It’s been discussed on this evenings net that some services on Brandmeister have been limited because “there’s no free ride”. I’ll disagree that money has anything to do with removing services. This is a hobby for all of us. I have repeaters on the air because I enjoy the technology. It’s unlikely I’d stop doing this with money being the motivator. But in any case, supporting your local repeater and network is a great idea. One issue to understand is we are each operating independently. I have 3 systems on the air and two under construction. Duluth is often delayed because of the shear distance, weather, tower limitations, lack of internet… White Bear Lake Township was delayed for water tower painting and this happened to also include the disposal of about $4500 dollars of hard-line being placed in the trash. Maybe Money is a factor??? Minnetonka and Chaska are my repeaters but the site and Internet are provided by Don Rice. The Bloomington system is hosted by the City of Bloomington on their radio tower. The duplexers are valued at $600. (You can buy cheaper, but there are significant performance differences). The repeaters are $2500 new and I have been buying second hand equipment at about 1k.
I’d like to leave a list of people who support DMR in our area, but I’m sure I’d forget someone. You can paypal myself at ejosterberg@gmail.com
I don’t have paypal addresses for anyone else. Dave KE0NA supports our Motorola users with his programming software and codeplug assistance. Galen KC0BBK supports the community by buying dozens of china radios and creating codeplugs for the community. Nagi N0AGI has a couple of repeaters? Had a couple? Hennepin Co provides a site and maybe owns that repeater now. Bill KD0YRF owns a repeater or two and provides a CBridge. Adam is administering that Bridge… (Largely I’m guessing here)… Matt N0YNT with a couple partners runs the system at the UofM and maybe one or two additional sites? Terry has two sites, one in St Paul, another North East of there? Maybe another? Don N0BVE has systems at the Airport and Downtown Minneapolis. He’s had a hand in other installations. He provides locations and Internet for two of mine. Carl has a repeater at his home in Bloomington that’s portable and available for disaster support. Dan KC0CAP has Litchfield. there’s plenty of systems outside the metro. There’s on going expenses for activities like the BBQ, the HamFest appearances… There are 3 significant networks involved. Brandmeister, K4USD and MN.DMR(KD0YRF). They each have on going expenses. If you can provide financial support, please contact those who are providing the services you use.