As discussed in a post a couple of weeks ago, our 440 repeater was going to be moved. It has now happened. The machine is located on Worden Hill in South Bristol, NY, at the same site as the WR2AHL 145.11, as well as the 444.550 UHF machine and 6 meter repeater.
Steve, KA1CNF and I went up there with Jim NY2US and Mike W2HYP on Sunday Oct. 19 to install the machine.
Since the impetus of this move was to provide a digital repeater presence at that site, the W2XRX machine will be digital only. YSF, D-Star, DMR and P25 are supported on the repeater which is running a Repeater Builder STM32 MMDVM PWB and Pi-Star software.
It is only running 20 watts out of the duplexer, with some additional loss in the feedline. I need to get the details about the antenna, like it’s type and gain, along with height. But it is a good ways up the tower and on very high ground.
We have not used any additional club funds for this project, Steve and I have covered any costs, and Mike and Jim donated the feedline, antenna, tower, and site!
Initial testing indicates pretty decent coverage, but with some definite dead spots depending on the terrain and antenna. In Penfield I had a strong signal in my car. At home, which is just about at the southern shoreline of Lake Ontario, it is weak. Not too surprising north of the “Ridge Road”, or former Lake shoreline.
Digital QSOs where both stations are going into the repeater via RF, need to have both stations using the same mode. But, since the repeater is internet connected, connections between the various digital modes can be made to cross-communicate. It can be done by a user using their hotspot software to do the cross-moding, or by connecting to the repeater via the XLX927 RADnet reflector which has some transcoding capability.
Connections via DMR Networks AmComm and Brandmeister are also available. Details will be published on this website shortly describing all of the connection possibilities. In the meantime, this covers much of the info needed: XLX927 Reflector Info.
If you have any of the aforementioned digital modes, try putting out your call on 444.825 MHz and see if you get any responses. It will take some time to generate a decent group of regular users, so keep trying.
Stay tuned for updates as we try to document the various ways to connect. Some things may change as we continue to test the system, but check back often.
Thanks to Mike, W2HYP and Jim NY2US for offering us the opportunity to use their site, and help getting it setup. Thanks to Steve KA1CNF for help getting the hardware and software ready, and supplying the Raspberry-Pi for the project. Thanks to Dave, N2OA for getting the repeater back on the air and managing the machine for the last 7 years.
Oh, and I now have a spectrum analyzer with a tracking generator if anyone needs something measured that requires such a tool.
