ah the famous "I can't find  that control nested in a repeater  problem"....

In the DataList

<ASP:Repeater OnItemDataBound="evntItemDataBound1" runat="server" />


In the code:

Sub eventItemDataBound1(S As Object, e As dataListItemEventArgs)
Dim drop1 as doropdowlnist=e.Item.FindControl("NameOfDroDown")
... now grab data and bind to rb1 ...
end sub

The problem is the DropDown and controls  within don't exist at Pae_Load time. They will exist when the thing is bound later in the page rendering phase.