative merits of "Star Trek Voyager" and "Babylon 5".
The bottom line is that you should recognize all breakers as soon as possible, and always let "911" or "emergency" breakers in without further discussion. Don't be too picky about the exact method that others use for routine break-ins, but do try to conform your own usage to the guidelines above so that you set a good example.
Last updated on 09/25/08 09:04:23 AM -0400
The Rules
The K2IRG repeater is maintained by the Islip Repeater Group as a service to the Islip community, but all hams are welcome to use it at any time. We ask only that you follow these simple rules:
Follow all FCC regulations. We mean all of them!
Please identify before you send any DTMF commands to the repeater. It really bugs the control operators when an unidentified station starts sending a command string to the repeater. Such activity will be reported as malicious interference to the FCC.
Don't try to "hack" the repeater. All repeater commands intended for general use will be listed on this page as they become available. The other users of the repeater will find it extremely annoying if you start sending random commands to try to figure out if there are more of them and will report it as malicious interference to the FCC. Which brings us to the last rule...
Be courteous to other users. Please. Specific suggestions about how to accomplish this are listed in the User's Guide.
We do ask that you let us know if there is some way we can make the repeater more useful to you or the community. We can't promise to do it (we don't have much time or money to spare), but we'll do what we can.
The User's Guide
This is a brief summary of the options and commands available to all users of the K2IRG repeater. A more complete guide will be available soon.
Courtesy
Please be courteous to other users of the repeater. In particular, listen for several seconds before you start transmitting. If someone else is using the repeater, and you need to make a quick call to another ham, or a quick autopatch, don't just jump in and take over the repeater. Use the "break in" procedures described below and everyone will be a lot less annoyed.
Repeater Quirks
The K2IRG uses an repeater controller. This is a high-quality, well-behaved controller, so there are not many quirks that users need to be aware of. It does have a "kerchunk filter" to reduce key-ups from stray signals, which has the undesirable side effect of losing the first quarter-second or so of audio when the transmitter first keys up. Put another way, this means that if the repeater transmitter is not already on the air, you need to hold your PTT button down for about 1/2 second before you start talking to make sure the first syllable or so of what you say isn't lost in the kerchunk filter.
Break-in Procedures
If you need to interrupt a conversation in progress so you can make a quick call to someone, please just give the suffix of your callsign during a pause in the conversation. When you are recognized, ask if the current users mind if you make a quick call. Since they are courteous K2IRG repeater users, they will of course not mind at all, and tell you to go right ahead.
If you are in a conversation and hear someone give their callsign suffix, please stop immediately and recognize the breaker. Just think of how you would feel if you needed to make a quick call to find out if you needed to buy milk on the way home, and the repeater users just kept right talking for another minute or two until you had driven past the grocery store.
If you need to use the repeater for something a little more urgent, use the word "BREAK" during a pause in the conversation. If you urgently need to call 911, say "BREAK EMERGENCY" or "BREAK 911". Although it is wise to pause and make sure you successfully broke into the conversation, you can continue in the same transmission to give your callsign and dial 911. Please reserve this for those rare situations that are true emergencies and five extra seconds could make a real difference, e.g. to report an apparent heart attack. If you need to report a minor accident with no major injuries, take the time to let the other users recognize your break before making the call.
If you are using the repeater and someone asks to make a 911 call, or uses the word "emergency" when they break, stop immediately and tell them to go ahead. Don't finish what you were saying. Don't launch into a monologue about how eager you are to help with the emergency. Just say "GO AHEAD" (if they used the word "emergency" then say "GO AHEAD EMERGENCY"). As they make their call, if you decide it isn't a true emergency, don't interrupt them to argue. Let them finish, and then express your opinion. You may not understand the situation.
Remember that in many areas, the word "break" is used for routine break-ins. When visitors or new users use it as such, very gently explain that the standard usage on this repeater is to reserve the word "break" for things that are of more than routine urgency, but not true emergencies. An automobile accident with no injuries is a good example of a situation where either "BREAK" or "BREAK 911" would be appropriate.
The example of someone needing to call to find out if they should stop to buy milk is a borderline case. Normally such calls would be considered routine, but if they have been patiently waiting for you to finish your conversation and finally can't wait any longer, or if they are about to drive out of range of the repeater, then they are justified in using the word "break", because it would cause them significant inconvenience to have to stop by the side of the road and wait for you to finish your conversation about the relative merits of "Star Trek Voyager" and "Babylon 5".
The bottom line is that you should recognize all breakers as soon as possible, and always let "911" or "emergency" breakers in without further discussion. Don't be too picky about the exact method that others use for routine break-ins, but do try to conform your own usage to the guidelines above so that you set a good example.
Last updated on 09/25/08 09:04:23 AM -0400