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Hi Bob and others,<br>
<br>
there is a big hole down here in the Lower Sth East of South Aust. I
have a digi running for many years now at another persons property.
He does not charge me for power. I have full access to the extremely
large shed where he keeps his speedway cars.<br>
<br>
The club I belong is not interested in APRS so I setup the digi and
fully funded it and maintain it.<br>
<br>
The cost, well lets not go down that path. I enjoy APRS so we keep
it going and travelers when down my way can have the packets digied.<br>
<br>
At Xmas time I take the owner of the property a few bottles of red
and that keeps him happy and so am I.<br>
<br>
my 2cents worth<br>
<br>
cheers<br>
Ben<br>
VK5JFK<br>
<br>
On 8/11/2010 1:48 PM, Bob - VK5FO wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4CD76BFD.2030307@pilbara.com.au" type="cite">
<br>
All,
<br>
<br>
I thought that I would chime in having recently 100% self funded a
fill-in digi, and just go over the costs that most people probably
don't realize!
<br>
<br>
First off, There was a hole in the VK5 Network and I have a
specific need to track in the area, so I set about solving the
problem.
<br>
<br>
I own the site, which is remote and has no 240V power so there was
a fair bit to do.
<br>
<br>
1. Site - I own it - a huge advantage as I don't need to rely on a
3rd party to gain access.
<br>
<br>
2. I had to install a tower (pole) on the roof of an existing
building to get sufficient height. I chose to use a 6.5M Aluminum
pole cost $70, and about another $100 to guy it.
<br>
<br>
3. I had some existing solar and batteries to power the site, but
the batteries were 7 years old and I replaced them last week.
$200 (and I hope this is sufficient, otherwise I will have to
double the capacity). Yes, I cut corners here and will need to
regularly maintain the batteries, but the alternatives would have
meant that the site was down for at least another 6-10 weeks and
the cost for batteries would have been over $600.
<br>
<br>
4. Antenna/Feed/Connectors - 6db antenna - $150, 15M RG213 - $70,
$20 for connectors and cable ties. The whole tower/antenna/feed
system was a compromise - I would have liked to go up another 6m,
but to do so would be more than triple the costs.
<br>
<br>
5. I have a heap of 828's lying around but decided to use
something with more power. I would have had to source Rocks for
them anyway. As luck would have it, I picked up a 2800 Yaesu for
just under $200,
<br>
<br>
6. A Tracker/Digi - TT4 - $75, Misc cables etc another $30.
<br>
<br>
7. Solar panel - I needed additional Solar capacity, and dropped
$350 on another panel and a Solar Regulator.
<br>
<br>
From doing this, I can see that other sites might have more or
less requirements in terms of equipment
<br>
<br>
OK, all up that comes in to just over $1k, not to mention the
several trip (fuel) to site to get everything installed and
working.
<br>
<br>
Sure, If I had cut a few corners it would have been cheaper, but
then again it might not have had the coverage to provide a decent
fill-in (or even been able to reliably hit the rest of the
network).
<br>
<br>
Not complaining at all as the personal motivation for coverage was
the primary concern, but with the recent discussions, and having
fairly recently gone thru the exercise, just wanted to point this
out.
<br>
<br>
Every (potential) site offers it's own unique challenges and I
guess it comes down to one's desire to have good coverage and
someone (or group of someone's) to come up with ~$1k per installed
digi.
<br>
<br>
Bob
<br>
VK5FO / VK5THB
<br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
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