Twin Cities APRS: Loose Notes 2/20/16

I'm going to attempt to catch up on another week's happenings in the metro amateur radio scene. Let's hope this works...

FM repeaters

RepeaterBook questioned whether the 146.985- (no tone) in Hastings was on the air or not this week. This is a repeater that I haven't even ker-chunked in over a year, and I was always under the impression that it was in Inver Grove Heights instead of Hastings. Maybe it's moved. Either way, 25W into a three-element Yagi brought back a nearly full-scale signal. I updated the listing to show it as "on-air".

The 224.500- (100.0 PL) 1.25M repeater in Columbia Heights has been down for a couple of weeks now. The 224.940- (100.0 PL) in New Brighton also seems to only be working infrequently. Of course, the TCRC's 224.540- (100.0 PL) machine has been down for several months now.

Per N0AGI (Nagi), the System Fusion repeater that was formerly on 442.175+ will not be going back on the air. When a DMR repeater was installed on the same site, the idea was that the Fusion machine would move to a different site at some point. That isn't going to happen. The repeater was sold to another amateur operator to use as a testing platform. There's still a UHF Fusion machine in Burnsville (444.300+) and a VHF machine in Eden Prairie (146.880-), so that area still has coverage.

Speaking of the 146.880- C4FM repeater, I've noticed that they dropped the CTCSS tone on the input. I've always wondered why this machine didn't use tone squelch to prevent analogue users from hearing digital traffic. Removing PL tones on a VHF repeater seems equally bewildering to me.

There is still no word on the club website as to the apparent remote base linked to the TCFMC's 444.100+ (114.8 PL) repeater.

The traffic on the morning drive-time "nets" (actually roundtables) has dropped off steeply over the past two weeks or so. I'll usually monitor the 146.850, 145.370, and 444.100 repeaters as I'm getting ready to for work, and I can't help but notice the declining activity.

The EchoLink node on the 444.425+ (114.8 PL) has been down for over a week now, as N0YNT (Matt) is not in town to give it a kick. The node for the 224.660- (100.0 PL) repeater is back on, after several days of down-time. I haven't been able to connect to the node on the 145.290- (114.8 PL) repeater for over a week, though it shows up as "logged in". And the node for the 145.370- (107.2 PL) is now "listen only" -- which I've never seen on any other repeater. Of course, the TCFMC maintains it's perfect streak of leaving their node logged off for well over two years now, in spite of mentioning it on their website.

Big news for the local DMR scene! Per N0AGI (Nagi), a fifth DMR repeater is going on-air in the metro -- perhaps this weekend. Running on 443.125+, it will be at the same site as the 442.175+ machine used to be (before it moved to Faribault). More info and photos are available here, but it will be a 50W machine with a six-cavity duplexer -- all brand-new gear. We already have a fairly decent idea of the coverage, since an identical 50W machine was operating at this same site for a couple of weeks. The plan is for the Faribault repeater to switch to an omni vertical antenna, which would cut down the coverage of the 442.175+ for the south metro considerably -- especially when the vegetation returns. The addition of this new repeater in Prior Lake will assure continuous coverage for the south metro when the Faribault repeater switches over to normal coverage. This means that the south-west and southern freeway approaches to the metro will, in all likelihood, be HT-mobile accessible. Coverage of the south-eastern approaches will probably require more power than a 5W HT can provide, but reception should be no problem in that part of town. This arrangement will leave the 442.175+ repeater in Faribault free reign to cover southern Minnesota, and probably reach to Mankato and Rochester with a full-powered rig.

There is a new DMR website for you to check out: MNDMR.net. The twintrbo.com website remains alongside this new site. MNDMR.net will be the place to get updated code-plugs, get information about repeaters, coverage maps, and talk-groups offered. Discussions are carried out on this forum.

The Doers Co-op and the MN DMR Enthusiasts will have a booth at the upcoming Mid-winter Madness (March 12) in Buffalo. Stop in to check out DMR, APRS, and other nifty projects. You can also get your DMR radio programmed, too. A TYT MD-380 DMR HT will also be given away, courtesy of N0AGI.

I am now officially out of the DMR code-plug business. I've been maintaining the Connect Systems code-plugs for the metro network for some time now, and the vast majority of operators with CS rigs are now able to keep their own radios updated. Those that can't perform this task will simply need to learn, instead of scapegoating me. Writing and updating code-plugs is a tedious and thankless task as it is. When operators that have never even seen the Connect Systems software start telling me what's inside it, and demanding "proper" programming, then it's time for the Big Experts to take over. The latest CS code-plugs are still available, and they can be used as a template to build your own 'proper' version. I've written blog posts in the past giving instructions on how to edit various aspects of code-plugs: adding channels and editing scan lists and zones. I'll probably add another post in the future explaining how to add contacts.

KE0CRW (Greg) has set up an RPi RX-only APRS gateway in Plymouth. KE0CRW-10 runs on DireWolf from Greg's home, and is still in the experimental stage. The metro really needs a gateway in this particular area, though it may not end up running full-time. The more people that gain the hands-on experience to create gateways and digipeaters, the more options that the local community has when key elements of the network fail.

Also, a new APRS gateway has appeared in Circle Pines. KD0KZE is now covering the north-east and north-central metro, with very good direct reception coverage. When you include digipeated packets, this gateway is handling traffic all the way to St. Cloud. I seem to remember that KD0KZE was in operation at some point in the past, but went off-air. The loss of the WR0P digipeater in Cambridge has reduced APRS coverage in the rural areas north of the metro, so seeing new gateways pop up on the northern edges of the metro is an encouraging sign.

N0DZQ is also back in action near Wyoming, MN. Previously, the machine had stopped receiving packets. It's now carrying the load for most of the traffic on 35W north of the metro, and even gating the N0HOY-10 digipeater in Arden Hills. Great to see this one back in the line-up!

Likewise with KG0QR-1 in southern Minnesota. It seemed to have gone quiet for quite a while, but is now back. While this gateway is a local coverage machine for directly-heard packets, it's crucial for gating the digipeater-heavy southern Minnesota packet traffic. It's handled over 4K packets so far this month! We could use a couple more like this one down there.