WB4GBI 145.470 Repeater Page

6-Meters

2 - Meters

220

440

900 Mhz

D-STAR

DMR

Repeater Statistics:

Location:
Cross Mountain
Anderson
County, TN

Ground Elevation:
3530 Feet

Antenna Height Above Ground (Approx):
100 Feet

Antenna Height Above Average Terrain:
2001 Feet

Frequency:
145.470
(-) 600KHz offset
Optional CTCSS tone:
118.8 Hz

It has a tendancy to
get very cold and lonely on top of a mountain in
East Tennessee.

This is
evidenced in a photo of
145.470 repeater antenna...
on this remote mountaintop.

The 145.470 (-) (optional decode tone: 118.8 Hz) repeater is located NORTH
of the Knoxville area - high atop Cross Mountain!

The 145.47 repeater celebrates 40 years of service in 2021!

Current Status: ON THE AIR!
BATTERY BACKUP NOW INSTALLED AND READY!
Please note: If you hear a "beep" tone at 15-second intervals, this indicates that the repeater is on emergency battery power.

PLEASE NOTE: THE 145.470 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 (ENCODING) 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

When this repeater was first put into service at this location, it was hoped that it would cover an area just to the north of Knoxville to up near the state line... however... that was not to be the case. As it turns out, we were pleasantly surprised that this machine has far exceeded those boundaries!

In reality... this repeater covers a wide and rugged area of the Southeastern United States! Many regular users of this machine do so routinely from Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky!

Although many East Tennessee hams use this machine every day, we have been known to make contacts in Virginia... Georgia and even parts of Ohio!

To the left, is a shot of the rear of the cabinet, that shows some of the many connections.

To the right, you will see a front shot of the cabinet that houses this machine.

(Notice the exciter and receiver is closed, and outside of view).

Some of the equipment that makes up this machine includes:

General Electric "Mastr II" VHF repeater with internal controller
Autocode CW ID unit
Celwave (Phelps Dodge) PD-497 6-cavity pass/reject duplexers
Sinclair SD-224 4 element folded dipole VHF antenna
1/2 inch Andrew "heliax" transmission line
Motorola "Maxtrac" UHF mobile transciever for remote control
Broadcast Tools DTD-16 DTMF decoder for remote control
Four (4) FP-AGM24 backup batteries and battery tender (charger) NOTE: If you are using the 145.47 repeater, and hear a "beep" tone at 15 second intervals, it means that the electrical power is off and the battery backup is active.

NETS HELD ON 145.47:

470 Amateur Radio Group: Thursdays at 7:30 PM

Since this repeater has been on the air, it has developed quite a following! So much so, that a separate website has been formed. They call themselves the "470 Amateur Radio Group." Here's the link to their site:
https://470amateurradiogroup.com

Special Thanks to Rick, N4JTQ, for creating and managing this web site!

Check out the 47 repeater group out on Facebook!

Join us every Thursday Evening at 7:30 PM (except holidays) for the 470 amateur radio group net! Trivia, topics, ask and elmer, swap and shop, and much more!

A brief history of the 145.470 Repeater...

The 145.47 was Tim's first repeater, which went on the air for the first time on September 17, 1981. The picture you see here is the actual 145.47 repeater when it was located at Tim's home, before it went to its first location atop View Park Hill (the present 145.17 site) in November 1981. The equipment you see is General Electric "Progress Line" tube -type equipment. The repeater was a "prog-line" receiver and transmitter with a home-brew control board and diode-matrix ID'er. From View Park, it has been located on House Mountain, Bluff Mountain (near where 146.94 is now), and "Top-of the-World" (the present 146.625 site). After the GE progress line equipment was retired, the 145.47 repeater sported a GE Master Pro solid state receiver and a Motorola VHF exciter/PA combination. In 2005, Tim took the repeater off the now 146.625 site and completely rebuilt the repeater, using a factory-stock GE Mastr II repeater that you see in the above pictures. Here's a link to the NEW 145.47 history page! Click here.

After the rebuild.... and after receiving the SERA coordination, Tim was finally able to relocate the 145.470 machine to its long awaited home on top of Cross Mountain in January 2007. For a long time, it has been obvious that this location was perfect for a repeater. As a matter of fact, Tim originally did attempt to locate a machine there back in the 1980's, but for one reason or another it just wasn't to be. Now however, that the dream has finally been fulfilled.

You can see from these photos that this repeater location is not only at a high elevation,
but is certainly in a Rugged area of East Tennessee.

Now... for a breathtaking look at the view from this repeater site. It is truly a sight to behold!
(Click on any image to get a larger version)