This ham repeater is maintained as a service to all hams in our serving area, much of S.E.Texas. All hams are welcome to use it at any time. We only ask 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 and also if you should be testing a new rig or antenna. It really bugs control operators when an unidentified station kerchunks or starts sending control commands to the repeater.
*Don't try to hack the repeater. All user commands intended for general use will be listed below. 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 any more of them.. Which brings us to the last rule...
* Be courteous to others. Please. Specific suggestions about how to accomplish this are listed in the Users' Guide.
That's it ! There are no required dues (but donations are extremely welcome). You don't have to come to breakfast at the Village Inn or Aunt Annie's, but you could always buy breakfast for the gang. Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to make the repeater more useful for you or the community. I can't promise that it will happen, but we'll do what we can.
The Users' Guide
This is a summary of the user commands that are available for all users of N5KWN repeater.
1. Identify and press to disable need for P.L. access for 5 minutes. Press again to enable the P.L. access. You don't have to have P.L. to send this command.
2. Identify and press to test your keypad. Press ,plus your keypad numbers (noD). The voice controller will read back the numbers as it received them.
3. Identify and press to get the time of day. These are all of the commands available to general users.
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 auto patch, don't just jump in and take over the repeater. Use the break in procedures descried below and everyone will be a lot less annoyed.
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 call sign 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 N5KWN 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 call sign 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 on 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 Montgomery or Walker County Sheriff's Office say BREAK EMERGENCY or BREAK 911. Although it is wise to pause and make sure you have successfully broke into the conversation, you can continue in the same transmission to give your call sign and call for assistance. Please reserve this for those rare situations that are true emergencies and give 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 an Emergency 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 EMERGENCY . As they make their call, if you decide that 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 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 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 with 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.
Auto patch
The auto patch is open to all repeater users, but before you bring up the patch. It's a good idea to tell the person who answers that they are talking on the radio and if they start using inappropriate language, ask them to stop. Also remember that you cannot use the auto patch to conduct your business. To make a phone call, give your ID, listen to make sure you get a courtesy tone (i.e., make sure that the repeater can hear you), then dial * and the telephone number. The repeater will read back the number you dialed and then make the call. If the number is incorrect press your mic and send a short pound tone(#) for about a second and the call will be canceled. If you should desire for the number not to be read back before dialing you simply key for a second when the repeater says auto patch. The phone coverage areas are as follows: CONROE, GRANGERLAND, WILLIS, NEW WAVERLY, HUNTSVILLE, EVERGREEN, TRINITY and RIVERSIDE, TEXAS. No other calls can be made that require a different area code or a 1+ to dial.
After the call, hang up by sending a short pound tone (#). Please identify and say clear the patch. If you have trouble hanging up the patch, don't worry, it will automatically hang up after 30 seconds of inactivity.
During an auto patch, you have to transmit something at least once every 30 seconds or the patch will disconnect. You can just send a brief carrier every once in a while and it will reset the timer.
Auto patch calls are normally limited to 3 minutes, but if you must have more time, you can send a *1 and the timer will reset itself for an additional 3 minutes. It will give you a short beep just before it times out. You have to be quick to send the *1 or it will disconnect on you. If you should have occasion that you would not want your transmission monitored over the repeater you can send a *3 to the repeater and it will mute your transmitted audio and make your conversation a little more personal. Remember, anyone within your range can hear you on reverse.
Emergency Calls
Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, dial 90, no * in front...
Walker County Sheriff's Office, dial 91, no * in front..
The repeater will say Emergency call to Police. You will know that you have the right number. All calls should go directly to the Sheriff's Dispatch Office. This procedure was requested by the Agencies to help keep the 911 lines clear. If someone must dial 911 simply identify, key and send *911. This could be used by hams not familiar with the speed dial numbers. Remember, you would be connected to the 911 operator in Walker County since the telephone is located there. You must always remember to identify BEFORE making an emergency call. The control operators are likely to cancel an unidentified call, presumably as a prank call. Always remember to give the dispatcher your ham call sign. This way they have a way of identifying you as a bonafied caller.
Auto dialer
Regular users of the repeater are assigned personal auto dial positions. If you wish to have a personal auto dial slot call N5KWN at 409-441-5020 or email me and I will program one in for you. The Auto Dial Directory will not be published on the Internet for obvious reasons.
Weather Alerts
There are several voice weather alerts that are programmed into
the repeaters memory.
If you should hear the repeater's normal I.D. announce N5KWN Repeater
Weather Alert, you will know that there is some type of severe weather
in the Montgomery County or surrounding area. The regular courtesy tone
will be replaced with a morse code "W" (.--). Every 15 minutes
or so, the repeaters voice will announce the type of weather emergency
that exists in our area. Tune to NOAA weather radio or your local
radio or television station to keep up with the emergency situation.
It is my dream to be able to purchase a weather radio that interfaces
with our repeater. This will allow direct weather bulletins to be re-broadcast
directly over our repeater from the National Weather Service in Houston.
(For a nice pic, click here
) This project, like all the other refinements to our repeater
will take time and monetary support from you, the users. I sincerely thank
everyone for their support in the recent "phone patch" project that went
so very well. Enjoy the repeater and phone patch and use it wisely.
Thanks and 73's , Tom Butler, N5KWN........