Repeater Coverage Map

The idea is to collaboratively build a map of the coverage of our repeaters on the Coast for Handheld and Mobiles (but not for home stations since antenna setups can vary so wildly). This would give us an idea of the blind spots in coverage which might be useful to know in case of an emergency.

A dynamic map like the one below could be embedded on our club info page (this is not a screenshot; you can drag the map around, or use the menus on the left to zoom in and out):

• If you click on a dot, you'll see details. The two dots at Dakota Ridge are real reports that I got this week when I went snowshoeing there, and the six dots in the water are example of how different “readability levels” can be represented with colour variations: the darkest blue is readability 5, the palest blue is readability 1, and the red dot means the repeater couldn't be tripped at all.
• If you click on the layers icon, you can hide a repeater.
  

Give it a try and give me some feedback by adding a comment in the Discussion Section at the bottom of this page (you must be logged in to the site first).

• Go to: https://framacarte.org/en/map/scarcs-repeaters-coverage_201226
• Click on Edit on the top right corner
• Right click somewhere on the map and select Draw a marker (or use Ctrl+M). The cursor will change to a cross.
• Left click where you want the marker to be. You will see a blue dot appear and a window open on the right.
• In the window, select the appropriate layer (VE7RXZ (Portable), VE7RXZ (Mobile), VE7SCK (Portable), or VE7SCK (Portable)).
• In the name field, add your callsign
• In the description field, add the power, the antenna, and the date of the report. For example:
  “5 W, 15” rubber ducky. Jan 1, 2025“
• Under Shape properties:
  • Pick the DarkBlue colour if you can use the repeater, and the Red colour if you couldn't trip the repeater at all.
  • Adjust the icon opacity to match the following readability scale as reported by the other operator with whom you talked.
    Do not use your readability of the repeater because it transmits at 100 W and how well you hear the repeater is not a good indication of who well people on the repeater can hear you at 5 W.
    • Readability 5: 1.0
    • Readability 4: 0.8
    • Readability 3: 0.6
    • Readability 2: 0.4
    • Readability 1: 0.2
    • Not tripping the repeater: Red with 1.0

• Click on Save on the top right corner
• Click on View to go back to exit the map editor.

If you're hiking out of cell phone range, it will not be possible to edit the map on the spot. And frankly, even if you had cell phone coverage, I'm not sure it would be easy to do on a mobile device anyways. One trip to not that information would be to use an offline map app like Organic Maps and save a pin at your locations with a quick note on the readability so that you can transfer them to our shared map later when you get home.