{"id":156,"date":"2025-12-05T12:23:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T17:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cfmc.us:8080\/?page_id=156"},"modified":"2025-12-05T12:23:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T17:23:25","slug":"operating-procedures","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/cfmc.us\/index.php\/operating-procedures\/","title":{"rendered":"Operating Procedures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>CFMC REPEATER OPERATING PRACTICES<br>Adopted by the membership on February 8, 2012<br>INTRODUCTION:<br>With the influx of new Hams to the hobby and those who are new to the Cincinnati FM Club (CFMC)<br>Repeater System, we would first of all like to extend a hearty and warm welcome!!! While we would<br>recommend that you join the CFMC, membership is not required to use the system. The CFMC<br>system consists of three repeaters; 146.88- MHz, 147.03+ MHz, and 443.400+ MHz, and all<br>REQUIRE a PL of 123.0 Hz. The \u201c.88 machine\u201d is the flagship station of the CFMC and is also the<br>main repeater of the Weather Amateur Radio Net (WARN) for the greater Cincinnati area. Many<br>people (including non-Hams) listen to the repeater, especially in times of severe weather. The 146.88<br>repeater will no longer switch to a 100.0 Hz PL during \u201cWeather Warning Mode\u201d but will still have<br>distinctive tail beeps associated with \u201cWatch Mode\u201d and \u201cWarning Mode,\u201d as before.<br>For the \u201cOld Timers\u201d who are familiar with past CFMC repeater system use, this document will<br>provide an update and refresher regarding \u201cnew and improved\u201d operating practices for CFMC<br>repeater system use. Notice the use of the term CFMC repeater SYSTEM. The term \u201cSYSTEM\u201d<br>refers to the suite of the three repeaters and these rules and operating guidelines are intended to<br>extend to all three of the CFMC repeaters.<br>This updated and revised document includes most of the previously approved \u201cRules of the Road\u201d<br>that were adopted March 24, 2009 by the CFMC Executive Committee plus a few additional items to<br>encourage proper system use by folks not acquainted with the expectations of users of the CFMC<br>repeaters.<br>RULES AND GUIDELINES:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>BE NICE!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Operate in the manner described in the FCC Rules and operating guidelines published in the<br>ARRL Repeater Directory and similar publications. Also, identify at the beginning of your<br>first transmission, at least every ten minutes and at the end of your last transmission.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Keep transmissions short. The repeater time-out timer has been set to 1:15 (75 Seconds). It<br>is strongly recommended that you set your radio\u2019s time-out timer to 1 minute.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>At the beginning of a transmission, wait approximately 1 second (for the remote receiver<br>voting system to function properly) before speaking. If this \u201csystem hardware imposed\u201d<br>criteria is not followed, the first part of a transmission WILL BE missed, guaranteed! This<br>often results in folks missing the first part of a transmission and requiring them to ask for<br>repeats. This is especially important during times when the Weather Net is in operation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>At the end of a station\u2019s transmission:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Input to the repeater drops and a courtesy beep sounds, the time-out timer resets<br>and approximately 5 seconds later, the repeater carrier will drop.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While not required, It is good practice to wait a FULL 2 seconds after the<br>courtesy tone before keying. This will permit other stations to join into the<br>conversation, permits a Net Control Station to interrupt net operations and allows for<br>a station with emergency traffic to make their presence known. This is extremely<br>important during Weather Net Operation!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>No profanity, foul or suggestive language of any kind will be tolerated. If you can\u2019t say it in<br>church or at your grandmother\u2019s dinner table, don\u2019t say it on any of the FM Club repeaters.<br>Cute or feigned representations of vulgar or off-color matters will be treated as if you \u201csaid<br>what you meant\u201d and dealt with accordingly. Violators will be banned from CFMC repeater<br>use for an indefinite period. NOTE: FCC Part 97.205(e) permits a repeater trustee to impose<br>language and other restrictions on use of the repeater under the control of the trustee and\/or<br>their appointees. Remember: \u201cOur CFMC repeater\u2026Our Rules\u201d. Follow them, or go<br>elsewhere! NO exceptions!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do not monopolize, hog, squat, dominate, corner or otherwise consume vast amounts of<br>repeater system time for your personal agenda or soap box. This is especially important<br>during evenings and on weekends. If an extended period is needed to converse, go to<br>another repeater (147.03+ MHz) or simplex to permit others to use the system. Folks who<br>habitually monopolize the system will likely be invited to take their \u201cneed to talk\u201d elsewhere<br>and be limited to reasonable periods of usage as determined by Control Operators, CFMC<br>Officers and\/or the CFMC Executive Committee. (If self-control does not work, CFMC control<br>will be imposed!)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do not recognize or make mention of ANY FORM of malicious interference, jamming,<br>harassment, or disruptive communication on the system by ANYONE. Do not comment<br>about it or attempt to bait the person causing it to turn into any form of confrontation. Do not<br>become part of the problem by talking about it and recognizing folks who get their \u201cjollies\u201d this<br>way into using their poor practice on the CFMC system. If you are confronted with an issue,<br>listen on the repeater input to see if you can hear it there. Only if you hear the source, make<br>note of the signal strength, receiving conditions, etc., and notify a CFMC Officer or Control<br>Operator via e-mail or other means during daytime hours.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We have several Control Operators who monitor the repeater most of the time. Please<br>cooperate with them and do not argue with them or make their job any harder than it already<br>is. Remember, they are volunteers and they enjoy the hobby as much as everyone else<br>does. They also have a life beyond Ham Radio. Often, when they cannot monitor the<br>repeaters, both the inputs and outputs may be digitally recorded.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The above rules and guidelines are intended to make the CFMC repeater system enjoyable<br>to every user, regardless of whether or not they are a member of CFMC. If these do not<br>work, then whenever a control operator is unavailable to monitor the system, it will be shut<br>down until one is available!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Also, there is a \u201cquiet time\u201d from 11:00pm until 6:00am when the system will be shut down.<br>Weather Net NCS\u2019s have the information necessary to restore repeater operation if required.<br>CONCLUSION:<br>Enjoy the system, but share the enjoyment with all users.<br>As you meet fellow Hams on the CFMC System, share these rules and guidelines with them and help<br>them to maintain the very high standards of the CFMC. If you (or they) are not a member, consider<br>joining and supporting the Club that brings one of the very best repeater systems to the Greater<br>Cincinnati area<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> CFMC REPEATER OPERATING PRACTICESAdopted by the membership on February 8, 2012INTRODUCTION:With the influx of new Hams to the hobby and those who are new t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-156","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","article-is-loop","article-is-not-main-loop","article-is-standard","article-is-page"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cfmc.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cfmc.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cfmc.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cfmc.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cfmc.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/cfmc.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157,"href":"http:\/\/cfmc.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/156\/revisions\/157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cfmc.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}