As of August 4th, 2002, IRLP is fully functional on the repeater. The MAARS Board made policy in 2002 for MAARS members who are trained to have access to the IRLP subsystem on our repeater. The policy further allows for traveling out of town guests to use IRLP if they email us ahead of time for permission, so that we may authorize them onto the system, and provide them with a copy of the local repeater policy and guidelines.
If you are interested in operating IRLP on the MAARS repeater, please contact us at irlp@513repeater.org, and we will put together a training plan. Ideal training times are after club events, such as breakfasts, or after a Saturday meeting. If none of those times are available for members to attend, private training plans are available.
MAARS IRLP Policy
• IRLP will be available to trained MAARS members from 5:15 AM until 12:00 Midnight, Central Standard / Daylight time. Other times are available if requested with sufficient notice to a MAARS Control operator, or by emailing irlp@513repeater.org
• IRLP will yield to emergency traffic, such as an emergency autopatch or other form of emergency communications. If a call is made requesting the repeater for such an emergency, the station who brought up the connection shall immediately disconnect. If our repeater was called by another node, a local station shall immediately disconnect.
• When Sullivan Weather WX9MKX declares a full net on our repeater to support weather operations, the IRLP functionality will automatically be disabled. If you hear the WX courtesy tone on the repeater, the IRLP port has been disabled.
• If Sullivan Weather WX9MKX places the repeater into a standby net, IRLP will still function, but it’s use is discouraged during this time frame. If members would like to use it, they will be able to do so, but please be aware that any connection you make might need to be terminated with little notice. If another node calls us during a standby net, please inform the calling station that they may have to disconnect with short notice.
• No member or operator shall discuss local control codes concerning IRLP over the air. If there are questions concerning the IRLP, or the repeater in general, a telephone call to a control operator (see roster), or an email to info@513repeater.org is the proper way to have your concern addressed.
• Members are responsible for connections they initiate. If any foul language, illegal operation, or any technical difficulties arise, said member shall disconnect immediately and contact a Control Operator.
• No one shall leave an IRLP connection unattended.
• IRLP use is discouraged on work days between 7am – 9am CST / CDT and from 4 pm to 6 pm CST / CDT to allow for local “drive time” traffic to occur on the repeater. If a foreign node calls the repeater during this time, it is allowable to add them to the QSO.
• Members who initiate a remote connection by calling another node are expected to bring it down after the QSO is completed, and before he/she travels out of control range of the repeater. If said member is traveling out of range, control of the link may be passed to another trained member who will assume responsibility for the link. If the member is in doubt, he/she shall contact a Control Operator of the repeater for assistance, or disconnect the link.
• During an IRLP connection, members should invite other stations to join in the QSO and participate. After a connection, members shall yield the repeater to local amateur traffic before initiating another connection. The repeater is a shared resource.