[Dstar] Find a repeater site

[Robert and Dawn McKernan]

G'day to all needing a repeater site,

I am brand new to digital communication and my technical knowledge is limited. But I'm an old hand and I know a lot about human nature.

Firstly, congratulations to all those who have found and kept, or provided, a repeater site so far. For those still searching, here are a few thoughts, re country sites. The list of your perfect repeater site conditions would probably include:
  a.. good and frequent access, 
  b.. electricity from mains or alternative source 
  c.. existing secure unused building 
  d.. existing suitable unused tower 
  e.. excellent coverage area 
  f.. quiet RF location 
  g.. guaranteed free long term sole use of site 
  h.. high speed internet access
Search with an open mind for at least 20 spots that look like they fulfil all essential conditions and as many of the other conditions as possible. Possibly a good start would be a circles on a map around all the telephone exchanges in the areas of interest. ADSL needs to be within a specified line length, so at some stage your circles might need to be odd shapes. Perhaps a radio link to a nearby club member's ADSL connection might be a technical alternative if the phone line is too indirect.   

The important point to recognise is that obtaining a site is not so much a technical issue, but a matter of communication with the site owner.You are effectively asking for a donation. 

Let us say you got permission for a great spot. The owner's neighbours might ask him what the installation is, suggesting that the site rental would be a very useful addition to his income. Not good. The owner has to be able to rattle off all the great reasons why he wants an amateur repeater on his hilltop and why it is far better than a CB or a commercial installation. It might be easier if the owner is an amateur, was a coastwatcher in PNG during WW2, his life had previously been saved by amateur radio, or if his lost-in-the-desert favourite grandchild was found in the nick of time by an amateur from your club. You can hope he is an SES or fire brigade volunteer or a member of Rotary, Lions or the Scouting movement. If he is a truckie, he will need to understand that we aspire to more than CB type communication. If he is concerned about his poor TV reception and possible interference, he will need verbal guarantees and a new TV antenna system up front, supplied and installed gratis. If he is a deeply religious person, he might need assurances about no bad language, and that might even mean supplying a receiver temporarily or permanently so that he can monitor the repeater. The repeater installation should always have a professional appearance, including moving the grass in the immediate area. Neat and tidy will be appreciated by owner and his family and there will be less danger from bushfire.

A country property would usually have a dog. When you first visit, there must be at least one amateur who can confidently get to know or pat a dog. If there is a drought, you need to know when it last rained and how much. If it is a cattle property, you might like to know at least one thing about cattle. Like never have a pet bull because one day it will kill you. For the initial request and continuing access, club members need to be 100% considerate of gate rules, track use, erosion control, fence status, clearance from farm machinery etc. If a farmer thinks you're just somebody from the city with a walkie-talkie, you just blew it. You should check if your access is limited to daylight hours or Monday - Friday only. Depending on his religious faith, you need to determine if Friday, Saturday or Sunday are important. If you perceive avoidance of a particular day to be an owner preference, you must stay away on that day. If the repeater is needs attention to cover an actual emergency you should first phone with an apology and reason for requesting access if it is an avoidance day. One person in your club needs to be totally responsible to control all access by club members and other amateurs who might think they have access rights.

You might have repeater permission, but poor access to the owner's hilltop. If most other conditions are good and it turns out to be the best available site, walking the last 500 metres might be best, but it might be worthwhile considering construction of a track. This would be very practical if a member of your club is in the road construction business. Don't forget cross track drainage and occasional maintenance, because your intelligent property owner and his friends won't. When his mates down at the pub rib him about giving free use of his hilltop, power etc, he can just ask them when someone last made and maintained a good track for them on their property. Its not hard to figure that if a club member has a grader, yearly trimming of another track, like from his front gate could be considered like rent. Owner and family would certainly feel very good about that. Quite an amount of access will be needed, especially in the first few months, and the owner should understand that. Don't ever forget an appropriate yearly card. Try not to send a Christmas card to a Muslim. Seek advice if it is complicated.

Someone who has contributed to club operations or especially who temporarily has the repeater at their own home should be in the initial contact team. More than 2 people is intimidating. The other should be someone who has door-knocked for charity or raised money for that new school building etc. You only get one shot at each site, and it needs to be a good one.

If it is a commercial site, there will be other considerations, but you still need to ensure that those giving permission always continue to feel good about their permission. All the angles need to be worked out in advance. There might be owner security conserns for a site. Your club might include a policeman, solicitor, JP, electronics engineer etc. It might be necessary to have a short list of such people that the owner can choose from as a key holder.

Most owners, private or commercial, will need to know about liability insurance. You will need to know in advance about such matters when questioned. There are sure to be other considerations, and each site owner will have a different perspective of your request. 

VK4RIL repeater in on my property. I have direct experience with most of the thing mentioned in this email, and I have discussed all those points where I have no experience with those who do. 

73, Bob VK4BYX 
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