WWW.USREPEATERS.COM - New Website

This summer a new website was built by webmaster, AB9IF, for the purpose of travelers throughout the United States, for traveling. All Band Plans have been completed for your viewing information. Information is updated daily and changes are added as they are sent to the webmaster of this very informative website. Downloading information, future information will have AN added feature of Mapping your routes.jEcholink will also appear soon. All hams are urged to use this great website. Ham clubs can also send URL locations of all clubs for viewing at this website. Your viewing pleasure is free for the viewing.
This is a must see website and you can determine for yourself of its great and up to date contents.....
Mark your favorites for the site - www.usrepeaters.com
I give this website a 5 star rating......*****
73s
WA8LE
Les Elder, Riverland Michigan

 

The best feature of this site right now is the "Google Map Utility" - that is the coolest and most unique feature and I can't wait for the "Map your route" functionality.

Plus:
1.) It is free to view
2.) It has the repeaters for many different bands
3.) Ads are text instead of flashy animated graphics all over
4.) You can purchase CSV files for download from the site.

However, it is far from being a 5-star site in my opinion. To get a 5-star rating from me, it has some serious issues to overcome and just having one cool feature doesn't make it a 5/5 for me.
1.) Too many ads that are layed out in a cluttered presentation
2.) Clumsy navigation around the site with inconsistent navigation, and look and feel between pages and areas of the site. Every page seems to have a different place for the link to take you back to the home page -- and it doesn't always use the same icon or wording.
3.) Other than the "Google Map" feature and the download ($) of CSV files, the site's main directory listing is unusable because it needs to be able to narrow down to a smaller area than just a state. For example, Texas has over 600 repeaters; if you're looking for San Antonio area repeaters you have to go through 25 pages and you must know the names of the smaller incorporated townships too because the listing is strictly alphabetical. Only the Google Map feature is useful.
4.) Sluggish response time, especially if you're expected to navigate between >25 pages to get to the repeater you're trying to find -- again you really MUST use the "Google Maps Feature" to make use of the site.
5.) The search engine on the main page doesn't work at all -- period.

So, to sum it up. They are better than average because of 2 things 1.) The "Google Map Feature" and 2.) Downloadable CSV files. But poor site layout and navigation lower the score from me so that they're just "better than average". It needs serious work on their layout and I suggest eliminating the US Map feature and using the "Google Map Utility" because it is the only real "meat".

I give it 3.5 of 5.

 

I like the fact that it uses Joomla!!! I personally love Joomla and have built a few sites off of it. . He could use a better template though.

That Ham Kid.com

 

The one thing I wasn't able to find was a place to search for a repeater by whatever criteria.

Did I miss it?

I tried the SEARCH block at the top of the page but it couldn't find anything I wanted.

K8arl

 

As owner of http://www.usrepeaters.com I would like to thank WA8LE for posting here. I would also like to thank others for the good comments. and wish i could make everyone happy. but for as long i have been creating things i have learned you cant make everyone happy.

If you all find the site usefull and helpful in the pursuit of Amateur Radio. I hope you will continue to use the website to your hearts content. I have more planned for the site and more sites planned as time and resources allow.

Thanks all for the support thus far.    Jim

 

USAREPEATERS Customer service rude

After asking that my account be purged of my data because the site had not met my expectations I received a rather nasty e-mail from the site admin. Stephanie.
Below is the e-mail I received in reply to my request for the termination of my account and my reply. I included a reply to Mr. Glass but the e-mail address was no longer valid that I found for a contact for him.
There is nothing quite like being told you're a cheapskate for being honest about how you think a thing works.

USREPEATERS.COM MEMBERS AREA wrote:
> >
> > You understand you had a free account, The performance of the website was directly related to the level of support. Paid accounts use the AD free area of the website because their financial support goes to pay for the software and server bandwidth. If you wanted more priviledges you should have done like everyone else and help support the website instead of expecting to get everything for free and then gripe about it when you dont get everything you think you deserve for free.
> >
> > We are sorry you were not satisfied with your free account. Your account has been deleted from the service please do not register again on the website. good luck Stephanie,


REPLY from N2QFD:

Thanks for the brow beating Stephanie, And thank you Mr. Glass for
employing such a courteous customer representative.

I was not griping but stating the facts and the most infuriatingly
part was the web site was that if failed to load properly, spewing
gibberish at me several times before I was even able to look at the
repeater listings.
I will not subscribe again and thanks to your frivolity and
presumption may in fact encourage others in the amateur radio community
to not support your web site if this is the sort of people you've set in
place to help us with it.
I wasn't fishing for an apology from you nor an explanation I just
didn't want my data siting in out there and felt that it was the
responsible thing to do in requesting that it be purged and my account
closed with as brief an explanation as possible as you are no doubt busy
helping people with other queries.

Thanks for the opportunity to test drive your web site, it is too
bad it did not meet my expectations but it's worse that your
representatives had to leave me with this impression as well. I've been
licensed for what must be nearly 16 years now, I started in high school
as a no-code tech and this sort of web site would have been great in the
days of VHF and up.


Sincerely Yours,

Malachi Doane -N2QFD

 

WOW!.

I posted this gentleman an apology for outburst of the moderator and explained that person was no longer in the moderating business and he responds with this.