A ham on the 940 repeater was discussing his plan to upgrade from Tech to General and then to Extra a month later. He was also planning on talking his XYL into getting her Tech, too. The usual suspects were very critical of his plan to upgrade so quickly. They encouraged him to learn the material instead of taking one of the local classes and memorizing the answers to the question set. They even offered to buy him the books, so he could learn the material. I really appreciate the "tough love" they were giving the guy. They were hard on him, but they followed it up with a way to help. (Of course, I'm more of a paper ham than an expert in electronics and radio communications, but I'm still trying to learn!)
Repeater Guides
As part of that discussion, the new ham asked about getting a repeater guide. The ARRL offers their guide, which has tempted me, but not to the point that I've ordered one. The other hams recommended subscribing to SouthEastern Repeater Association (SERA). See below for information on both resources.
The ARRL Repeater Directory (Desktop Edition) $10.95
- Spiral Bound Desktop 2011/2012 Edition
- Directory of repeater locations and frequencies for the 21,800+ repeaters around the country
- Includes D-Star and APCO-25, references for operating practices, emergency message handling, tips for handling interference and much more.
- New lay-flat spiral binding allows for easy reference on the road. And, now including the ARRL Radiogram and ICS-213 Message Forms.
- Handy indexing tabs on the cover
- Easy-to-read listings
- Key to ""Repeater Notes"" located right up front
- Icons to identify ""Open"" or limited access repeater systems.
SouthEastern Repeater Association (SERA)It looks like the SERA guide may not be as closely edited as the ARRL guide.
- Associate Membership - All repeater users are invited to join SERA as Associate Members. Although Associate Members have no voting privileges, their support is the heart of helping finance the successful operation of the organization. The $15.00 per year membership fee enables you to support the efforts of the organization and receive the Repeater Journal. Associate Membership deadlines are the 15th of the month preceding the months of publication (January 15th, April 15th, July 15th, and October 15th). The Repeater Journal is mailed third class mail.
"YES! We know the cover says February 2011, but it is indeed the May 2011 edition of the SERA Repeater Journal. To solve this dilemma, take a magic marker, cross out February and write in May and the problem is solved!"
It is true that there is a huge typographical error on the cover of the May issue of the Repeater Journal which incorrectly identifies it as the February issue. As that issue will be replaced two more times this year, I will make every effort to insure the correct date is on future covers. I apologize to our readers for the error and hope it does not detract too badly from the writing therein.
ReplyDeleteJohn Ghormley KJ4UFG
Editor, SERA Repeater Journal
editor@sera.org
John - thanks for the reply. I am very impressed that you found this blog within a couple of hours of my posting. I think it is a testament to the SERA team's dedication to repeater community that you are staying on top of things this way.
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