LARC Repeater System

Repeater Status as of May 2017

The LARC VHF and UHF repeaters are now operational at their new Justice Center location.  The move took three days to dissassemble, erect new antennas, and re-assemble the repeaters at the new location.  At this time the same components are in use, but a number of items including the controllers will be upgraded over the next few months.  In addition, we hope that some final tuning should further improve performance.  Please give the repeaters a workout and report any problems

 
Repeater Status as of 6:30 am 9/1/16:

The 2m repeater is experiencing intermittent intermodulation problems. It causes the repeater to transmit without user input and sounds like a howling or screeching.  

A number of things have been investigated and tried, and further work will be done soon.

The 70cm repeater is unaffected, and is recommended for use until the 2m problems are resolved.

NEW LOCATION - Finally!

The repeaters were moved to Fire Station 4 on August 26 Initial testing shows that the coverage area is considerably better than we had at the temporary location.  A big thank you to Ray, N1IUU for patiently hosting the repeater during its exile.

New antennas were installed 8/23 on the roof of Fire Station #4, using a bucket truck and very helpful crew graciously provided by Longmont Power and Communications. Thanks to Peter Perez of Longmont OEM for arranging their assistance.

Many thanks to Doug Sharp of Triple C Communications who generously obtained the antennas and donated them to LARC without charge.

Below is a bird's eye view of the 2m and 70cm antennas, looking south. (The third antenna in the background is one of the fire station antennas).

19" rack rails were custom fit and installed in the repeater cabinet in preparation for installing the repeater equipment. (A large nest of wasps in the cabinet door delayed the process, but they were soon routed by insecticide.) 

 2 Meter Repeater:

• Output frequency of 147.270 MHz with a positive (+) offset of 600 kHz
• 100 Hz CTCSS tone required to access, the tone is also transmitted
• ID is WØENO in Morse code
• A lower frequency courtesy beep identifies this repeater input
• Repeater is a Kenwood TKR-750, 50/25 watt
• Battery backup

70 cm Repeater:

• Output frequency of 448.800 with a negative (-) offset of 5 MHz
• 88.5 Hz CTCSS tone required to access, the tone is also transmitted
• ID is WØENO in Morse code
• A higher frequency courtesy beep identifies this repeater input
• Repeater is a Kenwood TKR-850, 50/25 watt
• Battery backup

Linking:

• The repeaters are currently left linked together
• The repeaters can be linked/unlinked with TouchTone commands

Thursday Night Net:

• LARC has net every Thursday evening at 8PM local time (Mountain Time Zone). Everyone is welcome to check in.
• Contact us if you would like to take a turn as the Net Control operator
• Click HERE for more info

New Ham ("Hamlet") Tuesday Night Net:

• Every Tuesday night at 7PM local time (Mountain Time Zone), LARC has a net that is intended for brand-new amatures (but everyone is welcome)!
• Contact us if you would like to take a turn as the Net Control operator
• Click HERE for more info

Here is a useful link for technical details about building a repeater.