A Place On The . Net

For those who don't already know....

On Monday we finally connected the new antennas at the top of the tower to the repeaters.  We also got the UHF duplexer tuned.  So both repeaters are operational now on antennas that are 60+ feet up in the air.  Signal reports have been excellent so far, especially DX.

While the system does finally allow limited communication in the Sandpoint area, it is really only usable in the north part of town.  When you think about it, that make sense becuase the line-of-site is limited that way.  Still, performance in town is a zillion times better than before.

Both repeaters transmit a 100 Hz tone at all times.  That's handy for you in case you hear interference from computers, cash registers, cable TV or whatever.  In that case simply set your radio for CTCSS squelch and you'll only ever hear the repeater.

Both repeaters have the capability of being limited to CTCSS squelch.  Unless absolutely necessary we will not require you to transmit a tone to access the repeater.  However, there is no harm in you transmitting the tone all the time if you want.  I highly recommend it.  In the event that interference starts disturbing the repeaters we'll issue commands that will cause the repeaters to require that 100 Hz tone.

Here's what you need to get started using the repeaters:

2 Meters:  145.230 MHz  receive, -600 KHz offset for transmit, 100 Hz CTCSS

70cm:  444.075 MHz receive, +5.00 MHz offset for transmit, 100 Hz CTCSS

The repeaters are linked at the moment.  Eventually we'll create codes for you to link and de-link the repeaters and perform a variety of functions.  When those codes are available you'll find them here on my web site.  So stay tuned.

Please encourage use of the repeaters.  They are available for rag chewing or anything else within Part 97.  My philosophy is that we won't know that they're ready for emergency use, or how well they'll perform, if we don't use them on a daily basis.  And if they can't take the abuse of us having fun with them then they aren't good enough for emergency service anyway.  So put 'em through their paces!  Most of all, have fun with them.  We need to promote amateur radio and recruit folks.  Having fun and learning is the best way to do that.  Without experienced operators it does us no good to have even perfectly functioning repeaters.

See you on the air!