Just noticed today that the UHF HandiHam repeater in Chaska (443.000+, 100.0 PL) is now working and linked to the network. It's not listed in RepeaterBook, though. I heard that it just recently was moved to a different water tower, and came back online about a week ago. The loss was covered in a previous post.
The VHF HandiHam .230 repeater in Maple Lake (W0EQO, 145.23-, 114.8 PL) is sometimes working, but not connected to the network. I hit in this afternoon, and some guy was "testing" with intermittent audio, telling me that I had no audio. The HandiHam net was going on at the time, and it wasn't repeating on this machine. Now, an hour later, it's down again. I know that I have audio, because I was just talking on the Maple Lake .450 to get the latest info on the HandiHam repeater situation. Maybe this won't be a HandiHam machine, and just a local VHF repeater. At this point, it just bears watching.
Meanwhile, the other HandiHam Maple Lake VHF repeater (145.470-) is still off the air. RepeaterBook lists the .230 as the Maple Lake HandiHam repeater, so maybe this will never really return to service.
Want more good news? The HandiHam .325 in Bloomington at the MSP airport is also back up and connected to the network.
RepeaterBook also shows another new metro UHF repeater added. There's no callsign, just "Unk", which is weird. It's listed as being in Hopkins on 443.825+, with no PL. I tried to hit it this weekend, but it wasn't working. This may just be someone's idea of a joke, or it could be an impromptu setup using the repeater ability of some of the new Chinese HT's. Either way, it's only about 7 miles from me, so if it that's too far it's worthless. I just tried it again with 18 watts, and there's no ker-chunk at all. With the W0EF UHF .100 repeater in St. Louis Park, I don't really see any particular need for another UHF repeater in Hopkins. And, now that the Chaska HandiHam repeater is back, that's even less reason for this new repeater to exist. The lack of a PL tone is just asking for the new machine to open due to static and QRM (interference), too. It's just another "hobby" repeater taking up a frequency slot that nobody will use. I'd rather see someone in Anoka, for example, doing something like this if we are going to get another UHF "hobby" repeater in town. Put this "Unk" repeater in the same class as the UHF KE0L machine in Maple Grove: Why is it there?
The metro area HandiHam network has been mostly restored to its former glory. The 10 meter FM repeater still isn't working, but that's for General Class and above only. There may be some legal issues connecting that to the network, because Technician Class licensees could talk on frequencies that they aren't allowed to, even though they aren't actually using a 10 meter FM radio. It seems like a really stupid distinction, since every other band that FM is allowed on is open to Techs. But you can't let someone get "something for nothing", or some other ridiculous trope.
I checked the Burnsville 6 meter FM repeater this week, and it was still down. But Kevin from the TCRC tells me that it's just being repaired.
Lastly, while Baldwin, WI is not really local, the new WECOMM VHF repeater there is still down.
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