IaRC’s Help Desk is proving quite useful. The recent Southeast Iowa Hamfest allowed the Iowa Repeater Council to help solve repeater owners coordination issues. The “Desk” was staffed with the Repeater Coordinator and several of the IaRC board members. Several repeater owners took advantage of the service and were able to update their information on the IaRC database. Look for the Help Desk at the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids hamfests.
Here is the latest status of coordination as provided by Paul, WØYR.
14 repeaters fully coordinated
6 repeaters coordinated but waiting on pending approval from adjacent states
4 additional coordination requests processed (pending requester response for more information, frequency selection, or further action)
5 repeaters de-coordinated as per IaRC rules
54 other updates to the IaRC coordination database
All outstanding coordination records from 2018 and 2019 scanned into the coordination database on a per-repeater basis
All annual renewals from 2015, 2016, and 2017 are also now digitized into annual archives (thanks to NØVPR for his work scanning these documents)
At this point in time, ALL outstanding mail, paperwork, emails, etc have been opened and reviewed. If you believe you have a pending application or action with the Iowa Repeater Council and have not heard from me yet, please contact me directly so we can develop a plan of action. Email (coordinator@iowarepeater.org) is the preferred method of communication.
By now, you should have heard about our first-ever IaRC “Hamfest Helpdesk” at the SE Iowa Hamfest/Iowa State Convention coming up in West Liberty a little over a week from now. Myself and a majority of the IaRC board will be in attendance. I will be staffing a “Helpdesk” and will have the current coordination database as well as all of my tools and all current applications with me. This is an opportunity for you to check on the status of current or pending applications, start a new coordination application, review and update your repeater information, or any other similar activity. I hope to see many of you there.
The next Iowa Repeater Council Directory will be published prior to the SE Iowa Hamfest. Printed copies will be available at the Hamfest, and PDF copies will be published on the IaRC website
In closing (and in the spirit of complete transparency) following are the current open items with me.
I have the following coordination applications in my workflow that currently require NO action by the applicant (but may as coordinations are completed):
The following repeaters have been coordinated into a 6-month “Under Construction” status and require confirmation from the applicant once the repeater is on-air:
Finally, the following repeaters require action from the applicant or other parties as noted here:
The Iowa Repeater Council is working to enhance communication about and improve the overall process of frequency coordination within Iowa. One way we are trying to accomplish this task is through the use of a group where open communication between Iowa repeater owners can occur. In the current implementation, this Groups.io page serves primarily as an email reflector where all email sent is automatically distributed to every member of the group, however you also have the ability to receive a daily or weekly “digest” or even no email at all and simply access the message archive through the group page. Your email address was extracted from the Iowa Repeater Council coordination database as someone who either currently has or formerly held a frequency coordination, or are someone listed as a sponsor or primary contact for a frequency coordinated in the state of Iowa. As someone with an active interest in frequency coordination in the state, we’d love for you to join the group.
If you didn’t receive an invite or for more information about signing up, Click on this link to sign up https://groups.io/g/IowaRC
We are pleased to report that many things have been happening with the backlog of applications and issues with the IaRC coordination and recording responsibilities, Here is a summary,
I have only 7 or 8 applications left to work , plus 4 or 5 that are in an “on hold” folder that I need to review and email the applicants about.
Many thanks to Paul, WØYL for the over 50 hours invested So Far!
