Repeaters Archives

Why People Say “This Is” when Checking into a Net.

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on February 20, 2023

You may have listened to a local 2m net and heard people saying “This Is” before they give their call sign during check-ins. An alternative is they may say “Net Control” instead of “This is”. Plus there is the combined effort of “Net Control, This is”. Why are they doing this? If you have wondered about that, here is the answer…

One problem when the net control station calls for check-ins is that stations all try to check-in at once and thus can double. Doubling is when two or more competing stations transmit at the same time, one station captures the receiver and gets through rendering the calls of other people transmitting moot since they are not heard. Another … Read the rest

HamWAN Update

By Jack Kinney on September 6, 2021

The Repeater Team had a work session on the HamWAN environment after the September meeting. Below are a few updates:

HamWAN radio on tower is working.
Resolved issue where another HamWAN user was using our IP address.
Inquiring with the area HamWAN team about a point-to-point connection to Tampa. Would improved connection by estimated 10dB.
New Minix PC is very stable unlike the previous PC.
Currently router is a bit flaky. Will be replaced in next work session.
Current EchoLink interface is going to be replaced with improved model in next work session.

… Read the rest

UPARC Repeater Online Again!

By Jack Kinney on August 1, 2020

There’s a lot positivity from the repeater team that the repeater is fixed for good!

A few upcoming changes:

COMPLETED – Install original Kenwood repeater.
Connect HamWAN to the repeater.
Connect Echolink to the repeater.

PLEASE use the repeater and let us know if you have any problems!… Read the rest

Repeater Status Page

By Jack Kinney on March 9, 2020

March 24, 2020

We are working with local tower repair companies to schedule a climber, however have been impacted by the Corona Virus.

March 18, 2020

Alan W4UB visited the site and upon checking the antennas with an antenna analyzer, it shows a VSWR of 6.9:1. Alan double checked the hardline at the repeater end connector to no avail it appears we will be scheduling time with a tower climber to determine if we have a coax issue or antenna issue.

March 17th, 2020

Dave Shuey WA3VRE did extensive bench testing of the Kenwood repeater and it is working fine. Debugging continues to the next pieces in the chain (duplexers, coax and antennas).

March 9, 2020

Lady Luck is not … Read the rest

Echolink Progress

By Jack Kinney on February 15, 2020

Today we connected the audio output of the repeater to the Echolink PC. The repeater controller doesn’t recognize the PTT from Echolink so transmitting will not work. Tom NY4I will be doing some research on that front.… Read the rest

What is this HamWAN thing again?

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on October 6, 2019

For those that may not recall—or are new to the club—HamWAN is a project with the goal to use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components to establish a high-speed data link. Think WiFi but at 5.6 Ghz across greater distances and with higher power (ERP).

UPARC’s efforts for HamWAN include the ability to create an Internet connection that we have full access (inbound and outbound connections). This will enable us to use EchoLink to connect the repeater to EchoLink users.

Another benefit of HamWAN is it provides an emergency backup for the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) that is in the Palm Harbor fire house. During Hurricane Irma, the area experienced Internet outages. If we had HamWAN in place, we could have offered … Read the rest

HamWAN Deployed!

By Jason Esterline on October 1, 2019

Thanks to some great people, we were able to mount and align the HamWan antenna. Due to it’s highly directional characteristics it took several hours to accomplish. Bottom line we were able to connect to the internet and watch a YouTube video. The next step is to run the Cat6 cable from the antenna to the repeater closet. Jack and Alan will try to work on that after the club meeting on Saturday.

We will then be ready to get EchoLink set up!

A big thank you to those that were involved, your efforts are really appreciated.