Some of the biggest local UHF repeaters are either down right now, or experiencing difficulties that make them unusable.
The MARA 444.800+ (114.8 PL) has been off-air for about two weeks. Over the past year it's had a few periods of "down time" due to RF whiskers, but nothing lasting more than a few days. Over a week ago, KA0KMJ (John) told me that he had notified K0TI (Dan) about the situation. Apparently, Dan is the trustee for the repeater (or the guy that actually takes care of it, anyway).
In contrast to the cliquish and elitist atmosphere of MARA's 2M repeater, the UHF .800 has always been very open, though having no regular activity such as nets. It's easily accessible throughout the metro area -- even on an HT -- and it's cost MARA virtually nothing to operate. The 444.800 has been one of the repeaters that I've always recommended to new hams, and those in antenna-compromised situations, because of its great coverage.
On top of the loss of the UHF .800, now the WINET 442.075+ (110.9 PL) has gone off-air. This another repeater that has great coverage, and I've worked it with an HT/stock duck indoors from here on the opposite side of town in Plymouth several times. Aside from the superior local coverage, the UHF .075 is linked to the Wisconsin Interstate Network (WINET). This allows pretty much anyone in the metro to reach across the entire State of Wisconsin on UHF.
EDIT: I tried to update the RepeaterBook listing for the .075, but some jackass is insisting that the repeater is working, so RB won't change the status. Try it for yourself and explore the 'controversy'.
Yet another UHF repeater with strong local coverage is the 442.600+ (156.7 PL) machine in Maplewood. Last weekend, I had a QSO on the UHF .600 with locals N0NCO (Joe) and KE0CRW (Greg). Joe is in south Minneapolis and Greg is in Plymouth (5W into a ground-plane), which gives you an idea of this repeater's coverage. At first, it went well. After the initial two "go-rounds", however, the audio on the repeater went to hell. There was very loud continuous "shot noise" that made it a challenge for us to arrange a QSY to the Plymouth 444.375 repeater. The signal was fine, but the audio was drowned out by noise.
The 442.600 repeater, like most of the local UHF machines, doesn't have a lot of activity. Ostensibly, it's one of the metro's "emergency" repeaters, though a backup. It's not a "hobby" repeater by any means, and I've been assured by the owner previously that it's open to non-emergency use.
There are still quite a few UHF repeaters in the metro; perhaps too many to support the limited numbers on the band. The majority seem to have primarily local coverage, though. Others, such as the Bayport 443.375+ (167.9 PL), are "alligators" that require a strong signal to access their wide coverage. Notable exceptions that spring to mind would be the Columbia Heights 444.550+, the Medtronic 444.525+, and the Minneapolis 444.425+ machines. And, of course, the HandiHam network has leveraged a few local coverage UHF repeaters into something bigger through linking. The "emergency" repeaters (444.175, 444.500, 444.200) remain, as well, though these don't have the strength of coverage that their VHF counterparts display.
While coverage doesn't have to be everything, it's often a huge influencing factor in where operators choose to hang out. The loss of three wide-coverage UHF repeaters can, and probably will, make the band seem less attractive -- especially to newcomers, who have not yet formed their allegiances.
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