OPERATING STATUS: ON THE AIR, ON ITS PERMANENT ANTENNA, AT ITS NEW HOME!
PLEASE
NOTE: THE 146.850 REPEATER MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE A 118.8 Hz
DECODE
TONE ACTIVE. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ACCESS THE REPEATER,
PLEASE VERIFY THAT YOU ARE TRANSMITTING A 118.8 Hz ENCODE TONE. IF THE
REPEATER HAS THE TONE DECODE ACTIVE, IT WILL BE RETURNED
TO CARRIER
SQUELCH AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. 73 de Tim WB4GBI
From Tim, WB4GBI:
After
being off the air since April 2016, the 146.85 repeater has
returned to the air! This was initially made possible when another
tower user
vacated the site, and left their antenna on the tower. Now, the
Sinclair SD-224 antenna, which was purchased for 146.85, has been
installed!
The
146.85 repeater is now located at the WIVK-FM transmitter site, with
its sister repeaters- 146.94, 444.300, 927.0625, as well as
the K4HXD D-Star repeater and the WB4GBI 440.575 DMR repeater.
It went back on the air on a temporary antenna in October
2017, but the permanent antenna was installed 12-19-2017!
Please use and enjoy this repeater, whose heritage dates back to 1974!
This
is a photo of the tower crew rigging" the tower, readying to
bring the new antenna to it's new home on the tower.
This photo shows the .85 antenna, rigged with rope, ready to go up the tower.
This
is a photo of the inside of the 146.85 repeater cabinet. The power
supply is hidden below. The repeater receiver and exciter is in the
fold-down compartment, while the 100 watt RF power amplifier is
in the back of the shelf. The control "cards" are in a shelf above
receiver/transmitter housing. The Motorola "Maxtrac" transciever is for
remote control. The blue box above the "Maxtrac" receiver is the
repeater control DTMF decoder. The ID and control relays are on the
same shelf as the DTMF decoder.
This
is a photo of the rear of the repeater. The power supply is at the
bottom. Next, there are two fans to keep the power amplifier (PA) cool
during long periods of use. The Transmitter PA heatsink is visible
above the fans. Aove the heatsink is the GE MASTR II rear
connection panel, then the Motorola Maxtrac control receiver is
visible. At the Top of the cabinet is the DTMF control decoder, ID'er,
and control relays.
This
photo shows the 146.85 repeater antenna from a different angle. It is
in the center of the picture, on a side mount which puts the antenna
away from the tower itself.
A special Thank you to
Keith, WA4KJH, for entrusting me with the 146.85 repeater. It is one of
East Tennessee's "heritage" repeaters, dating back to 1974. 73 de Tim WB4GBI
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE 146.85 REPEATER:
146.85
started off as a VHF Engineering repeater, housed in a dumpster on Cove
Mountain, just East of its present site. There was no commercial power
on Cove Mountain at the time, and no viable solar panels,
so batteries were transported back and forth to the mountaintop
site to keep the repeater going. The original owners of 146.85
were Keith, WA4KJH, and Charlie, WB4TVW. When the FCC began licensing
repeaters in the 1970's, the 146.85 repeater was licensed as WR4APM.
The 85 repeater served from Cove Mountain until 2013, and during that
time a building, tower, and commercial power were installed. Tim
(WB4GBI) acquired the repeater and cordination in the fall of 2013. The
repeater returned to service with a brand new repeater antenna, new
duplexer, and the GE MASTR II rebuilt repeater in April 2015. It served
proudly until April of 2016, when the new land owner shut down the
tower site and demanded that all radio equipment leave the site.
The repeater was re-located to the WIVK-FM site to join its
sister repeaters 146.94, 444.300, 927.0625, 440.575 DMR, 144.94
D-Star. Due to tower crew availability, the return to service was
delayed until 2017. 85 returned to the air on a temporary antenna on
October 18, 2017, and then was restored to full service on December 19,
2017!
License plate courtesy of Charlie, WB4TVW
