First and foremost, repeaters cost a lot of
money ! That money comes
from club dues, and donations. When you join the club, you become
a very important part of our present , and future repeaters. Without
dues and the club, these repeaters would eventually go silent !
A lot of work goes into keeping our repeaters maintained and working, a trip
to the top of
Scout Mt takes about 60 to 90 minutes, (that's one way),
depending on how much
damage you want to inflect on your vehicle.
And then another 60 to 90
to get back down. A trip to the top kills "most of a day".
Not wanting to slap myself on the back too much,
I have done a lot, but, by all means not all the maintenance on the
club repeaters for the past
25+ years. I am glad I have the expertise and
equipment to do it, and I am proud that our Kinport 2 meter
repeater has been "UP" almost 100%
since it was first installed in
1976. Most of those members responsible for getting
that machine up and running
are now Silent Keys, but their legacy lives on.
We have had intrepid club
members brave the cold of winter, walking
up that mountain to fix
the repeater, Larry Arave W7ALA walked up and
skied down, he only did
that once, he said the decent was way too fast and
too many rocks. Don Christian KD7MU walked up
and ran out of sun light.
Alone in the dark, he could hear the coyotes (??) in the
woods just off the road .
He had his HT, You could hear it in his voice,
he was worried about becoming dinner ..
He later said, he would never do that again without a gun and a flashlight.
One
time I went up on a 4 wheeler, not being an experienced rider I let it role
back
on top of me, Wow, a trip to the hospital for some stitches. I decided a 4x4
truck
was a better bet. Many others have made similar trips. Anyway these are just a
few of the stories , there have
been many others.
Many repeaters come and go, some have all sorts of
fancy toys attached to them,
most of these fads that soon fade away
into history. The PARC repeaters are
like the Energizer Bunny, they just keep
going and going. Providing good reliable
communications,
when we need it.
I would also like to add , that the Kinport repeater has a battery backup
system.
If the AC power grid every fails, for whatever reason, it should continue to work
for several days, even under heavy usage
conditions.
The Scout Mt repeater is 100% solar!!
It's Ready !! The
members of PARC, through their hard work and
dues, help support two of
the best repeaters in our area.
Our Repeaters are ready if a
major emergency occurs !!!
Not having exact information about every
repeater in Idaho, I am guessing,
there are only a few repeaters with the
capabilities of the PARC system.
Now, one other thought, ARE
YOU READY ?? when the big one hits,
I will guarantee the check-out line at Wal-Mart, will
be closed.
the radio that is now on 147.36 has been updated several times, but, the
base radio is the
first non-tube radio the club installed in 1976.
KØIP