WPRC
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA REPEATER COUNCIL
REPEATER COORDINATION POLICIES

1. No coordination shall be granted which would conflict with current FCC rules for the amateur radio service (current FCC Part 97). Table 1 lists the Protected Service Area Radius (PSAR) of each repeater. Repeaters may be coordinated if their PSAR does not overlap for the given frequency offset. The repeaters must be separated by a distance equal to or greater than the sum of their respective PSARS.

2. Repeater system geographical spacing shall be consistent with the standards listed in Table 1 at the time of initial coordination. Should these standards change, any currently coordinated system may be re-coordinated within five (5) miles (8 km) of its currently coordinated site. Should it not meet the spacing listed in Table 1, spacing shall be determined from the transmitter location only. Systems utilizing remote or satellite receivers to supplement receiving coverage shall do so without protection from other systems.
Satellite receivers will not be coordinated as separate sites.

NOTE: Co-channel shall mean on the same frequency. Adjacent channel shall mean the frequency above and below as set forth in Table 2.

3. REPEATER OFFSETS SHALL ONLY BE COORDINATED AS SPECIFIED IN TABLE 3.

4. Systems are expected to have coverage of up to 60 miles (96.5 km) from their coordinated location. Where systems have proven coverage beyond 60 miles (96.5 km), they may request to be considered a wide-coverage system. Wide-coverage systems may be afforded protection greater than the spacing listed in table 1. This protection shall only be used to protect their coverage area and shall not extend beyond it. Wide-coverage systems may request this designation in the repeater directory. This designation is not mandatory.

5. Any request for coordination shall be made using the appropriate form, WPRC Form-100 for repeaters, and WPRC Form-101 for link(s). Only completed forms shall be accepted. Any forms with missing information may be returned without further action.

6. Any request for re-coordination shall be made per policy #5.

7. Any spacing as required per Table 1 may be waived when accompanied by a written letter of waiver from the trustee of the system with which the spacing is not met. Coordination shall only be issued once this letter is received by the coordinator.

7A. Where a system conflicts with a system outside Western Pennsylvania, and the conflicting systems coordination body's spacing policies are closer, that policy will be used to determine spacing to only that system.     WPRC standards will be considered waived by the adjacent coordination body to the extent of their standards.

7B. The WPRC may vote to approve lower spacing at the recommendation of the frequency coordinator based on a propagation study showing that there is no overlap of protected service area for co-channel systems or overlap of primary coverage area for adjacent channel systems. Protected service area is the reasonable area in which a repeater may be usable by a typical mobile installation. The primary coverage area is the area in which a repeater has 90% coverage of the geographic area by a typical mobile installation. A typical mobile installation, for these purposes, will be considered a 25 Watt mobile using a unity gain antenna.

7C. Propagation study standards:
(1) An applicant may request a propagation study or it my be performed at the discretion of the frequency coordinator.
(2) The WPRC will vote at the next meeting to accept or reject the resulting recommendation of the frequency coordinator.

8. Any significant change in system parameters shall require re-coordination. Significant shall be defined as a ten (10) percent change in any operating parameter above or below the current coordination. These parameters shall include, but not be limited to, antenna height, ERP, power output, etc. Significant, for the purposes of horizontal movement, shall be 1500 ft. (457m). Any change in system call sign or sponsor shall only require notice to the coordinator, as this does not change the system performance.

9. CTCSS may be used for repeater access as deemed necessary by the repeater trustee. CTCSS tones or codes (cdcss) shall be coordinated so as to minimize re-use, but their use shall not be required for coordination.

10. All equipment used shall be technically comparable to current land mobile standards for selectivity, spectral purity, deviation, and frequency tolerance. Use of this equipment shall not be required, but is encouraged.

11. When coordination is applied for, Initial Coordination shall be granted upon selection of a coordinatable frequency. Once a system has received Initial Coordination, the trustee has six (6) months in which to get the system on the air. This six month requirement may be waived or extended by the coordinator based on conditions such as band crowding, expected system operation, etc. Once a system is operational, and the coordinator is notified, Final Coordination will be issued.

11A. After a system is operational, the repeater trustee shall notify the coordinator within 10 days. Final coordination will not be issued sooner than 90 days after receipt of this notice.

12. Where a system has been off the air in excess of six months, the council may request a letter be sent via certified mail giving the trustee six months to either relinquish coordination, make the system operational, or request an extension of coordination. Any written extension must be accompanied by A letter explaining why the system is not operational, and an expected date of operation.

13. Where there is no response to the certified letter per policy 12 within three (3) months, the coordination may be revoked by a 2/3 majority vote of the council at the next regular meeting.

14. When a system is purchased by another party, the purchaser shall have primary consideration of obtaining coordination on the system frequency when accompanied by a letter from the current trustee relinquishing his coordination. It is the responsibility of the purchaser to obtain this.

15. The coordinator shall never knowingly coordinate a system that would be known to cause harmful interference with any system known to be on the air or holding an existing coordination. The coordinator shall have the right to deny coordination to any applicant whose proposed system would result in harmful interference to any other system.

16. Where two systems are causing harmful interference, as defined by the FCC in Part 97, the system responsible for solving the interference shall be determined as follows:

 17. When a coordination is denied, and the applicant does not agree with the denial, the applicant has the right to question the decision at the next WPRC meeting. The WPRC will then confirm or overrule the decision of the coordinator provided the coordination does not conflict with these policies.

18. The coordinator shall never issue coordination to any system which does not follow the current band plan for frequency selection or repeater offset, any system previously coordinated shall have the right to continue operating as-is should the band plan change in such a way that would conflict with that system. Any system that is operating as 'grandfathered' shall have the right to re-coordinate its parameters without regard to the current band plan. Such systems shall be afforded protection to the extent of any other system for spacing and separation per current policies.

POLICIES ADOPTED MARCH 6, 1988, AS LAST AMMENDED OCTOBER 21, 2009

© 2010 W.P.R.C.
Removed Table 1 - January 20, 2008
Added Table 1 'Protected Service Area Radius' and 'Resulting Repeater Spacing' - January 20, 2008
Edited Table 2 - Added line for '420 MHz with a spacing of 12.5 kHz for systems using 7.5 kHz bandwidth or lower'- January 20, 2008
Edited Table 3-Changed '50 MHz' to '52-54 MHz'. Added '52-54 MHz with an offset of -1 MHz'- January 20, 2008.
Added lines 7B and 7C- January 20, 2008
Changed Resulting Repeater Spacing-Spacing from 120 miles (193 km) to 100 miles (160.9 km).- October 21, 2009
Changed Protected Service Area Radius-Spacing from 60 km to 50 km- October 18, 2009.

Web page updated: May 25, 2012