Tour 5 – System Culture

Due to the chain of li­nked re­peat­ers, speci­al steps are needed to allow every­one fair ac­cess to the Con­nec­tion. Be­cause the prima­ry pur­pose of the sys­tem is pub­lic ser­vice, this is a con­cern for every­one using the Col­orado Con­nec­tion.

The Con­nec­tion is de­sig­ned un­like many other li­nked re­peat­er sys­tems. Our re­peat­ers don’t all con­nect to one main re­peat­er. Ex­cept for Duran­go, all the li­nk­ing is done via amateur radio. There are no phone lines, in­ter­net, or other non-ham links (Duran­go is an ex­cep­tion, using in­ter­net). With this com­bina­tion of li­nk­ing radios and re­mote sites that act as clients to other re­peat­ers, there is a one way sign­al path ac­ross the sys­tem. In some cases the re­peater’s audio is wired to a link radio and com­munica­tions with an­oth­er site is via a simplex link frequen­cy or re­peat­er pair. Dup­lex links are avail­able bet­ween some re­peat­ers, but most of the links are in one di­rec­tion ac­ross the sys­tem at any given time.

One of the most sig­nificant charac­teris­tics of this sys­tem is the time it takes for trans­mitt­ers to unkey ac­ross the sys­tem and re­turn to an idle state, al­low­ing a re­spon­se in the op­posite di­rec­tion. Con­sid­er a con­ver­sa­tion bet­ween Jim in Col­orado Spr­ings and Steve in Grand Junc­tion. When Jim un­keys it takes a small but measur­able time for each trans­mitt­er along the path to Grand Junc­tion to unkey, drop its car­ri­er, and allow the next link to fol­low suit. Only after each trans­mitt­er has un­keyed is Steve able to re­spond. When he be­gins trans­mitt­ing, it takes more time for his audio to pro­pagate back through each re­peat­er and link trans­ceiv­er in the chain back to Col­orado Spr­ings. If an­oth­er user keys up on the eas­tern slope be­fore Steve’s sign­al gains con­trol from the other end, his re­spon­se is lost.

Similar­ly, if a con­ver­sa­tion takes place on a single mac­hine or two mac­hines close togeth­er and those talk­ing don’t leave suf­ficient breaks, users of out­ly­ing re­peat­ers may never gain ac­cess. For this rea­son Con­nec­tion users are asked to leave a pause of 3-4 seconds after hear­ing the pro­ceed tone (the CW ‘K’) be­fore be­ginn­ing their trans­miss­ion. This is es­pecial­ly approp­riate when it’s your turn in a roundt­able dis­cuss­ion. Failure to fol­low this pro­cedure will ex­clude users at the outer rea­ches of the sys­tem. This can cause ex­treme frustra­tion and oc­casion­al harsh feel­ings.

Many users never con­sid­er what the ‘K’ does to the sys­tem. What if Steve in Grand Junc­tion is talk­ing to Fred in Salida? All sys­tem mes­sages are generated from the De­nv­er re­peat­er. After Steve speaks, all the links drop and the De­nv­er re­peat­er sends the CW ‘K’ back through the sys­tem. This re­quires that all the radios key their trans­mitt­ers in the op­posite di­rec­tion to send the ‘K’ back to Steve in Grand Junc­tion and Fred in Salida. All the re­peat­ers have to drop once again be­fore Fred can speak. When he does, his sign­al keys all the trans­mitt­ers back the other di­rec­tion. While his sign­al may not need to go to De­nv­er for Steve to hear him, there is still a very sig­nificant time delay be­cause when he un­keys, the ‘K’ is again generated from De­nv­er and has to traver­se the en­tire sys­tem in the op­posite di­rec­tion. When users an­yw­here (but es­pecial­ly in De­nv­er) fail to leave adequate breaks for all the tur­naround time taken dur­ing li­nk­ing and un­link­ing for each di­rec­tion the spok­en audio or re­peat­er generated ‘K’ takes, users on out­ly­ing re­peat­ers can’t get a word in ed­gew­ise. This is in­credib­ly frustrat­ing to those of us at the far rea­ches of the sys­tem. It’s also very im­por­tant that Fred and Steve don’t keyup too quick­ly. If eith­er of them talk as soon as the sys­tem drops, they will doub­le with the ‘K’ com­ing back from De­nv­er. Not only will the first part of their audio not be heard, but oth­ers will hear the sque­al of two sign­als.

Be­cause the li­nk­ing ef­fect moves slow­er than ac­tu­al audio, it is com­mon for ½ to ¾ second of audio to be clip­ped from the be­ginn­ing of each trans­miss­ion. To over­come this clipp­ing, we ask that you wait about one to two seconds after key­ing be­fore be­ginn­ing to speak. Your pause will en­sure the smooth trans­i­tion.

There are many times when the Col­orado Con­nec­tion ser­ves as an on the air meet­ing place for large groups. Dur­ing these times it is im­por­tant to re­memb­er that the sys­tem is there for every­one. No one owns the sys­tem. Please work to in­clude every­one who has ex­pres­sed an in­terest in par­ticipat­ing.

With the ex­cep­tion that em­er­gen­cy traf­fic has ab­solute prior­ity, there are no hard and fast rules for op­erat­ing on the Col­orado Con­nec­tion, but some sim­ple guidelines should be con­sidered.

Re­memb­er, the Con­nec­tion is for pub­lic ser­vice op­era­tion. Em­er­gen­cy and pub­lic ser­vice traf­fic have prior­ity.

General­ly, dur­ing a con­ver­sa­tion, wait 3-4 seconds be­fore be­ginn­ing to trans­mit when the con­ver­sa­tion is pas­sed to you.

Wait one second after de­press­ing the PTT switch be­fore speak­ing.

Balan­ce your input (how long you talk) with how many sta­tions are par­ticipat­ing. (Don’t for­get the two minute timer.)

Work to re­memb­er who’s there and in­clude every­one. Think about to whom you will pass the con­ver­sa­tion dur­ing a roundt­able dis­cuss­ion. Do your part to help keep the rota­tion going smooth­ly.

En­courage oth­ers to join in any roundt­able dis­cuss­ions. Don’t for­get to in­clude those on out­ly­ing re­peat­ers. The 145.310 MHz De­nv­er re­peat­er is not the only re­peat­er on the Con­nec­tion.

As oth­ers join a con­ver­sa­tion, help them con­tinue the rota­tion by help­ing them know who’s next in line to pic­kup the con­ver­sa­tion.

It is com­mon to hear multi­ple break­ing sta­tions dur­ing a pause bet­ween users. When there is a break­er ex­tend the pause slight­ly to as­sure every­one a chan­ce to ident­ify.

As user A pas­ses the con­ver­sa­tion to user B, it is general­ly best for user B to acknow­ledge any break­ing sta­tions who ident­ify dur­ing the trans­ition­al pause.

If user A pas­ses the con­ver­sa­tion to user B, but user B does not re­spond, it is general­ly best for user A to pic­kup the con­ver­sa­tion, acknow­ledge any iden­tify­ing sta­tions, and pass the con­ver­sa­tion to an­oth­er user. This avoids con­fus­ion dur­ing un­usu­al trans­i­tions.

Ex­cept in an em­er­gen­cy, it is general­ly best to li­st­en long en­ough to get a feel of who is pre­sent be­fore join­ing a con­ver­sa­tion.

The Col­orado Con­nec­tion is often the best or only way to make con­tact with an­oth­er part of the state. Even if the frequen­cy is in use for an in­form­al round robin, it is not dis­cour­te­ous to an­sw­er a call from a dis­tant sta­tion and have a short con­ver­sa­tion. Don’t make it too long when you in­ter­rupt to do this.

If your con­ver­sa­tion is just you and an­oth­er user, feel free to enjoy your con­ver­sa­tion. Leave adequate breaks for oth­ers to ident­ify. If you’re ragchew­ing, an­noun­ce your in­tent and ask if oth­ers need the sys­tem. If no one re­sponds, con­tinue your con­ver­sa­tion.

Similar­ly, if you’d like to break into a con­ver­sa­tion, do so dur­ing a pause. It is con­sidered rude to begin a long con­ver­sa­tion if you have in­ter­rupted other users.

Fol­low­ing these sim­ple guidelines pre­vents con­fus­ion on this, the most ac­tive re­peat­er sys­tem in the state. As you be­come com­fort­able with these guidelines, they will be­come good op­erat­ing habits and you can begin educat­ing new­com­ers about these pro­cedures while using The Col­orado Con­nec­tion.