Loose Notes 11/14/15

   It's been another week, and I'm ready to tell you what I've found out over the course of the week. 

• The TCRC's 224.540- (100.0 PL) 1.25M repeater is back on the air! KE0NA (Dave) and I gave it a test spin on Friday night (11/14), and it's working well. I was able to work the repeater with 10W into a tri-band whip on my balcony for an S8/S9 signal from here in Plymouth, and Dave got a similar signal in NE Minneapolis. Word on the street is that the TCRC bought a brand-new Bridgecom BCR-220 repeater. The BCR-220 is a relatively new product in a market where gear for the 1.25M band can be hard to come by -- even old stuff. For about $1000, you get a 30W repeater (including power supply, free programming, and battery backup). It even has a built-in CW ID, so you don't need a controller for basic operation. I know that the TCRC had a 75W PA for their previous repeater, but I'm unaware if that's being used or if the new machine is running on its own 30W output. With the challenges that the 147.210 has been facing, this very likely makes the 224.540 machine the TCRC's most reliable and widest-coverage repeater. 

• N0YNT (Matt) and N0GOI (Terry) fixed the antenna at the Falcon Heights remote receive site for the 145.170- (100.0 PL) St. Paul repeater. Hopefully, it will pay off with improved coverage. I have a hard time reaching the .170 with my marginal antennae. 

• Per N0MWM (Mike), Connect Systems (CSI) is now (once again) selling the TYT MD-380 DMR HT for only $130 (including programming cable). KE0NA (Dave) has a code-plug for this radio here. You won't find a cheaper way to get into DMR (and the international network of repeaters) than this deal. 

• Per N0BVE (Don), his 443.000+ (100.0 PL) SNP repeater now has an auto-patch. It uses DTMF tones to bring the patch up (*) and down (#). Many years before I was licensed, I would hear hams on my scanner using auto-patches. I've never used one myself. The auto-patch has a five-minute limit, per an on-air QSO with KD0VSU (Randy). The repeater itself is at Don's home in Minnetonka, and it has a problem where the TX power drops down dramatically after it's used for a few minutes. It also seems to have a relatively brief time-out, so be aware of those facts if you use it.

• I'm not sure of all of the details, but it looks as if a System Fusion repeater on 443.250+ (023N DPL) will be replacing the current Fusion repeater on 444.450+ (023N DPL) in a couple of months. The .450 will be moving north to Zimmerman, and will be linked back to the metro with WIRES-X. The new .250 repeater will run 70W and be linked to the Zimmerman Fusion machine for continuous coverage. I guess that the NW suburbs won't be losing any UHF coverage after all.

 

APRS  

  A few things are happening with the local packet scene: 

• The AE0RF-10 RX-only gateway is no longer on the air, but AE0RF (Justin) is proposing that the Richfield Amateur Radio Club set up a similar RX-only gateway at their repeater site. This seems like a great potential development to me, because these gateways managed by individuals tend to come and go. The metro needs reliable redundancy in the network. It's really good to have people experimenting with gateways and digipeaters, because they have the know-how to put those nodes back into action when need arises. But we really need some elements of the network that are solid and don't disappear on a whim, because when the major gateways fail (like W0YC-5 did this summer) something needs to be there to fill the gap. 

•  It looks as if N0QHM -1 is back in Bloomington, only this time with a transmitting I-Gate instead of the previous RX-only node. In its short lifetime, it's already covering the south metro free-ways nicely. 

• The W0LKA-2 digipeater near Roseau has hung in there, and it remains the northern-most part of Minnesota's APRS network. On the other end of the State, KG0QR-1 has lasted a few weeks as a transmitting gateway with direct local coverage, but also gating other southern Minnesota digipeaters. 

• Minnesota still needs "something" (RX-only gateways, digipeaters, TX I-Gates) in Morris, Alexandria, Wadena, Park Rapids, Bemidji, and Detroit Lakes. Maybe you can help. 

• It looks as if N0RUA (Tony) is experimenting with a RX-only gateway in the Highland neighbourhood of St. Paul. It would be great to get the mobile packets from the surrounding freeways gated before they get tossed around by the local digipeaters. EDIT: It looks like Tony got N0RUA-10 to actually gate packets in RX-only mode.

• The big N0AGI-5 gateway/digipeater has moved from Minnetonka back to its old home in Prior Lake. Per N0AGI (Nagi), the time spent at N0BVE's (Don) tower was an "experiment", and he now has an RX pre-amp on the gateway to increase his (already substantial) coverage. 

 

Well, that's pretty much it. I'm going to set up my new Arrow satellite antenna for some 2M SSB/CW "action" and I'll be on FM tonight.                   

Loose Notes 9/26/15

   Just a few items related to what's been going on over the past week. 

• China has put four amateur satellites with SSB/CW transponders into orbit. Pass predictions for the XW-2A, XW-2B, XW-2E, and XW-2F can be found here. Locally, it looks as if the best we can expect are 11-minute passes. XW-2A has good passes in the early morning and roughly around 9 PM. XW-2E has passes somewhere around 8 AM and 7 PM. Really, there's not a big variation between the best passes of all four birds locally. They all tend to fall within an hour or two of each other. For each of the four, there are about six passes each day, but only two are high enough to even consider working. Remember, these aren't FM satellites and you will need a VHF/UHF rig capable of doing SSB/CW/digital to use them. For some reason, they only have an expected life of one year. 

•  The FM satellite Fox 1-A will be launched in less than two weeks (Oct. 8). Still no word on when the FM EO-80 will be turned on. In a few more months, two additional FM sats will launch (Fox 1-C and 1-D). There's still time to pick up that "eggbeater" antenna or Arrow/Elk portable beam. 

• Last Sunday, I had one of those nifty tropo adventures. With just a mag-mount whip on my balcony (and 50W), I reached the Red Wing 147.300- (no PL) repeater around 9 PM for a chat with KC5SAM (Virginia) and KD0LYL (Art). Virginia even graciously sent me a QSL card. 

• I'm not sure if it's tropo ducting or some improvement on the repeater, but this week I've been able to bring up the UHF Hugo 443.050+ (118.8 PL) easily with S8 or S9 using my whip. Just last month, I needed a six-element Yagi (carefully aimed) for a chat with N0SBU (George).  EDIT: In a brief QSO with George on the new 147.315 repeater, I learned that nothing has changed on his .050 machine. I also am now unable to bring it up. Must have been tropo. 

• For the past two nights, I've been able to bring up the 147.240+ (146.2 PL) machine in Ogilvie, as well as the 145.230- (146.2 PL) repeater in Duxbury. Though there's a repeater in Mankato on 147.240 + with a 136.5 PL, I can't get into it usually. Still, I can hear the Mankato machine while I'm on the Ogilvie repeater. Both are around 60+ miles away in opposite directions from me. The Duxbury repeater is on the same pair as N0BVE's WIRES-X hub (which uses a 114.8 PL), so it's hard to tell which repeater any traffic is on. 

• Just today I was finally able to bring up the new 147.315+ (91.5 PL) repeater in North Branch. It boasts a 40 mile coverage radius, and that would put me on the fringe here in Plymouth. Yet, I "ker-chunked" it for an S3 return using my exterior mag-mount whip. The .315 also has an APRS object that notes it's part of the MAGIC network. EDIT: Per N0SBU (George), I was not getting in readably with 50W into the whip.

• This week, I ran into KE0CRW (Greg) on the Maple Plain 147.000 repeater. He had just got a full-powered FT-7900 for his base rig, and we decided to test it out. Unfortunately, tropo ducting was non-existent that evening and we could only reach local repeaters. Since meeting Greg back in February (when he just got his licence), he's moved up from an HT with a duck, to an HT with a ground-plane, and now to a 'real' FM station. 

• After an antenna failure last weekend, N0BVE (Don) has set up a brand-new eight-bay commercial antenna on the site for the 145.450- (no PL) repeater in Minnetonka this week. If you've had trouble reaching the VHF side of the HandiHam network previously, try it now with this new antenna. I've noticed that I get in better with my 10W mobile now, and the .450 is now absolutely full-scale at home here in Plymouth. 

• A few more local repeaters now have APRS objects, joining the 442.075 and 147.090 on the map. Over the past few weeks, MARA's 146.850 object has disappeared. The .075 and .090 are RF beacons, however, while the four new additions are internet-based. Those repeaters would be the 443.575+ (114.8 PL) in NE Minneapolis, the 444.050+ (114.8 PL) in St. Paul, the 443.050+ (118.8 PL) in Hugo, and the 145.170- (100.0 PL) machine in St. Paul. All of these are associated with the MAGIC repeater network. N0GOI (Terry) has a master plan to link all of these repeaters at some point.

• Speaking of APRS, there's a new I-Gate that just appeared a day or so ago near Wyoming. N0DZQ claims a range of only 3 miles, but it's very near 35W and should prove very useful for mobile stations. Other than that, we've neither gained nor lost anything in the network this week.  EDIT: Today, the N0DZQ gateway has moved south several miles. I'm currently trying to contact N0DZQ (John) to clarify things.

• For the time being anyway, the same WIRES-X hub found on N0BVE's (Don) 145.230- repeater is also available on the KA0KMJ (John) 444.450+ repeater in Dayton. This hub links well over a dozen repeaters in scattered parts of the country (and England) together. The 444.450 has very good coverage to the north, while the 145.230 is in Chaska. This means that a whole lot more of the metro's operators now have access to the biggest of the WIRES-X linked networks, and the relatively high level of activity found there. 

• Per on on-air conversation with KE0NA (Dave) this morning, I learned that he now has one of the new TYT MD-380 DMR hand-held radios. We tested it out on the "Local 2" talk-group, and it sounded pretty good. Dave is currently working on a code-plug for the radio, which should make the MD-380 even more attractive for anyone thinking about trying out DMR. The $165 monoband would just need Dave's code-plug loaded (much like you would load a programming file of repeaters into any other other HT) to immediately access the international network and local channels.  

Loose Notes 7/5/15

  Not much here that I haven't covered in other posts.

• There's a new six-metre FM repeater in Faribault on 53.790-. Originally listed as an NXDN repeater, WA0SSN (Don) confirmed that it's actually a standard FM analogue machine. Per KC0OUZ (Adam), the repeater has a PL tone of 100.0, though the listing shows no tone. It's also supposed to be cross-band linked to a UHF repeater in Faribault. Given that it's relatively easy to reach the 2M 146.790- repeater in Faribault from the metro, it's not unrealistic to think that we could reach the 53.790 from here, too. There certainly aren't any local 6M repeater options at the moment. 

• Per N0GOI (Terry), the Hugo 443.050+ (118.8 PL) repeater has a new controller that will make it much easier to link it to the 444.050+ (114.8 PL) machine in St. Paul in the future. Current plans involve linking these machines to the Foreston repeaters, the VHF 145.170-, and the NE Minneapolis 443.575+ repeater. It's an ambitious plan, and one that could potentially serve as a model for the future. 

• I've neglected to mention that a local C4FM repeater has now moved from 444.725 to 444.450+ (114.8 PL). Local C4FM expert K9EQ (Chris) provided the expertise and time involved in re-tuning the duplexer. The repeater is sited in Dayton. Per KA0KMJ (John) -- the owner -- the repeater's coverage is very good to the north, but terrain provides a challenge to the south. That being said, I'm about 15 miles south of the repeater and I can get into it reliably with an indoor mag-mount whip. The NW metro has lacked a lot of UHF options, especially with the 444.100 moving further south recently, so this is a welcome change. 

• Just another reminder of the hybrid C4FM 442.925+ (114.8 PL) linked repeater in Minnetonka. This machine is linked through WIRES-X to a hub in Beaumont, TX to several other repeaters -- even one in England. Just yesterday I had a chat with an operator in Japan on the .925 -- JA1GAY (Toshi). His basic English was a lot better than my non-existent Japanese skills, and we struggled through a nice QSO. The .925 can also be accessed through analogue FM (which is what I used), so it might be worth your while to check it out. 

• It looks as if the AE0RF-10 APRS gateway is back in business. Previously, it seemed that an experiment in mobile gateway service was being undertaken, but the solar-powered I-gate is now back where it always was.        

Loose Notes 6/14/15

Another quick run-down of the previous week's radio developments:

• I guess that there was some kind of MS 150-type event over the weekend, as there was a lot of APRS traffic indicating that. The Hinckley K0YTH-10 digipeater got a work-out, and a lot of traffic bounced off from that machine to the N9XH-4 (Balsam Lake, WI) digipeater, to the northern metro digipeaters (e.g. N0HOY-14 and K0LAV-8). The network of RX-only I-gates did a great job handling the extra load. 

• Another new digipeater has sprung up in Brooklyn Park. KC0KEP is located near the Crystal Airport, and the new digipeater has handled a lot of packets for the recent weekend event from Forest Lake and even further north. I'd rather see such a nice receiving setup acting as a gateway instead of a digipeater, but we need something in the NW metro. Hopefully, this new addition will stick around. 

• My new 15M dipole (with balun) has arrived in time for Field Day. Barry from Hy Power Antennas was as good as his word, and I'm ready to wade back into HF waters -- if only for a day. I'll be setting up in St. Louis Park with KE0NA (Dave) for QRP operation on 15M and 10M using voice and CW. Look for us on APRS to find out the band/mode we're working at the moment. I expect to have my 5W HT running into my three-element Yagi, and that should reach the local packet infrastructure just fine. 

• On Saturday (6/13), I was surprised to hear KE0NA on the local C4FM 442.925+ (114.8 PL) repeater. I was even more surprised when he told me that he was operating mobile on the 223.900- (100.0 PL) repeater. Obviously, the WIRES-X link to the 1.25M repeater has been restored by N0BVE (Don) over the course of the past week. The audio was strongly "digitised", and I scarcely recognised Dave's voice, but he was completely readable. The EchoLink node for the 224.660- (100.0 PL) has been down for a few weeks now, so the .925 is the best way to operate on 1.25M if you don't have a radio for the band. 

• Speaking of the 442.925, I had a chat there this week with KA8JRJ (Fred). He was operating on WIRES-X from Michigan through a hub in Texas. Per Fred, the WIRES-X room in Beaumont, TX connects several repeaters across the country and even into England. The local 442.925 machine is one of those repeaters linked to the Texas hub, so it's a good place to hang out for some out-of-state conversation. 

• I had my first 2M SSB contact this week! I was immensely surprised to hear KA0RYT (Ron) come back to me on CW, and he then suggested moving to SSB. I first heard someone on CW while casually listening on 144.200 with a vertical whip, so I put up my VHF Yagi hastily. It was set horizontally, and pointed east. This greatly improved the signal, and I was able to tune in precisely and get the callsign. The tone of the CW signal was a bit raspy, but I could copy it. After making contact, I learned that he was in Milaca (to the north-west), and I turned my beam towards Ron for even more improvement in the signal. At a distance of 50 miles, this was my furthest two-metre simplex contact yet.

• I put some LMR-240 coax on my Sirio GP-430 UHF ground-plane antenna this week, replacing the RG-8X that I've been using. This is the antenna that looks like a beer can with three radials sticking out. I've had the mount for about two months now, and I've been using it on UHF FM to get into the local amateur repeaters, as well as the local GMRS repeaters. It's very wide-band and shows flat SWR on all of the 440-MHz frequencies and even up into the 467 MHz GMRS repeater input frequencies. I've been relying on it heavily to reach the 442.425+ DMR repeater, as well. The radials provide a rock-solid signal that my other whips don't give me, and I no longer have to swap antennae to work GMRS. The upgrade to LMR 240 coaxial cable has given me (much) less noise from neighbours' electronics, and boosted reception by about one S-unit. 

• One of the first repeaters that I tried with the new coax was the 444.050+ (114.8 PL) in St. Paul. It's always been a challenging UHF repeater for me to reach. I got in well at 10W, and caught up with N0GOI (Terry). He's taking a well-deserved break from developing his various repeaters, but he still has plans to link the VHF 145.170- (100.0 PL) to the UHF 444.050 machine. Ultimately, he wants to create a cross-band linked network that would incorporate the NE Minneapolis 444.575+, the Hugo 443.050+, and the Foreston VHF and UHF repeaters into the previously-mentioned cross-band pair. It's an ambitious vision, but one that would create activity on currently-unused repeaters and expand coverage dramatically.      

Loose Notes 12/13/14

A few scattered observations this weekend:

• A tip of the hat to KA0KMJ (John), an MGRC member, for letting me know that their Maple Plain 147.000+ (no PL) repeater actually has tone squelch implemented. Now I don't have to hear all of the intermod when I go into Minneapolis and want to use the Maple Plain machine. John further explained that the decision to go without an input PL tone was made to accommodate operators in the area with old two-metre rigs that can't "do" CTCSS. Also, per John, the Robbinsdale UHF 444.775+ (114.8 PL) is sponsored by the MGRC (though the listing says otherwise), and the marginal 443.700+ machine in Maple Grove is not the Club's only foray into UHF.

•  I had a brief chat on that same 147.000+ repeater this afternoon with a mobile ham (callsign mangled). He was heading down to Texas, and had a 5W Yaesu HT and a mag-mount antenna on the van. I found it ironic that he told me that he couldn't get into the Maple Plain machine from his home in Howard Lake, but that he was reaching the repeater from near Northfield while mobile talking to me. The 147.000 seems to have really good "ears". I also had a long conversation with WA0ZDE (Rick) shortly after that using my 9W Leixen with an indoor mag-mount antenna on the opposite side of the building from Maple Plain. I've always liked the 147.000, though activity is definitely low.

•  KE0NA (Dave) is working on The Aggrandizer 223.900- (100.0 PL) repeater today, adding a receive pre-amp. The repeater transmits with okay coverage out to Plymouth, but doesn't hear people trying to get into it well enough for mobile use yet. Give the upgraded machine a try.  

• I had a long chat with N0GOI (Terry) last night on the 444.050+ (114.8 PL) machine. Work is nearly complete on the VHF and UHF repeaters in Foreston, and they are both on the air. Terry always has some exciting plans, and it's interesting to talk to him. The two Foreston machines will be linked (cross-band), but this link will have the ability to be disabled for SkyWarn -- with the UHF machine handling the normal local traffic. UHF is a "tough sell" in the rural areas, but cross-band operation will allow those willing to try it out the chance to still keep in contact with the VHF users. There are also some potential plans to implement the Raspberry Pi RF link boards that N0YNT (Matt) and N0BFG (Ryan) are currently experimenting with. That's "down the road", of course, and the controllers still need to be upgraded or modified to work with the linking scheme. 

• Terry also told me that the UHF 443.575+ (114.8 PL) repeater in NE Minneapolis -- operated by KD0WIL (Eric) -- has been upgraded to a 60W MSF-5000. It took 15W to "ker-chunk" the .575 from here in Plymouth, but it came back with an S7 signal once I got in. This is a repeater operating out of Eric's house in Northeast, so reaching Plymouth is pretty good. At some point, I understand that it will be linked into the MAGIC system to boost their eastern UHF coverage. Eric is also trying to implement EchoLink on the repeater, but no word on what his near-term objective is for a link. 

•  It turns out the 224.500- (114.8 PL) repeater just needed a re-tuning of the duplexer to get into working shape, per N0FKM (Dan). The machine isn't up to Dan's standards yet, but once it is, he'll be exploring cross-band links to at least one of his other (five) repeaters.

• With the ten-metre contest going this weekend, I tried the webSDR receiver in Louisiana for a listen on the 'action'. Though this receiver is primarily for the propagation beacon sub-band, I was quite surprised to find a whole lot of phone activity in the lower section of the band reserved for CW and digital modes. I heard nothing but American phone stations over the course of an hour in this sub-band -- at least the part covered by the webSDR receiver. Wow, that's some HF "elite" we have. Can't even follow the band plan. Any phone contacts made below 28.300 on the band should be disqualified for the purposes of the contest. Why would anyone even try digital modes with these bozos stomping all over the sub-band? I guess that contesters really are better operators than the rest of us.
   

New local repeaters...?

RepeaterBook is showing two new repeater updates for the metro. The first is a UHF machine on 444.950+ (114.8 PL) in Gem Lake (basically White Bear Lake in NE metro). The second is another Gem Lake site with a 33cm machine on 919.100-. Both have been confirmed to be on-air independently. Estimated coverage radius for the 33cm repeater is 15 miles.

I was not able to hit the UHF .950, and I don't have a 33cm radio. These repeaters are run by K0LAV (Paul), who is a legend in local amateur FM. Unfortunately, I can hit almost none of his various Gem Lake repeaters from Plymouth. I'm using 45W into a six-element Yagi 40 feet above ground -- and Plymouth is already "high ground" -- but I can't "ker-chunk" this new UHF repeater. So I can't really comment on any other aspect of the machine, other than to say that people believe it exists.

In various on-air discussions with Paul, he's told me about some of the cross-band projects that he envisions, including a few linked repeaters. While he eschews EchoLink as impractical for many situations, he has none of the existential biases against linked networks and cross-band that are so very common among his contemporaries. Much like N0GOI (Terry), Paul is working on out-state FM infrastructure in addition to developing the local scene, and he's also working on a rural APRS gateway. Paul was one of the original masterminds of the visionary remote-receive network that makes the VHF .850 work so well, and he's remarkably open about his ideas and plans. One of those plans is a cross-band VHF/UHF repeater 300 feet up, sited in Isanti County, that could reach the metro -- much like the (currently-down) LSAC UHF .325 machine. But those are just plans, for the moment. Exciting plans, though.

Paul is also the trustee for the MARA UHF .800 repeater, which has the best (in my opinion) coverage of any UHF machine in the metro. So he knows how to put up repeaters and make them work well. I just wish that I could reach more of them.

If you've wanted to play with 33cm before, you should take advantage of this cross-band arrangement. If nothing else, try to reach the UHF .950 repeater and submit a propagation report on RepeaterBook so that we can all get a clearer idea of its coverage radius.

EDIT: I did get a very faint "ker-chunk" from the 444.950 yesterday (7/19), so I can now confirm that the repeater is actually in operation. It took 40W and a six-element Yagi aimed exactly perfect, though.

KD0WIL: My entry into the ham radio world

As part of our ongoing effort to bring new writers into the blog, KD0WIL (Erik) has kindly agreed to contribute a post. Please welcome him, in what I hope will be the first of a series of contributions from a new amateur radio operator and a repeater trustee. Erik's post, in my opinion, exemplifies the spirit of those that built the local infrastructure that we now enjoy, so many years ago. His story is also one of effective mentoring that runs contrary to "conventional wisdom". While his path is not everyone's path, he has set an example for those with many more years in the hobby to live up to. It is a plaintive tale that makes all of us question our contributions to the community on multiple levels.

Hello, my name is Erik (KD0WIL), and I joined the ham world August 7th 2013, when I was issued my ticket. But before I get too far, let me tell you what brought me to the hobby. Before becoming licensed, I had the common vision of all ham radio operators being these weird guys who sit in their basements listening to static from far away countries in foreign languages they can’t understand. I also thought the equipment needed just to get started would cost thousands of dollars.

So what made me look closer at the hobby? A simple YouTube video posted by KC9TJV titled “getting started in ham radio”. It explained how most of what I thought about ham radio was a myth, and how easy and low cost an entry into the hobby would be.     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFLxeASa05k

I showed the video to a co-worker and, lo and behold, he was already a licensed ham radio operator and encouraged me to get licensed as well. He showed me some online study pages for the test and where to go to get licensed.

So I passed my test, and eagerly headed to the local radio shop to pick out a shiny new radio for my car. I have a long commute, and planned on using it in the car only. I ended up buying a Yaesu FT-2900 and a cheap mag-mount whip. Don’t get me wrong; this was a great first radio that I had lots of fun with, but looking back I wish I would have bought a dual band instead.

So I installed my radio and spent hours sitting in my garage entering in different repeaters and frequencies. I was a little surprised when, cruising back and forth to work, I actually managed to manually program the radio and get it to receive. I happily listened to the local radio traffic while commuting, never daring to hit the PTT button just to see if I had it programmed right *wink* wink*.

I checked the FCC website daily waiting for my call sign to be issued. After what seemed like months, but really was only a matter of days, I was assigned KD0WIL. Heading home from work that day, I mustered up all my courage and keyed my radio “K-D-0-W-I-L” I spoke into the mic, and dropped the button. KL3RH, Riley, answered me and was my first radio contact. I was confused at first when he told me that he was in Moab Utah, as I thought 2M Fm wouldn’t reach that far but he explained he was on Echolink. So that was my intro to Echolink and the HandiHam network.

I spent most of my time on N0BVE’s  145.45 machine and N0GOI’s 145.17 repeater. I enjoyed checking into the daily nets on the 145.45 and was welcomed by everyone on the conference. Since my only radio was in my car I purchased a few HT’s to check in from home but had a hard time hitting the repeaters well. That is when I delved a little deeper into echolink and set up a simplex node.

I know the above mentioned node has been mentioned before in this blog, and caused somewhat of a “controversy”,  if you want to call it that. But, as I explained to the people helping me set it up, it was more of an experiment than anything. That’s one of the things I like best about ham radio, is trying something new and figuring out how it works. I must have spent close to a month trying to figure out the hardware wiring and software settings, but when I finally got it done and right it worked and served a purpose for me. I have since taken it down as I no longer needed it, but it was a learning experience.  

Also, when I first started in the hobby I talked often with N0GOI (Terry) on his repeater. He really helped me understand how repeaters work, and obviously has a passion for repeater work. After talking with him on my rides to and from work and getting to know him, he offered to show me his repeaters. Which was really cool, because I knew very little about how repeaters worked and what made up the insides of one. If you would have asked me what a duplexer was, I would have had no idea what one looked like or even did.

After talking on the local repeaters and seeing how one actually works and is put together, I decided it would be cool to try build my own. So I bought a couple Motorola mobile radios, a mobile duplexer, and a repeater controller. With a lot of help from N0GOI, I managed to build a small working repeater.

Now the coverage on it was small, and the audio on it was poor, but that wasn’t the point. "Why bother?",  you might ask? It was the journey getting there. Learning how the radios are programmed, learning what signals you need to find for a controller etc..

This repeater has also since been replaced with a Motorola MSF 500, and is sponsored by the Magic Repeater Group. There are times when I hear people say things like, “what is that guy doing” or “why do people put junk like that on the air”. Just remember that some of us are just starting out, and don’t have the knowledge or funds for fancy expensive equipment. Instead, follow the lead of the many people who, instead of talking down to me, stepped up and helped by sharing their knowledge and helping me out: KA0PQW, KA0KMJ, N0YNT, and especially N0GOI and the Magic Repeater Group for making the Northeast Mpls 443.575 repeater happen, just to name a few.

I’ve always enjoyed learning how things work. When I was younger I was constantly taking things apart to fix them or just to see how they work, and I intend to go at ham radio the same way. So please be patient with me while I stumble through.

73’s

KD0WIL