RFinder The Worldwide Repeater Directory new features, new platforms, IRLP Status !

W2CYK · Oct 2, 2011

K2NCC said: ↑

Why do I constantly see advertisements under "News"?
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Hi Frank, this was an announcement.

W2CYK · Oct 2, 2011

KB3FXI said: ↑

Because it is a great product that is directly related to amateur radio.

Why would anyone not just have the good sense to skip the message and move on if it was not of particular interest to them?

I have the application and greatly appreciate the work they've done.

-Dave, KB3FXI
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Thanks for your support Dave...Glad you are enjoying it!!!
Bob W2CYK

W2CYK · Oct 2, 2011

WA3MEJ said: ↑

Why does someone put an announcement on here for an application/product that ONLY applies
to a very small sub set of the population, ie. people with Android smart phones.

NOTE TO ADVERTISER: Not everyone has a smart phone nor do we care to have one.. Please post announcements that fit us web users.

J
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Hi Abe....if you read the announcement carefully you will see we are looking for testers for the web version. If you would like to participate, email bobg@w2cyk.net.

Bob

W2CYK · Oct 2, 2011

K9FV said: ↑

I'm sorta confused here - they talk about CHIRP, then RFinder. RFinder I'm not really interested in, but CHIRP sounds like something I'd like - "IF" I understand it correctly.

It's an open source program to program various radios from PC?

73 de Ken H>
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Hi Ken...

RFinder is the smartphone app that accesses The Worldwide Repeater Directory.

If you have subscribed, the same credentials are used on all platforms...CHIRP on Windows/Linux/MAC and web (going into beta this week). If you would like to be on the web beta send me an email to bobg@w2cyk.net.

Start your registration at www2.rfinder.net. We will send you your credentials that will work on CHIRP.

W2CYK Bob

N4EYZ · Oct 2, 2011

W2CYK--Bob............thankyou for all your hard work and efforts. I don't have a smart phone, but probably will at some point soon. And when I do I'll probably purchase the app.

To all the naysayers and guys that seem to just want to bitch and moan.............it's folks like you that keep new people out of the hobby. And make others want to leave it. I would also suggest that the folks that complain the loudest may be the ones who wish they had the smarts and the initiative to think of it first.

Wayne/n4eyz

AC0HD · Oct 2, 2011

Well Stated!

AB3NK said: ↑

Because people are morons and people are cheap and people do not understand how Ham radio works, but they do own a cell phone - hence they do not want to spend money on equipment to talk on the radio when they can do the same thing from a phone.

The bottom line is - the repeaters does all the work and we are not supposed to broadcast and we are supposed to use our radio licenses for specific purposes - such as signal reports - ( how can you give a signal report to someone talking over a telephone?) exchange traffic, comments of a personal nature.

Our part 97 - which I call the rules, says anything that can be conducted over the telephone SHOULD!
So someone here has ham RADIO confused with amateur telephone.
Should we be using telephones to talk over two way repeaters - probably not.
Is it good for our hobby to be using smart phones to talk ham radio - no, because it does not prepare us for emergencies - and without a radio - we have no way of being of any service to anyone except ourselves.

A real important lesson was learned a couple of months ago.
There was a earthquake in central Virginia.
The shock was felt in Washington D.C.
The buildings in Washington D.C. were evacuated.
What was the very first thing that those city slickers did?
Tried to call someone on their cell phones!
What happened when the grid was overloaded with cell phone traffic?
The grid shut down!
At the same time - very few if anyone was on the 2 meters and 440 repeaters and the repeaters just kept right on a chugging.
This tells me that the amateur radio service can be of use in times of natural disasters - as long as we keep it wireless and amateur and not allow cell phones to interfere with our conversations.

When a person talks on a cell phone, in time, they forget that they are actually talking on amateur radio and they get lazy and forget to use their call signs every 10 minutes and they forget to leave pauses in between their conversations and VOX is a lousy way of getting into Vo/IP..
It really messes up the QSO on most machines.

As far as D-Star goes, it will die a slow death, mostly due to the fact that most amateur radios do not have D-Star in them and the ones that does - has problems getting into the repeaters - mobile, especially when you live in mountainous terrain. Analog - you can put up with a little static and slight drop outs, but with digital it is all or nothing. Either you have a perfect signal or you have no signal at all. Not really something I would want to have for emergency communications. How about you?
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KB3FXI · Oct 2, 2011

Man, you got that right, Wayne.

N4EYZ said: ↑

W2CYK--Bob............thankyou for all your hard work and efforts. I don't have a smart phone, but probably will at some point soon. And when I do I'll probably purchase the app.

To all the naysayers and guys that seem to just want to bitch and moan.............it's folks like you that keep new people out of the hobby.

Wayne/n4eyz
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RFinder The Worldwide Repeater Directory new features, new platforms, IRLP Status !

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