VHF & UHF Repeater Replacements

Thursday, Oct 10th 2024, Doug (K7CDF), Kevin (NK7Y), Jody (KK7SLO), Craig (WA7CH), and Jaime (WA7JKH) went to the Fox 13 Gold Mountain site to get some stuff done.

They were able to put the new VHF repeater in service. There is still some work to be done. Here are a few notes:

• The 100 Watt PA was not working as expected so it was removed. We are still working on the VHF repeater “system,” but all in all, the major effort is complete. – Stan, I’ll give you a call to discuss.
• The repeater controller(s) were/was removed to keep things simple. While controllers can be fun, they add a huge layer of complexity and due to the age of these guys, they are not as flexible as some of the more modern ones leading to poorer performance.
• The CW ID is KC7Z /R and is played at 400Hz at 20WPM and without CTCSS tone so if you have RX CTCSS set, you won’t hear it. It is also set to polite (it will restart every time it is unable to complete.)
• The repeater hang time is short at about a second
• The repeater is configured for Wideband! But can be quickly set to Narrow band once everyone is onboard with the narrow band effort. Simple channel change and it’s narrow band.

The UHF repeater located at the other Gold Mtn Site was removed, reprogrammed, and installed. We will be surrendering 441.175 back to the WWARA.

The UHF repeater is operating like a champ and is set for mixed mode (analog & DMR) as originally proposed. It will beacon now every 30 seconds for 2 seconds. Once internet connectivity is available, it will be connected to the BrandMeister network as it was. If you want to remove the DMR data burst, simply set your RX CTCSS to 103.5.