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Arcom RC210 and IRLP interface above the Mastr II VHF repeater
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Left the VHF RX, right UHF RX, with the tower cam in the middle at 99'.
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Sinclair folded dipole TX antenna. Now 20 lower for better isolation. Pre-amps in the enclosure tower top.
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Most recent image of tower. 10/05/10
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Wacom passband cans. All cavities in this system are tuned to minimum returnloss at less then .5db insertion loss.
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New DTMF commands listed below
The KC7RJK repeater is open, open to all licensee amateurs
and all its functions sitting on 145.500- minus offset and 440.500+ plus
offset both with a PL tone of 100Hz. The UHF input functions better
in urban areas, especially on an HT, and it can help to operate split and
listen to the repeaters VHF output. It features IRLP node 3543,
echolink 550487, phone
patch, emergency warnings, weather alerts, conditions and forecast all over
the air. The antennas are located on my 100' Rohn 25G tower northwest of
Eugene. Coverage with an HT is good through Eugene and Springfield but can
be spotty outside of town. With a mobile rig and decent mobile antenna,
coverage is from Cottage Grove to Albany. This is a divorced transmit
antenna setup to achieve much more RX sensitivity with only a 600Khz split.
A remote receive site has been setup at a temporary location (the office)
until the permanent site is prepared in the Springfield hills. This also
makes it easy to get all the final adjustment made before relocating the
equipment 15-20 miles away.
 | Automated repeater functions, life safety, weather, road and
property alerts |
These systems works from custom scripts written for the IRLP node
computer. The life safety, weather and property alerts are originated
from many places NWS, ODOT, NOAA, etc but many are originated locally on
my server so not totally reliant on the internet like most
systems on this repeater. Weather alerts are given on the hour or by
dialing 999. The driving alert system continually checks ODOT tripcheck for road
delays and closures and will announce them right after being issued, and
every 10 minutes until the incident has cleared up, or by dialing 98.
| Voicemail System |
This system also works by using the existing IRLP node to do
all the work. Scripts written by a good friend Mark KC7DMF, helped
accomplish this project. Works by using your calls suffix (if your in
the system) as your identifying prefix. For instance anyone can leave a
message anytime for me kc7rjk by entering a simple command RJK# or 755#
and that's it! This system converts the audio to MP3 to make it smaller
so it can be easily emailed to the user. Users can then listen to it via
computer phone whatever instantly!
| Operating guidelines and tips
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| DTMF Commands
 | 911 (new code) will enable the patch and auto-dial 911 (no call
length limit when patch enabled with 911 code) |
| 0* enables the patch and * after it's enabled (US long distance
calls OK) the patch will disable 5 minutes after the first call is
made unless refreshed by * code at any time during the call |
| # Terminates patch and echoIRLP links |
| 32 Detailed 7 day forecast |
| 33 Short 5 day forecast |
| 44 Current weather station readings |
| 55 Temperature |
| 66 Rain readings |
| 69 Last call in and outgoing |
| 77 echoIRLP status (will tell you if there's an active link)
also updates IRLP APRS status |
| 88 Time |
| 97 Short description of western road closures and delays |
| 977 Lane county road alerts and construction project delays (C
to cancel stop description) |
| 98 Short description of Eugene area closures and delays |
| 988 Eugene driving alerts / and long description of closures /
delays (C to cancel stop description) |
| 99 Full weather warning or local area alert description (C to
cancel stop description) |
| 999 Short description of above |
| IRLP is simple as dialing the 4 digit node number and # or 73 to
disconnect, that's it! |
| *(echolink num) For echolink connections use * as the node number
prefix; example *12345 |
| AA Amateur Radio News Line weekly report, updates Friday morning |
| C Will stop playing ARNL or any other speech commands
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| 06 Gives power systems status |
| 09 local echo repeater, replays your transmission giving
you your signal quality into repeater. |
| 33*zipcode To check weather forecast by zip |
| 32*zipcode To check extended forecast by zip |
| 44*zipcode To check current condition by zip |
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| Courtesy Tones There are courtesy tones to help decipher
the origin of the audio and the status of the repeater. I will record
them soon so they can be played here. When the echoIRLP node is
connected to any other node or reflector, the c-tone changes and
adds a second dit to the original tone. This makes it easy to tell if
the repeater is connected via echoIRLP. The low shorter tone is
generated by the echoIRLP input. When there is a system warning
or failure, a different VHF tone is used (let's hope not). |
| Repeater Hardware - The repeater is based on Mastr II VHF/UHF
repeaters with a Hamtronics UHF RX at the remote RX site. As of
3/15/2010 the two meter input of 144.900 PL100 is finally installed and
functioning well. It took some time to acquire the proper used
equipment and that can be a hobby in it's self. The Mastr II series is
crystal controlled design from the late 70's that is still widely used
today. For reasons like interchangeability, great audio, and
incredible ruggedness. A new 3 port Arcom RC210 replaced the
overloaded NHRC6 two port controller. The phone patch is as simple as it gets 0* to enable then, * up, # down. I hope
sometime to integrate it's GC and calling features to maybe setup a
voice mail system of sorts. Here are links to the
equipment I'm
currently using.
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| Filtering / Cabling - The reason why repeaters work. Look
HERE for more
info on how repeaters work and
HERE. All of
the cabling used in duplex repeater systems should be 100% shielded or
close to with double silver braided shield varieties like
RG223,214,142 ect. Most of the jumpers are Heliax superflex
FSJ1,
FSJ2,
with a few of the double shielded variety for flexibility in tight
quarters. Andrew Heliax
LDF5 7/8"
hardline is used for both UHF and VHF receive systems and
LDF4 1/2"
hardline is used for the transmit antenna.
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| Antenna's - They
range in heights on the tower from 55 to 100 feet.
The RX pair will
soon change to a Diamond X500 for both UHF and VHF RX.
Now a Hustler G7-144 and a Diamond F718A mono band antennas spaced 4
feet apart tower top will be the permanent RX sticks for the time being. Both antennas
feed with 2 110 foot runs of LDF5 7/8" Heliax for minimum loss with the UHF
run making a stop in the tower top enclosure were the AR2 pre-amp
and pre-selector sits. The Sinclair folded dipole TX antenna is feed with LDF4 1/2" Heliax.
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