Per KE0NA (Dave), the Twin City Repeater Club (TCRC) Board voted to go forward with the installation of the DR-1 repeater. This is a hybrid analogue/C4FM machine.
Yaesu has loaned the TCRC (and the TCFMC) a DR-1 for an indefinite period of testing. While the repeater is dual-band, presumably it will be used on UHF, as the UHF 444.300 has issues with the PA (power amplifier) module. Still, it could be used with the current VHF PA and be comparable to the current VHF repeater arrangement - at least in theory.
It's possible that the new repeater could be on the air this weekend. Please be patient as problems are worked out. KE0NA has asked for help testing the digital end of the new repeater, so if you have a C4FM radio it would be great if you could give signal reports and help the tech team by providing feedback as they tweak things.
This might be a good time to remind people that the repeater infrastructure in the metro didn't happen by magic. A lot of the clubs are facing "financial challenges", and dues are the bare minimum support needed in a perfect world to maintain those machines and associated gear (PA, duplexer, feed-line, antenna, power supplies, etc.). This is not a perfect world, however, and the TCRC maintains four repeaters on four bands. Most of the equipment is very old. I send the TCRC a mere ten dollars each month, which isn't enough in itself to cover repairs and upgrades. If just fifteen other hams did that each month, the TCRC could make dramatic and long-lasting improvements that would benefit ten times that many hams in the area. This whole thing was built on people donating money and time; it's not a commercial operation. You wouldn't like what you would have to pay for it if it was a commercial operation.
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