WNYSORC Coordination
UPDATE : 2017 December
COMING SOON!
The Spring meeting of WNYSORC to be held at the Erie County Fire Training Center Cheektowaga, NY. 11:30 am on Sunday April 8th, 2018
http://wnysorc.net/
What is frequency coordination?
UPDATE : 2017 December
COMING SOON!
The Spring meeting of WNYSORC to be held at the Erie County Fire Training Center Cheektowaga, NY. 11:30 am on Sunday April 8th, 2018
http://wnysorc.net/
What is frequency coordination?
-
Coordination, it is a form of voluntary participation in an
organized program intended to keep interference between repeaters and
their users to a minimum. To do this, repeater owner/trustees work with
WNYSORC which maintains a database of repeater frequencies in active use
(as well as new repeaters which are under construction but may not yet
be in operation). WNYSORC assists the proposed repeater owner/trustee in
selecting operating frequencies (and other technical details) which
will, hopefully, be compatible with other existing repeaters.
- Who is my local WNYSORC representative?Your local WNYSORC representative is, first, a volunteer. In the WNYSORC, he/she is an individual who lives in your community or region of the state or province. WNYSORC is an organization of volunteers who are recognized by the Amateur Radio community as their "coordinator". WNYSORC's volunteers might participate in the program because they are interested in either the technical or the political aspects of coordination, but they all do it as a way of putting something back into Amateur Radio. These days, no volunteer is in it for the ego! It's too much work! But all volunteers do get some form of self satisfaction out of doing the job, or they wouldn't bother.
- Who benefits from frequency coordination?Everyone does. Owner/Trustees of existing coordinated repeaters are assured that the WNYSORC will attempt to protect their repeaters from interference caused by new repeaters. Likewise, owner/trustees of proposed new repeaters will get knowledgeable assistance from WNYSORC in selecting frequencies for their repeater, so that they can feel confident that their new operation will not adversely affect any existing repeaters, and they should experience little interference on their new repeater.
- How does frequency coordination work?In order to make a recommendation, the WNYSORC needs some data about the proposed new repeater, such as its location, antenna height, ground elevation above sea level, transmit power, owner/trustee etc. These items all affect, to one degree or another, the repeater's area of coverage. WNYSORC will review the data on the new repeater. Then in conjunction with the data in the coordination database, the local frequency coordination committee member may assist the applicant in finding an optimum frequency pair.
WNYSORC studies the parameters of nearby co-channel (same frequency) and adjacent-channel repeaters, and with the established, adjacent frequency coordination councils, to make sure there are not any valid objections to the new repeater. Once a new coordination is issued, there is a six month construction period to get the new machine on the air. If it's not on by this deadline, the coordination is allowed one additional six-month period (upon written request), after which the coordination is subject to cancellation. This keeps WNYSORC's database from filling up with "paper" repeaters.
For more detailed information please look at the WNYSORC Coordination Guidelines.
- Is frequency coordination required?No. Participation in a frequency coordination program is strictly voluntary. No Amateur Radio frequency coordinator has any "authority" to tell a repeater owner/trustee what he/she can, or cannot do. However, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Industry Canada and the Amateur community has recognized that participation in a frequency coordination program by repeater trustees is in the best interests of all Amateurs. Therefore, FCC rules (Part 97.205c) have been adopted;
§97.205 Repeater station.
(c) Where the transmissions of a repeater cause harmful interference to another repeater, the two station licensees are equally and fully responsible for resolving the interference unless the operation of one station is recommended by a frequency coordinator and the operation of the other station is not. In that case, the licensee of the non-coordinated repeater has primary responsibility to resolve the interference.


