Twin Cities APRS: Loose Notes 12/25/15

Merry Christmas! It's time for another look at the developments of the past week or so.

The 444.725+ (127.3 PL) SNP repeater is still up at the same Dayton site as the (currently testing) 443.250+ (D023N) Fusion machine. Per KA0KMJ (John) in an on-air QSO, the two repeaters are presently running roughly the same power (25W), though they are located on opposite ends of an industrial building. The 443.250 is already linked to the Medtronic .525 repeater (and possibly more). From here in Plymouth (about 12 miles south), the .250 is heard at S8, while the .725 is somewhat stronger (S9+). The plans (as I know them) are for a PA to be added to the 443.250+ to bring it up to 70W. This will provide continuous linked coverage (via WIRES-X node 21493) to the 444.450+ (D023N) Fusion repeater in Zimmerman and the powerhouse 444.525+ in Mounds View. This "triangle" should wipe out most of the dead spots in north-metro UHF coverage. The Dayton site has reliable coverage out to Rockford (at least) in the west, so the UHF-deficient western fringes will be linked back to the metro, too.

In St. Cloud, the 442.225+ (85.4 PL) repeater is reported to be on the air now. It's hard to predict how the rural exurbs will react to UHF, as two-metre repeaters and FM simplex seem to account for most of the (limited) activity in these areas. I'm unable to reach the .225 from here in Plymouth, so I can't confirm anything. Still, as UHF expands from the metro with linked repeaters, the case for the band in these outlying areas might become more compelling to many hams, and especially to metro hams passing through.

While the 1.25M 224.540- (100.0 PL) repeater in Burnsville in still down, it seems as if the 224.660- (100.0 PL) machine in Columbia Heights may be changing hands. The .660 was previously operated by N0FKM (Dan), and AE0N (Dave) assumed control of it about two years ago. Dave dramatically improved the coverage and audio quality of the .660, and also added EchoLink (node 263469). Now, however, the 224.660 is operating under Dan's new repeater callsign K0FCC. This is the same callsign that the VHF 145.290- operates under, and also the UHF 444.550 and 444.750 repeaters -- which have been run by Dan for years. While nothing might change for the 224.660, it's worth noting.

The 443.875+ (114.8 PL) UHF repeater in Spring Lake Park is still officially "in testing", and was working until quite recently. At only ten miles distance from me, it's no surprise that it came in full-scale. Listening to it, I've found that it has an EchoLink node connected. Last week, it was the N8AGJ-R node, but that no longer works. EchoLink activity and announcements continued to be heard from some unknown node. Now, however, I'm unable to bring it up at all. As I've previously mentioned here, we have a whole lot of "under-utilised", standalone UHF repeaters in the metro already, and it's hard for me to get excited about the addition of yet another in an area with four others within 5 miles of it. I'm hoping that this new .875 will be linked to another, either cross-band or to a UHF machine on the opposite side of the metro. The presence of an EchoLink node is encouraging. Just spit-balling here, but the HandiHam network is hampered by a lack of UHF coverage in the north metro, with the .650 being quite spotty even within certain areas on Minneapolis proper. Wouldn't an EchoLink connection to the .875 be a great solution? Another idea would be a link to one of SNP repeaters on the band. Or a cross-band link to the 145.290- in New Brighton, which also has EchoLink? Or a link to the 444.975+ in Ramsey, to bring it in to the metro. Think outside of the box.

Last month, the RX-only K0UWC I-gate disappeared. For the past two weeks or so, the new N0QHM-1 gateway has also gone off-air. This is disappointing, but it serves to highlight the need for a stable gateway in the area, and this is happening just as the Richfield Radio Club is considering the addition of just such a gateway. Obviously, it's great to have people experimenting with APRS and increasing the local expertise. But we also need redundancy of coverage to manage the load and cover local areas when elements of the metro infrastructure fail, and this is something that "part-time" gateways can't provide.

As you make your holiday travels, or drive in fringe areas of the metro, it would be helpful if you'd include RF APRS operation. We need data on coverage for less-travelled areas, especially at lower TX power levels. Perhaps you could borrow an APRS-capable HT, or add a TNC2 to an HT that you already have and use your smart-phone to handle the GPS and tracking. We have a lot of data from people on their commutes, but outside of those well-worn paths we can only guess at how our local networks are doing. Just bringing along an APRS radio on one trip would be a painless way for you to help define coverage. Using APRS-IS (non-RF) with your cellphone is nice, but doesn't illuminate RF coverage.

Tropo propagation has been unusually good for this time of year, probably due to the warmer weather. It's not unusual for the propagation map to show conditions where metro FM operators can reach Duluth, Aitkin, Rochester, and even northern Iowa at midday. Morning and evening conditions have been exceptional lately.

Twin Cities APRS