Repeater Co-ordinator OKs mandatory repeater tones policy

The Southeast Repeater Association (SERA) Board of Directors has approved an "all tone, all the time" policy for the repeaters SERA coordinates.

SERA provides voluntary frequency coordination for amateur repeaters in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and parts of Virginia and West Virginia.

The Board okayed a motion to amend its coordination policy and guidelines to require CTCSS or DCS receive and transmit tones on all new FM voice repeaters. Existing voice repeaters will have until July 1, 2006, to comply.

The SERA Repeater Journal reported the move in its August issue. Repeater Journal Editor Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, said a need to relieve interference complaints led to the Board's decision.

"The point is to stop the ongoing complaints and skirmishes between co-channel neighbors running carrier-access repeaters," Pearce explained. "The vote was unanimous, but SERA recognizes that tone isn't universally popular nor is it a cure-all. And it causes new problems, particularly for travellers."

South Carolina ARRL member Laurie Sansbury Jr, KV4C, would agree with Pearce on that score. He also has taken issue with SERA's new policy and with Pearce's Repeater Journal "SquelchTale" editorial, in which Pearce said he had "little sympathy for the ham whose radio doesn't have a tone encoder" and "Radios are cheap today."

"Not for the senior on a fixed income they're not," Sansbury retorted in an e-mail copied to ARRL. "Not for a teenager - the future of ham radio - they're not."

Source: ARRL Letter - courtesy of The American Radio Relay League

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