146.91 Gets a face
lift!
released 2/21/2006
First let us re-iterate NoBarc repeater policy;
ALL NoBarc
repeaters WILL REMAIN OPEN AT ALL TIMES TO ALL HAMS! It is NoBarc’s
intent to
keep all the NoBarc repeaters open to all hams so long as NoBarc
exists. We
would also like to further indicate that NONE of the NoBarc repeaters
are
“Reserved” for special uses or types of conversations. All
conversations
must still remain legal in content, but within FCC rules any
discussions may be
made on any NoBarc repeater by any licensed ham. NoBarc membership is
NOT
required but we always welcome everyone to support our efforts.
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As you all know the 146.91 repeater has had some
major
outages over the past two years due to the controller hanging. Right
now the
repeater has a controller problem causing it to have some very short
kerchunks
most of the day. This is annoying and also costs us money in
electricity.
The 146.91 repeater will be getting a face lift in April, weather
permitting. A
new radio and controller will be installed.
The board would like to see the new repeater have
a PL of
162.2hz and a Voice ID. The voice ID will announce the PL so everyone
will be
reminded of the change. If you do not have a PL in your radio all you
have to
do is transmit 10*. The 10* turns off the PL so you can talk normally.
After 2
minutes of IDLE time the PL will turn on again automatically.
Why PL? 146.91 is the widest area repeater in the
Northeast.
At 3,400 feet it has coverage over 5 states and 2 other 146.91
repeaters. In
addition we have a 146.895 that is only 50 miles Southwest of 146.91.
Normal
operation of these other repeaters has been a constant source of
undesired
transmissions on our repeater. There have been numerous undesirable
non-amateur
transmissions from 146.91 due to pagers and other intermod. Since it is
our
intent to make 146.91 operate as clean and legal as possible we will
have to do
as the repeater coordinators and the FCC recommend. We will need to PL
the
input to 146.91.
A side effect of PL is that more distant users
will have an
easier time accessing the repeater. PL allows us to set the squelch of
the
repeater a little lower. In fact many PL’d repeaters operate without a
squelch
in order to have better coverage. The capture effect of FM works better
with
PL. If HT or mobile users of 146.91 have PL on they will not chop, or,
picket
fence so much. So PL is a good thing for 146.91.
We would like to invite everyone to the March
NoBarc meeting
for a more complete description of the new configuration and
demonstration of
the new 146.91 repeater. Also if anyone has questions feel free to post
them to
the NoBarc News list (members only) nobarc@nobarc.org
or directly to ke3ht@nobarc.org.
Like the
repeaters, the club meetings are open to anyone. A license is not
required for
meetings! You can join us at the next NoBarc meeting Sunday Feb 26th
at 7:00pm.