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The 440 repeater has been upgraded and is now operational. Some highlights:
1) The old Micor radio, which was the repeater radio, has been retired. After
many attempts to resurrect this radio, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and
just get rid of it.
2) It has been replaced by a pair of GE Delta S radios (one for receive and one
for transmit). These radio seem to be performing significantly better than the
old Micor. According to my test equipment, the new receiver is close to20 dB
(I think I figured that out correctly?) more sensitive than the old receiver. The
transmitter is putting out about 35 watts into the duplexer with about 30 making
up the feedline (duplexer losses). Carl has put up a good monoband 440 antenna
that does have some gain, so our ERP should be somewhat greater than the 30
watts into the feedline.
3) We are still using the old RC-85 controller from the 97 machine. This controller
seems to work fine and we have no plans of replacing it.
4) FWIW, the GE Delta S radios are a mid 1980s vintage radios that GE built to
replace the MASTR2 radios. They are fully synthesized meaning that no crystals
are required, and can be programmed using some simple hardware. They also
contain 5 helical resonators in the receiver front end which makes them fairly bullet
proof. These are the same type radios I use on my 94 machine.
449.025 output 444.025 input (-5 MHz) 103.5PL tone required.
Thanks, Jim KC1RM
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The repeater is temporarily located at Carl KB2SGX's house. Give it a try and see if you can hit it from your QTH and places you travel in the area.
(Wed 22 Mar 2000)
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For the above commands, you need to key in the command
number, and then unkey. The repeater will respond with a
voice ID followed by the report.
[Note - the new repeater may be off the air from time to time
as we go through the shakedown period. Please be understanding -- the
guys on the Repeater Committee will have their hands full getting everything
happy in the RF-rich environment of Connecticut Hill.
If you find the 97 repeater is off the air you can check for folks on the
Cornell Amateur Radio Club's 146.610- Ithaca repeater, or the 146.895-
Binghamton repeater relay. - ed.]
The new repeater was completed and installed on Saturday,
November 27th. Although the new repeater has many new features,
it will initially be running a subset of these until we feel confident that
it is operating as expected. Basically, we don't want to have too many
variables if for some reason we need to diagnose a problem.
The features that are enabled are as follows:
After the repeater is determined to be stable, we will start adding other
features including voice mailboxes, inside/outside temperature readings,
S-meter readings, etc. We have lot of capabilities, it will just take time
to program the controller to make it easy to access these features.
I have attached several pictures of the new repeater that Carl,
KB2SGX, took with his digital camera. These pictures were taken up
at Bob's (N2WRC) shop at Cornell while we were assembling the
equipment in the rack.
Picture 1, Picture 2 and Picture 3 are pictures of the
front of the rack. The top unit is the front of the Controller, the middle
unit is the front of the radio and immediately below the radio are three
AC cooling fans. Duct work carries the air from the fans to the back
of the radio across the heat sink fins. The bottom unit is the front of
the power supply.
Picture 4 is a picture of the back of the radio with the
duplexer cans installed. One these cans is used in the receive path
as a bandpass filter at 146.37 MHz, the repeater input frequency.
The other can is used in the transmit path as a notch filter at 146.37
MHz.
Picture 5 is another picture of the back of the rack. The top unit is the
back of the Controller, the middle unit is the back of the radio and the
bottom unit is the battery charger/ power supply.
For pics of the control boards and such, the old repeater parts page is available here.
I want to thank everybody who contributed their time, expertise
and materials to this project.
Jim KC1RM
[ The members of the club wish to thank Jim, Kevin and everyone else involved in
making the new repeater a reality. Great job guys!]
AF2A 146.97- Repeater is back up and running
As of October 20, 2006 the 146.97- repeater is back up and running. More discussions to follow at the November meeting.
AF2A 449.025- Repeater is back up and running
As of August 2007 the 449.025- repeater is up and running at the Tompkins County Emergency Response Center at the Tompkins County Airport.
146.970- 2m Repeater Info
Call is AF2A. Output freq is 146.970, input is 146.370 (std 600 khz offset for 2m). Does not require a PL tone, but if/when it does, the tone will be 103.5. Repeater is coordinated through UNYREPCO. Coverage extends as far as Rochester to the northwest, Syracuse to the northeast, Binghamton to the southeast, and Corning to the southwest. Emergency Autopatch Features (open access) on 146.97- are accessed via *911 for all emergency situations - this is the usual "dial 911" number. Please note the start (asterisk) - you must punch "star 9 1 1".
449.025- 440cm Repeater Info
Call is AF2A. Output freq is 449.025, input is 444.025 (std 5 mhz offset for 440). This repeater requires a PL tone of 103.5 to access the input. Repeater is coordinated through UNYREPCO. For general info see the 449.025- repeater homepage.
Packet Radio
TCARC does not sponsor packet in our area. Packet in this area is handled by the SKYLNE node in Cortland, 145.730 MHz (145.790 before Sept. 1, 1996). Previously packet was available on the ITHACA NODE at 144.93 although that frequency seems clear as of Dec 2001. Historical data supplied in case I got something wrong!
ATV Repeater
Currently in very sporadic test mode. When available, our ATV repeater can be seen at 421.250 Mhz and heard at 425.750 MHz for 25 khz deviation FM audio subcarrier. Unfortunately, operation is VERY VERY sporadic at this time. Coordination is handled via the '97 machine, and simplex.
News Index:
440 repeater fixes and updates - Dec 2000
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440 Repeater Running in Test Mode
The 44o repeater is now up and running in test mode. Output freq is 449.025,
input is 444.025 (std 5 mhz offset for 440). The box is not running a PL tone for access, but
when it does the tone will be 103.5.
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Enabled Repeater Commands
As with any DTMF commands, the user should first ID themselves
before keying in the command numbers.
Additional commands:
163 Voice recorder
To hear how you sound into the repeater, you need to key in
163, unkey and then rekey before the courtesy K, and then
speak a few words. When you unkey, the repeater will play-
back what was said.
047 DTMF Keypad Test
To check your DTMF pad, you need to key in 047, followed
immediately (do not unkey) with the DTMF keys you wish to
check. The repeater will respond with the keys pressed.
Autopatch Speed Dials:
I will be adding speed dials as soon as I get a list. Currently,
the only speed dial available is *911. It is very important that
the * is enterred before the 911 otherwise the autopatch will
not come up. The *911 speed dial actually dials 273-8000,
which should then beable to connect you to the correct service.
Thanks,
Jim KC1RM
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New 146.970- Repeater Is On The Air!
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