Repeater Guidelines and Good Operating Practices
All amateur radio operators are welcome to use the Cross Roads Ham Radio Club. The rules that govern our service require good amateur operating practices. We encourage you to follow these guidelines when using our club’s repeaters. This will make the use of our repeaters more enjoyable for everyone.
Content of communications. We are all familiar with the types of communications which the FCC rules prohibit, such as music, codes and ciphers, criminal activity, false signals, broadcasting, retransmitting radio signals, and obscenity and indecency.
While we support freedom of speech, we need to remember that there are many listeners of all ages who monitor our repeaters. Our language should be courteous and sensitive to the considerations of all listeners, free of expletives, and suitable for family conversations. Use language suitable for prime-time television, not R rated movies. For many years, hams have followed a “rule of thumb” that it is not a good idea to discuss sex, religion, and politics over the air.
Identify correctly. FCC rules require a station to identify every ten minutes and at the end of a QSO.
Testing and signal reports. If you are unsure how well you are making it into the repeater, DO NOT “kerchunk” the repeater. Any time you key up the repeater, you should identify, even if you are just testing to see if you are making the machine.
Being a wide-coverage system, many mobile stations and travelers use the system to communicate over a wide distance while on the road. The W5LCR repeaters have been built at considerable expense and hard work to provide this wide-area service. One of the purposes of our repeaters is to expand the range of mobile and hand-held transceivers.
The W5LCR system is NOT a closed repeater system. It is an open, user-friendly and visitor-friendly system. Local and visiting amateurs who are not members of the Cross Roads Ham Radio Club are welcome to use our repeaters. Those who use our repeaters frequently are encouraged to consider joining our club or making a donation to help support our repeaters.
If you have any questions about the Cross Roads Ham Radio Club repeaters, feel free to use our contact us form, any member of the board, or trustee Bill Rakowitz W5iTZ.