Keeping track of the status of various repeaters is no easy task, and the records are often inaccurate. The source of most repeater listings is the MRC (Minnesota Repeater Council), who essentially just gets their information from the owners/trustees of each repeater. This information is updated twice each year -- again, based on the information provided by those that run the repeaters.
People often snicker over sources such as RepeaterBook, but the base of their information is the equivalent of the MRC in each State. There isn't someone from RepeaterBook driving around and verifying the repeater listings. So, if RepeaterBook is wrong, the strong likelihood is that the MRC (or its analogue) is also wrong. The advantage of RepeaterBook (and other online listings) is that they can be updated more often than, say, twice a year. Their listings can also be updated by ordinary hams, rather than the repeater owners and trustees. Of course, ordinary hams can also provide incorrect information.
I've found that repeater owners have a different definition of "off-air" than those that actually use their machines. For example, I once had a QSO with a guy that operated a UHF repeater in Edina (or some similar place) where he told me about all the work that he had to do to get his repeater working again. I'm fairly familiar with the UHF repeaters, especially those close to me (like Edina), and I had never heard of his machine. I asked him how long the repeater had been off-air. He became indignant. "It's NOT off-air! I just need to work on it a little!", he huffed. Now, he had just told me that his repeater wasn't working. He had just told me about the amount of work it would require to fix it, and it wasn't "a little". Yet, in his mind, his repeater was on-air. Using the frequency, offset, and PL tone he had given me, 20W into a three-element Yagi said differently. A drive into the area also failed to yield anything from this 'on-air' repeater.
Frankly, the only repeater trustees I have ever spoken with about off-air repeaters who aren't delusional about status are K0LAV and N0YNT. Nearly all of them get very defensive, very quickly. They insult your rig, your intelligence, and your hearing. They rant about how busy they are, and seem to behave as if you're a customer demanding your money back.
Repeaters go down, and repeaters come up. They aren't perfect, and many are just hobbled together to begin with. I'm just happy that people put the work into them, so that I can use them. I send money to over a dozen clubs and individuals each month to help cover the costs, even for repeaters that I don't use more than a few times each year. It's about a thousand bucks a year, and I wish that it could be more. But I never feel that someone owes me a functioning repeater.
Before I change the status of a repeater to "off-air" on RepeaterBook, I do quite a bit to make sure that I'm correct. First, I make several efforts to "ker-chunk" it, over the course of a few days. If it's possible that my rig just can't reach it (even though it did for a long time before), I'll drive out to the general area and try to reach it. Then, I'll listen for at least two hours for an ID. Next, I'll either ask someone else to verify that they can't reach it, or I'll contact the repeater owner to confirm.
The latter option is always an adventure. Frequently, the listed email address is undeliverable. Just as often, I get no reply. If I do, it's an angry response in which the person generally claims that, while their repeater might have problems, it's definitely not "off-air". Okay. It's not off-air. It just doesn't receive or transmit. Aside from those minor details, it's working just fine.
Tonight I had a brief chat with N0FKM (Dan), who was a bit peeved that I had listed his 224.660 machine as off-air several months ago. He told me that, "sometimes it's up, and sometimes it's down". Well, I check that repeater every two weeks, hoping that it will be working. 40W into a three-element Yagi tells me that it's not working. No ID tells me that it's not working. When it did work, I could "ker-chunk" it with 5W into a 1/4-wave whip. Even if it worked at some point between those two weeks, I'd still consider it to be off-air. There's nothing wrong with that, but it is what it is. It's not as if I'm storming around, cursing Dan's name, and yelling, "What the hell! Where's my .660 repeater?". Likewise, I'm not going to pretend that it really is working, but I'm just doing something wrong.
I understand that people put a lot of money and time into their repeaters, and fair amount of ego as well. For my part, I'd like to see more accurate listings for those people passing through or visiting the area. That's why I try to keep things updated. The MRC isn't going to pay any attention if I tell them that a repeater is off-air, and they only update their records every six months anyway. They only listen to the repeater trustees, and the trustees don't want to admit that their machines are down. And we end up with inaccurate records and repeaters that only exist on paper.
It would be nice if people could just admit that their repeaters are down, and update RepeaterBook. But they don't, so I do it.
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