AmateurRadio.com

Courtesy hamnieuws.nl

Privacy and freedom are constantly traded in for a (often false) sense of security. This has nothing to do with ham radio, you’d probably think, but even our hobby isn’t immune.

Repeaters
Repeaters are only useful if the antennas can be placed high above ground. In the Netherlands we use a number of existing locations, most of which were once used for analog TV and radio. The owners of the towers decided that safety and security will prevail over (safe, terrorist-free) ham radio.

The following systems will be affected:

• ATV repeater PI6ATV, both analog and digital,
• 2 meter repeater PI3UTR,
• D-star repeater PI1UTR,
• DMR repeater PI1UTR,
• RX co-location for the 70cm repeater PI2NOS,
• RX co-location for the 10 meter repeater PI6TEN,
• Four Hamnet access points and links.

There is a chance that the equipment can be relocated to a lower section of the tower while keeping the antennas on the original altitude. Even in the best case scenario the costs of relocating will exceed the minimal financial reserves – good coax cable is expensive, and we would need a lot of it.

I’ll end with this quote: Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)