Why are repeater transitions still going on?

[Eclipse]

From another thread...

Of course, all of our heavy hitter comm experts are neck deep in the repeater upgrades.

Why is this?

Some wings in my area didn't even start the planning until earlier this year.  My understanding is that the
entire process was to be complete before EOY 2009.

Its one thing to have one or two po-dunk devices on a 1000' tower that needs special equipment to reach,
but why are there still so many still left to be done?

[davidsinn]

In my AO there where some shipped to the wrong location or shipped to a planned location that turned out to not be suitable so it had to be relocated or just not enough man power to get it done.

[SarDragon]

There were site contracts negotiated so long ago that they expired, and had to be redone. CAWG had weather issues for several sites. A few sites had to be changed because of RF interference issues. All in all, mostly issues that the wings had little control over.

[lordmonar]

Not to mention the whole "standby while we work out the frequency issues with Mexico" thing.

I am not very impressed by CAP Communications....but I do know that a lot of their problems with the transition were not of their making.

But....they have dropped the ball in so many other areas...that it is just one more thing to throw up on the dung heap.

Anyone know what the status is of the On-line Comm Training? 

[Seabee219]

Its a lot of things, In my wing we are going to digital repeaters, it takes time to get turned over and get all the red tape done to set up everything.  Our wing (Arizona) is done with ours and I am impressed at how they did it.  Some wings may have people that are not up to snuff on comms and that makes a difference. 

[arajca]

I am not very impressed by CAP Communications....but I do know that a lot of their problems with the transition were not of their making.

Please keep in mind that the Comm folks a wing and lower levels have been working their keesters off dealing with the issues handed down from above. I am reluctant to play the "volunteer" card, but there are only so many hours in a day and there are other things to do besides CAP stuff. You know, eating, sleeping, working, etc. The repeater issue has resulted in almost another full-time job for many comm folks.

But....they have dropped the ball in so many other areas...that it is just one more thing to throw up on the dung heap.

If the policy makers would let us finish a project before dumping ten more "Must be done yesterday" projects on Comm, we wouldn't be dropping the balls.

Anyone know what the status is of the On-line Comm Training? 

Before the repeater issue, it was supposed to be live this summer, as most of the video has been shot and they're in the editing and post-production stages.

[JoeTomasone]

most of the video has been shot and they're in the editing and post-production stages.

"Post production" defined as "Make sure there's no uniform violations in this before the CapTalkers see it..."   

[arajca]

Actually, making sure uniforms are being properly worn is one of the issues they've had and required reshooting some video.

[Al Sayre]

From another thread...

Of course, all of our heavy hitter comm experts are neck deep in the repeater upgrades.

Why is this?

Some wings in my area didn't even start the planning until earlier this year.  My understanding is that the
entire process was to be complete before EOY 2009.

Its one thing to have one or two po-dunk devices on a 1000' tower that needs special equipment to reach,
but why are there still so many still left to be done?

Because old guys like me have to recover for a while after humping one up 10 flights of stairs and into an elevator machinery room before we take on another...

[JoeTomasone]

Actually, making sure uniforms are being properly worn is one of the issues they've had and required reshooting some video.

<facepalm>

I was joking..   Seriously..   I was...   

[Eclipse]

In general comments to the above - the guys wrench-turning repeater installs should certainly not be the same guys doing devel work
on new instructor curriculum - this is part and parcel of the fact that a handful of people are all doing "everything", which is itself a combination of recruiting issues, command failing, and fiefdoms of people who won't let others play.

I have to admit, I was being somewhat political in the OP.  A major factor in why this is still going on is because some wings began their planning in early 2010 - no one seems to have caught the fact that many CAP staffers treat deadlines as their start dates.

Granted it's a part of the volunteer universe, but it's still not right, especially if those same staffers were involved in "other" off their core duties.

We all join for the fun stuff, and get stuck with the "other", many accept staff responsibilities and feel their primary job is the "other" - and all of it in a few hours a week (for many).  I don't know how you fix this beyond paid staffers who can scoop up the lousy jobs and leave more of the fun for the volunteers, but that certainly isn't going to happen anytime soon.

Repeater installation could have been one of those places - hire a contractor to make like Nike and let us know when it's done.  I seriously doubt you'd see too many PD and FD people personally installing equipment.

[SarDragon]

In general comments to the above - the guys wrench-turning repeater installs should certainly not be the same guys doing devel work on new instructor curriculum - this is part and parcel of the fact that a handful of people are all doing "everything", which is itself a combination of recruiting issues, command failing, and fiefdoms of people who won't let others play.

Why not? Locally, my experience and skill set happen to include both of those areas. I leave the administration and "lawyering" to others more competent in those areas. WIWOAD, I worked in maintenance, and later on in training. In addition, I happen to own a vehicle suitable for transporting repeaters to "dirt road" sites. Bottom line, I provide service to CAP in areas that I can, and avoid, to the best of my abilities, playing the political games that tend to cripple the organization.

I have to admit, I was being somewhat political in the OP.  A major factor in why this is still going on is because some wings began their planning in early 2010 - no one seems to have caught the fact that many CAP staffers treat deadlines as their start dates.

Granted it's a part of the volunteer universe, but it's still not right, especially if those same staffers were involved in "other" off their core duties.

We all join for the fun stuff, and get stuck with the "other", many accept staff responsibilities and feel their primary job is the "other" - and all of it in a few hours a week (for many).  I don't know how you fix this beyond paid staffers who can scoop up the lousy jobs and leave more of the fun for the volunteers, but that certainly isn't going to happen anytime soon.

Repeater installation could have been one of those places - hire a contractor to make like Nike and let us know when it's done.  I seriously doubt you'd see too many PD and FD people personally installing equipment.

We considered that. Way too expensive. Some installations quotes approached the cost of the equipment being installed. PDs and FDs have budgets for those things; CAP apparently doesn't. Frankly, I'd rather see that kind of money be spent in more productive places than hauling some electronic box to a mountain top.

[KyCAP]

From another thread...

My understanding is that the entire process was to be complete before EOY 2009.

Its one thing to have one or two po-dunk devices on a 1000' tower that needs special equipment to reach,
but why are there still so many still left to be done?

1) The guy installing them (me) had his dad die after 3 months of hospitalization at 59 after kidney transplant failure.
2) The tower owner in 3 sites (state/local) took another year to re-approve the original app from 4 years ago that expired because they were over hauling 90 sites for just the state police.
3) We didn't get the antennas until Sept' 09.

I've since demoted myself to Asst. Comm Officer to just work on repeaters and have 1 to go that will be complete next week.  Then I am checking into a retirement home at 35.

[lordmonar]

Thanks for working so hard despite your personal loss.

[bosshawk]

We were notified yesterday of another of CAWGs repeaters going on the air: guess that the deadline got lost in CAWG.  On the other hand, most of our repeaters are in real nasty locations, since a considerable portion of our state is on vertical terrain.

[arajca]

WIth OUTSTANDING planning and support, COWG had all of it's new repeaters operational well before the deadline. When we were finished, the only other wings that had also finished had been installing less than 10 each and were, geographically, much smaller and flatter. We have offered our assistance to region, if needed.

Only about three of our repaters are in 'civilized' locations. Some others only have two-three months of access a year.

[SarDragon]

Well, to quote Burns: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft a-gley,"

When all this started, CAWG had a pretty good plan in place.

As stated above: There were site contracts negotiated so long ago that they expired, and had to be redone. [There were] weather issues for several sites. A few sites had to be changed because of RF interference issues [that came up from other new equipment in the area]. All in all, mostly issues that the wings had little control over.

[arajca]

All in all, mostly issues that the wings had little control over.

Which is the case with MOST of the late installs.

[Thunder]

In our case, it was lack of funds to hire the choppers and climbers to place the new repeaters