I want to bring up a couple of issues that have been happening recently about where people are transmitting.
- You should never transmit on the repeater output unless the repeater is down and there is a declared emergency and your are net control or a net control operator is present. Just because the repeater appears to be down does not mean you can transmit on the output frequency.
In the event the repeater is down and there is a declared emergency or Skywarn event, the net control operator will announce the repeater is down and they are operating in simplex mode.
The repeater could appear to be down but your PL is set wrong, etc. If you transmit on a reserved / coordinated frequency it falls under the willful interference rule.
Additionally, if you are transmitting on the repeater frequency and someone hears that they may think it is up and try to use the input frequency and think something is wrong with their radio setup. - In a similarly related subject, I have heard reports of operators doing simplex communications on frequencies where they should not be. T-Marc (our local Amateur Radio Frequency Coordinator) has a band plan that lists the use of each frequency. Make sure you are doing simplex work within the defined frequencies so that you are not interfering with other systems.
