Topic: Ham Repeaters

[Ghost65]

Just curious, for the lucky few of us who are ham operators in SCCX...

Which repeaters do you use the most frequently? (pun intended)

Let everyone know where you monitor and the coverage you experience.

Also, for the members who have an iPhone, there is an excellent repeater locator app that I have downloaded called iHAM Locate.  

It has a "Near Me" feature that lets you know which repeaters are in your area with a selectable area radius (25, 50, 100 miles).  This has been personally helpful on some of my road trips, as I can tune repeaters while driving and stay in constant contact.

A couple of my favorite repeaters for good coverage in North San Diego County are:


146.880+  PL: 107.2  KC6UQH, Escondido  This is great for around town where I live.

145.280-  PL: 114.80  WD6FCG, San Marcos

147.030+  PL:  103.5  K6RIF  Palomar Mtn. (This is an ECRA, East County Repeater Association, machine)

146.730-  PL:  107.2  W6NWG, Palomar Mtn.  (This is a PARC, Palomar Amatuer Radio Club, machine)

147.130+  PL:  107.2  W6NWG, Palomar Mtn. PARC


These are just a few that I have programmed into memory for use around San Diego.

Please post up a few of your faves, or if you just discovered a cool repeater with good coverage, let us know.

Maybe we need to discuss setting up an SCCX Net?

[Ghost65]

For those Club members wondering, "What the heck is a repeater?", here is a pretty good description from our friends over at Wiki:

  

An amateur radio repeater is an electronic device that receives a weak or low-level amateur radio signal and retransmits it at a higher level or higher power, so that the signal can cover longer distances without degradation. Many repeaters are located on hilltops or on tall buildings as the higher location increases their coverage area, sometimes referred to as the radio horizon, or "footprint". Amateur radio repeaters are similar in concept to those in use by public safety (police, fire, etc.), business, government, military, and more. Amateur radio repeaters may even use commercially-packaged repeater systems tuned into an amateur radio frequency allocation, but more usually amateur repeaters are assembled from various sources for receivers, transmitters, controllers, power supplies, antennas, and other components.

In amateur radio, repeaters are typically maintained by individual hobbyists or local groups of amateur radio operators. Many repeaters are provided openly to other amateur radio operators and typically not used as a remote base station by a single user or group. In some areas multiple repeaters are linked together to form a wide-coverage network, such as the linked system provided by the Independent Repeater Association[1] which covers most of western Michigan, or the Western Intertie Network System ("WINsystem") that now covers a great deal of California, and is in 17 other states, including Hawaii, along with parts of four other countries, Australia, Canada, Great Britain and Japan.[2]  Source:  Wikipedia

To read the whole description, click here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_repeater

In laymans terms, this is one of the aspects of amatuer (ham) radio that sets the service apart.  A repeater essentially provides the ability for a signal input transmitted at 5 watts to be amplified on output and increase it's coverage.  

Kinda like a hiltop/rooftop signal booster.  

The best part:  Most repeater use is open and FREE!!!  

Although, I would encourage you to look at joining and supporting your local repeater Club.  This is an inexpensive way (Palomar Amatuer Radio Club charges $12 bucks a year, and it comes with a subscription to their newsletter!!) to help the hobby, and also get to know another great (and sometimes technical) group of folks.

[Ghost65]

Helpful links to local ham/repeater Clubs:

Palomar Amatuer Radio Club:  http://www.palomararc.org/

East County Repeater Association:  http://www.ecra.org/

73's!

John, GhostX

[RBduffer]

Hey John,
I like this idea of sharing info.  More contacts = more fun.
I live in Fallbrook, down in Gird Valley by the golf course.  I can only hit the fallbrook repeater, N6FQ @ 146.175 and if I put my mobile antenna on the roof I can hit the PARC repeater, 146.730, all the way on top of Palomar.  I was able to talk to a guy in Rancho Bernardo clear as a bell!
If we get enough guys that can hit Palomar we can set up our own little 'net'.  Or join an existing one?!?
I am all for supporting our local repeaters and would like to join you at the next meeting you go to.  These guys are a great source of info.  Every time I learn something, I have ten more questions, it's great.

[Ghost65]

Hey John,
I like this idea of sharing info.  More contacts = more fun.
I live in Fallbrook, down in Gird Valley by the golf course.  I can only hit the fallbrook repeater, N6FQ @ 146.175 and if I put my mobile antenna on the roof I can hit the PARC repeater, 146.730, all the way on top of Palomar.  I was able to talk to a guy in Rancho Bernardo clear as a bell!
If we get enough guys that can hit Palomar we can set up our own little 'net'.  Or join an existing one?!?
I am all for supporting our local repeaters and would like to join you at the next meeting you go to.  These guys are a great source of info.  Every time I learn something, I have ten more questions, it's great.

Completely why I started this thread...check out SANDRA too...San Diego Repeater Association.  They have a great website.  One of their repeaters, 146.640 is on Otay Mountain, and I am able to hit it and talk to hardrock (Matt), who lives in the La Mesa/El Cajon area.  Just awesome! 

If you can hit the PARC repeater 146 machine, you should also try 147.130, their other machine on Palomar Mountain.  ECRA also has one up there that is good, 147.030.  Looke em' up....use em"!!!!

[RBduffer]

Thanks for the tip John, I didn't see those on the TASMA web site.  I'll  give them a try.
I'm still looking for a good deal on an HF rig, if anybody hears anything

[Ghost65]

Thanks for the tip John, I didn't see those on the TASMA web site.  I'll  give them a try.
I'm still looking for a good deal on an HF rig, if anybody hears anything

No problem!  The fun thing about this thread is that hopefully through a lot of trial and error we can come up with a cool little band plan for the different areas of the county so when we plan an Xcursion we can just shoot to that repeater and monitor during the run.

[SuperSlideStyle]

Very cool, technical write up John.

[Ghost65]

Thanks for the tip John, I didn't see those on the TASMA web site.  I'll  give them a try.
I'm still looking for a good deal on an HF rig, if anybody hears anything

Randy...are you looking for a mobile or base unit?  There is a base unit over on QRZ.com for a great price.