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Reviews For: Link Communications RLC-2a

Category: Ham Repeater Controllers

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Review Summary For : Link Communications RLC-2a
Reviews: 4MSRP: 749.95
Description:
3-Port Repeater and Linking Controller
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.rlccontrollers.com/index.php/site/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0043.3
NO6B Rating: 2004-07-26
Most versatile controller for its time Time Owned: more than 12 months.
At the time of this writing this controller is no longer being offered by LinkComm. However, I've owned one for about 10 years & it's given me excellent service. The only real problem I had to address myself was the audio: the input coupling & de-emphasis capacitors were too small to provide flat audio. I added caps to address this, but the problem could also be solved by adding about 33K of series resistance to the audio inputs. A very minor issue IMO in comparison to problems like firmware bugs that cannot be fixed by the end user.

I'm very picky about how my repeaters sound. The RLC-2 is one of the few controllers available that's flexible enough to suit my needs.
NB2A Rating: 2004-03-02
Poor Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I can see why this was discontinued problematic and too time consuming to program.It also failed on me from a component level it seems unable to program via the serial port.It only programs via DTMF and that would take days because of the length of the code structure.
Just as my experience with the club controller customer service is just as poor.They can only suugest to start changing parts or sending the controller back for a 40 dollar fee just to check it out!Reminds me of a TV repair type of service facility!
See my review on the club for more info.
Good luck in your selection.
K5QL Rating: 2004-01-07
Excellent product Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned my RLC-2a for around five years and have had nothing but great service from it. Learning to program it was a little daunting at first because of the flexibility and capability of the programming commands, but the results are fantastic and the customization possibilities are endless. Contrary to comments made elsewhere, the firmware upgrade cost is quite low. The updates are FREE for the downloading from the Link Commmunications website, and then burn your own EPROMS. It doesn't get any faster, cheaper, or better. In addition to running a 440 MHz repeater on Port 1, I use Port 2 for the Link Comm RLC-ICM remote base interface that allows the use of the old Icom IC-900 band units as frequency agile remote base radios. I presently have 2m, 220, and 440 band units connected and can dial up any freq in those three bands. My system also includes the RLC-ADM audio delay module, and the RLC-2a LED Front Panel. All the Link Comm products have worked flawlessly since the day they were installed (except when ** I ** made a programming error). Unfortunately, the RLC-2 a has been discontinued, but the RLC-1 Plus, its little brother, is still in the product line (I own one of those, too) and is an excellent product also. The customer service provided by Allan, Steve, Angela, and all the other fine folks at Link has always been outstanding. To say I am pleased with their products and support would be an understatement.
WA4PTZ Rating: 2003-07-27
Not Impressed Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Our Radio Club purchased one several years ago
and it seems that they are constantly changing
the software in the form of EPROMS. We tried
to keep up for the first few years but it got
to be too expensive for our club to handle.
It also seemed that with each new version of
software there would be new problems , some
that did not exist in the previous versions and
a constant changing of command codes. The user
manual leaves a lot to be desired and it is
chaotic. I would think with computers being so
advanced that there would be much better and
simpler ways to set up and program a repeater
controller. I do have to say one nice thing
about it.... when we used the Doug Hall remote
base unit it did just what the manual said and
programmed exactly as stated. Oh i forgot to
mention the DTMF falsing problems, I hope that
this problem is because they failed to explain
that 1 volt PEP is .35 volts in their manual
and we have been over driving the input audio.
I have never met a single HAM who owns a meter
capable of measuring PEP audio voltages . They
should have stated the requirements in other
terms. Terms that we NON-engineers could deal
with. When our Trustee attempted to get help
they were less than forthcoming and never did
answer some questions, they just referred him to
the newest EPROM. Thanks a lot !