Loose Notes 2/27/16

  There are just a few developments over the past week, and I want to get them updated early. 

FM Repeaters 

• RepeaterBook is inquiring if the 146.820- (no tone?) repeater in Fergus Falls in on-air or not. If you can confirm either way, update the listing. 

• We have a new cross-band link in the metro! The VHF 145.290- (114.8 PL) repeater in New Brighton is now linked to the UHF 444.750+ (114.8 PL) repeater in Columbia Heights. In previous on-air conversations with K0FCC (Dan), he's said that his plan is to link three bands together. Judging by the listing for the (currently down) 224.500- (114.8 PL), it looks as if the intention is to add 1.25M to this linking scheme. 

• I'm not sure what's happened to the 443.250+ (DCS 023N) repeater in Dayton lately. It used to come back with an S7 or S8 signal, but now it's only S4. 

• I've been wondering in the 443.000+ (114.8 PL) SNP repeater in Chaska is ever going to come back on-air. This was an interesting UHF machine that came back S9, and had a working auto-patch, but it's been down for a couple of weeks now (at least). 

Satellite 

•  With AO-85 (Fox 1-A) already in orbit and working, the next "bird" is scheduled to launch some time in January of next year (2017). This would be another FM satellite, Fox 1-B. Plans are already being made for Fox 1-E, which will be an SSB (linear transponder) satellite. 

• Though it was launched in mid-2014, the FM satellite EO-80 still hasn't had been activated for amateur use. 

DMR 

• Well, I was wrong about a new DMR repeater going up in Prior Lake. N0AGI (Nagi) did get a new 50W repeater and duplexer, but it isn't going up on the Prior Lake site. Rumour has it that the new repeater is in search of a site in the south metro, though. Testing has gone well.

• We're now up to 88 DMR IDs in Minnesota. Several new operators have been added in Faribault now that the 442.175+ has been moved there. Also, new operators have popped up in Ham Lake, Blaine, White Bear Lake, Bloomington, New Hope, Buffalo, Willmar and even Duluth.

• I just welcomed WA0CQG (Carl) this morning to DMR as his first contact. He had a very good signal into the Minneapolis 442.425+ repeater from Bloomington. 

• In a QSO with K0LAV (Paul) on the MARA 444.800+, I learned that Paul is now on DMR with a full-powered rig. He's still trying to navigate the code-plug, but I'm very confident that he'll be able to access the Oakdale 443.425+ machine. The Dayton 442.850+ is probably a safe bet, too, from his location. You really only need to be able to get in to one repeater. 

• Also, in that same QSO, Paul reiterated his plan to put a VHF DMR repeater on the air. It wouldn't be linked to the UHF network, but would serve as a standalone 100W power-house for local coverage on TS1 (Time Slot 1). A selected few talk-groups would be accessible on TS2, and these would likely be state-wide in nature (i.e. covering a single state, rather than world-wide or regional). All DMR rigs are monoband, so keep this in mind when shopping for a rig. You'll need a second rig to access this VHF repeater along with the UHF network, though you won't need a second DMR ID. There was no mention made of the planned site for Paul's new repeater, though the stated power level and narrow-band digital nature of the mode should provide metro-wide coverage. 

• Discussions will soon be starting on a potential re-arrangement of time-slots on (at least) three local repeaters: the Dayton 442.850, Oakdale 443.425, and Minneapolis 442.425. Currently, the calling channels are all on TS1, and everything else is on TS2. As local traffic increases, TS2 is starting to get locked up. Start thinking about clever options to move TGs off of TS2, and what you would like to see carried on TS1. It's good to start discussing this now, rather than at some future point where we have a serious problem. You can also submit your ideas here on the blog.  

APRS 

• It seems that almost as soon as I mentioned the KD0KZE gateway coming back on-air, it went down again for the week. 

• Southern Minnesota's KG0QR-1 gateway has now handled more than 6.2k packets this month! It's handling digipeated packets from Windom to Winona, all the way up to Ramsey. 

• The Mora 147.240+ (146.2 PL) repeater now has an APRS icon, courtesy of N0DZQ. 

• With the nicer weather, we're seeing a lot more aircraft equipped with APRS. Please remember to adjust your N-path when you do this, so that you aren't using digipeaters. You really don't need multiple bounces at high altitudes, and you are only causing unnecessary congestion. WIDE 1-1 is a considerate adjustment.                               

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 10/31/15

  Just another summary of things that I've come across this week in the radio world. 

• Kydera has two new DMR monoband rigs in the pipeline. The first is the KYD DM-880 HT, with a high-capacity 3000 mAh battery and optional GPS. There is a VHF and a UHF model, with 4W output on UHF. The second is the KYD CDM-550H mobile, with optional GPS and 40W output on UHF. There's also a repeater. These radios aren't available for retail purchase as of yet. I should also mention that PuXing has the PD-820 HT (with optional Bluetooth) for $205, too. 

• If you missed out on CSI's $130 deal for the TYT MD-380, you might be interested in 409shop's new deal on these DMR HTs. For $170, you get the radio (including battery and two antennae) and a programming cable, speaker mic, mobile charger, and a soft case. 

• Things are shifting around on the local APRS situation. The new N0AGI-5 gateway sited on the Chaska water tower hasn't been showing up lately. N0BVE (Don) briefly had an RF APRS beacon functioning for his 145.230- SNP machine yesterday, but not any more. AE0EE-1 made an appearance as an RX-only gateway for a few hours, but shut down. EDIT: N0AGI-5 is back up, though it looks as if it's moved to Minnetonka. N0BVE has an icon for the 145.230 again, but no RF beacon.

• Further afield in APRS, W0LKA-2 has quite recently come on-air as a digipeater in Badger, MN (near Roseau). It's about 27 miles from the gateway in Karlstad, so this new addition should be getting packets gated from Warroad and across the Canadian border. Just across the border in South Dakota, AE5ED has put up a gateway. This should handle the W0GC-2 digipeater, which helps to cover a big gap in western MN. In southern MN, KG0QR-1 came on-air last week as a gateway that helps to cover I-90 and the gap between the freeway and Mankato. Southern MN, like a lot of northern MN, is heavy on digipeaters but lacks redundant gateway coverage. 

• RepeaterBook is looking for someone to confirm if the 146.775- (no tone) repeater in Detroit Lakes is on the air or not. 

•  The UHF 444.450+ (D023N) Fusion repeater in Dayton will be moving north near Zimmerman in the coming weeks. In an on-air QSO with KE0ATF (Steve), he confirmed that the WIRES-X link with the Medtronic 444.525 will remain, as well as the WIRES-X link to the Beaumont, TX hub that connects dozens of other Fusion repeaters together. While the north-west metro (where I live) will be losing some UHF coverage, this move will link a lot of the northern metro to the urban core. It could even achieve the elusive goal of continuous UHF coverage to St. Cloud. 

• It looks as if the 146.730- (114.8 PL) machine in Forest Lake is now off-air. This repeater figured in a few linking schemes that never really panned out.

• N0BVE (Don) restored his SNP 443.000+ (114.8 PL) machine to the air last week-end. It had some initial problems with TX power levels, so it's currently operating out Don's home in Minnetonka. At some point, it will go back to its old home in Chaska. It's operating as a stand-alone repeater at the moment, though it formerly was linked to the HandiHam network and probably will be again. 

• Meanwhile, St. Paul's 443.000+ (118.8 PL) SNP machine has gone off-air again. 

• The Fox 1-A (AO-85) FM satellite is now available for use, although testing isn't over. 

• As the new Chinese SSB satellites (XW-2A to XW-2F) have been orbiting, they are separating more. XW-2A is much further ahead.  XW-2B, XW-2C and XW-2D are in the middle. XW-2F is bringing up the rear much further back. This makes them more useful, to my thinking, than the previous grouping where they were basically in a line spaced about twelve minutes apart.      

Loose Notes 10/11/15

  Not a heck of a lot has happened in my radio world this week, but I'll try to put something together. 

• On Wednesday (10/7), the RF link between the 1.25M 223.940- repeater in Arden Hills and the HandiHam network was restored by KG0BP (Chris) after being down for nearly two years. Chris received substantial help from N0BVE (Don), who provided a tower. The signal from the 223.940 is received in Richfield and sent to the network via EchoLink, and any traffic on the network is transmitted to the 223.940 repeater with an Alinco mobile. I had a chance to test it out yesterday (10/10) with KA0PQW (Matt) and Don, getting in easily with 10W into a mag-mount tri-band whip from the opposite side of the metro. Don was also on 1.25M, so I had a chance to hear the audio directly and it's pretty good. The .940 will get a work-out with all of the traffic on the network. Thanks to everyone involved in this useful project. 

• As part of this upgrade by KG0BP, the 444.850+ (114.8 PL) HandiHam repeater is back on the air. In contrast to my discussions with Chris last November, he decided to use the old antenna that the .850 used before, rather than a north-facing beam. At only 13 miles distance, I'm unable to "ker-chunk" the .850 nor even hear any of the network traffic carried on it. Don has worked it from about seven miles at the University, and Chris' wife has worked it from about five miles distance. Undoubtedly, topography is the major limitation here. In its previous incarnation, the 444.850 had quite decent coverage to the south, and it's likely that it still does. Try it out and put your signal reports on RepeaterBook. Some operators in the inner southern suburbs might find the .850 a welcome alternative to the .650, as it's not plagued by a short time-out. The 444.850 is a fully-functional linked network repeater, so reaching it re-transmits your signal on every other HandiHam repeater over three bands.

• In an on-air chat with N0YNT (Matt) over DMR (N. America TG), I learned that he will moving back to St. Paul (from San Francisco) in 3 or 4 weeks. We discussed moving the 223.900- repeater to the St. Paul campus (definite maybe), and the 224.940- machine to K9EQ's (Chris) site (unlikely). Matt also has some hazy plans for the 443.425+ and 147.150+ repeaters that have more or less languished for years. Before his move to the West Coast, Matt expressed a vision for an ambitious metro-wide, linked, cross-band network. The pieces are finally coming together, with various people contributing their unique talents and thinking outside the conventional box. 

•  A chat with N0GOI (Terry) revealed that his six-metre FM repeater project (53.470-) is "not that far off". Two years ago, the TCRC's 53.370- machine died a whimpering death and left the metro without 6M FM coverage. Last year, W0CE (Charlie) informed me that his 6M repeater in Ramsey was, indeed, off-air, and would not be restored. N0BVE (Don) has been looking for a site for his 6M repeater for years now. I'm unsure how much interest there is in the metro for the six-metre band, at least as far as FM goes. With three bands already, and activity declining, it might be a "tough sell". In theory, the lower frequency should provide somewhat better "over-the-horizon" coverage (all other propagation anomalies aside). I could see more value with six-metre FM as part of cross-band linked system than as a stand-alone option. 

• In a QSO with K0ZZK (Tom) on the 444.475+ (118.8 PL) repeater yesterday (10/10), I learned that the antenna for the Richfield (RARC) machine has been upgraded. I was fairly surprised to reach it so well with an indoor antenna 13 miles away, especially considering my complete failure to reach the 444.850 (in the same city) with an outdoor antenna. Tom gave me a good signal report, however, and the .475 came back to me with an S6 signal here in Plymouth. Per Tom, the cross-band link to the RARC's 145.390- (103.5 PL) is no longer working and the idea has been abandoned. Still, the UHF .475 is a System Fusion machine, which offers potential for WIRES-X linking if the RARC ever wanted to do something creative with their coverage. For example, a WIRES-X link to the 442.075+ C4FM machine in Prior Lake (18 miles away) would be mutually beneficial. It would open up more of 169 and 35W to the metro and boost the fringes of the 444.475's coverage. As it stands now, though, the upgraded .475 has excellent coverage. I just need to find out how well I can reach it with 10W in my car this far away. 

• Not satisfied with being a major metro APRS gateway, N0AGI (Nagi) has teamed up with N0BVE (Don) to put N0AGI-5 on the Chaska water tower. This moves the I-Gate about a dozen miles north, and much higher. The results are very impressive. The map of stations directly heard shows that coverage for the west metro (which has always lagged) and the north-west metro (always spotty) has now dramatically improved. Keep in mind when looking at that map, that this is showing the results from less than a week at the new site. There still might be a gap between N0AGI-5 and the Litchfield KD0JOU-2, but the odds of getting your packets gated in the west metro are now pretty good. The map doesn't show coverage from digipeated stations, so this is a worst-case scenario...and it's very good. More information on the new gateway can be found at Nagi's blog.

• Nagi is also involved in another project: a WinLink gateway and packet node on 145.670. Per Nagi, this is actually three different projects. N0AGI-10 is a WinLink gateway that allows access to mail over RF. N0AGI-15 is a KA-node for packet allowing you to link to other packet nodes. And N0AGI-5 is a BBS (bulletin board) for posting messages, accessible over RF. Nagi is very keen to have others test this out and make use of it. Remember, packet works over FM. Your standard FM mobile, connected to a TNC and your computer, will allow you to do access these nodes (and other nodes on 145.110). While I'm just getting in to packet through APRS, I'm not familiar with anything outside of that. Nagi has generously agreed to advise me on how to set up a working packet station, and I hope to share that information here on the blog in the future.

• After being unable to reach N0YNT's (Matt) UHF SNP repeater on 443.000+ (118.8 PL) for a couple of weeks, I was surprised to find it working this week. Located in St. Paul, it's been around for years. Hopefully Matt can find time to look at it when he returns to Minnesota in a month or so. 

• On the other hand, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to get in to the 444.950+ (114.8 PL) repeater in White Bear Lake. I haven't been able to raise it in my car for over a month, nor with an indoor whip. I takes an outdoor antenna and at least 10W to open it up. A few months ago, I was able to work it with an HT/duck indoors. 

• The MARA 444.800+ (114.8 PL) continues to struggle. If you use this machine regularly, you are probably aware of it's annoying tendency to shut down completely for ten minutes or more if a QSO goes beyond six or seven minutes. In a QSO with KG0BP this week, it went dead just as we were discussing the effort to restore his UHF .850 repeater. It's smart to agree to a backup QSY when using the .800 repeater.

Loose Notes 3/14/15

  So what's been happening over the past week? Glad that you asked: 

• K0LAV (Paul) has moved the antenna on his 147.390+ (PL 94.8) repeater to a tower at 125 feet up. That's a lot better than his previous 30 foot antenna height. It takes me 12W to "ker-chunk" it, but it comes back with an S+ signal on my FT-897D. For those of you that aren't familiar with the Yaesu S-metre on that radio, everything above S9 is shown as S+ -- except for full scale, which is S++. Bear in mind that I'm on the opposite side of the metro, and only using an exterior mobile, mag-mount whip. It might be nice to enter your own experience as a propagation report on the 147.390's RepeaterBook page. I've heard other local operators tell me that the machine came back to them only S2, so try it again now that the antenna is much better. 

• KA0KMJ (John) is in the process of getting a UHF PA for his (SNP) 444.725+ (127.3 PL) C4FM repeater operating in hybrid mode out the NW suburbs. Yaesu has downgraded the duty cycle for full-power operation of the DR1-X repeater, so John plans to run a mere 5W into a Henry PA with 50W output. This should keep things cool on the DR1-X, while remaining within the rating for the mobile duplexer. K9EQ (Chris) did something similar, though with higher output, for the UHF .525 Medtronic repeater a few months back, so the principle is sound. I wouldn't be surprised if more System Fusion repeaters didn't follow the same path, as the PA on the DR1-X can't seem to handle extended QSOs at full power.

• The MARA 444.800+ (114.8 PL) had a bit of down time Friday night into Saturday. The RX sensitivity of the MSF-5000 repeater dropped dramatically, but it was back in operation Saturday morning. The repeater has had continuing issues with "RF whiskers", and may need to taken down again for a more thorough cleaning. Small crystalline "hairs" grow out of the cavity -- which is a pretty weird concept -- and cause shorts in the MSF-5000's receiver. 

• N0AGI (Nagi) has had a WIRES-X box set up on his UHF 442.175+ (100.0 PL) C4FM repeater for a few weeks now, and KE0NA (Dave) has been trying to set up a WIRES-X link with the 223.900- (100.0 PL) repeater this week. Nagi also confirmed rumours that he's seriously scouting out tower options for his Prior Lake repeater, which could expand the RF coverage for his UHF machine beyond the SW suburbs. Also, Nagi has completed his (previously-mentioned) "Shack-To-Go" project. Video documentation can be found on Nagi's blog.

• In an on-air QSO with KE0CRW (Greg), I found out that the C4FM 444.100+ repeater (which is the former 444.925+ HandiHam machine), has WIRES-X enabled. So, while the TCFMC has been woefully unable to keep their EchoLink node logged on for years, they now have internet-based access to one of their repeaters.

• I've been noticing sporadic traffic on the GMRS 462.575+ channel this week. I'm unaware of a local repeater on that pair, and it doesn't last long enough for a CTCSS scan. Anyone know something about this?

• Local amateur FM mastermind N0YNT (Matt) is currently operating out of an undisclosed West Coast location, but he wrote back and noted one of  the differences between the Twin Cities and California FM scene:
  

  Like every other populated city, there was nobody to talk to on the various 2 meter machines. It appears that most people in California have found their "cliques" and those are off of two meters. (One ham described two meters in the Bay Area as "The Learning Band", a "one click up from C.B., only licensed.") heh.
  

Loose Notes 3/8/15

A smattering of intriguing developments that I've encountered lately: 

• N0AGI (Nagi) has an interesting project in the works: a portable HF rig. As usual, he's documented it meticulously on his blog and in video. Part 1 can be found on his blog, and Part 2 of the project can be found on this video. 

• This weekend, I stumbled across the UHF repeater operated by K0LAV (Paul) on 444.950+ (114.8 PL). I've grown accustomed to being unable to reach most of Paul's repeaters, being quite limited in antenna options here and being on the opposite side of the metro from him. But I was pleasantly surprised to see the .950 come back full-scale using my exterior antenna and 10W. I discussed this development with Paul on the MARA UHF .800 repeater and learned that the repeater's antenna was a respectable 90 feet up, and also that it was cross-band linked to his 33 cm 919.100- machine. So, if you've ever wanted to play with 33 cm operation, the UHF .950 is an excellent means to do that. 

•  With the addition of a new exciter, and a 100W Henry PA, the 223.900- (100.0 PL) "Aggrandizer" repeater has officially moved out of "testing" and into "on-air" status. This effort has only been made possible with the help and advice from the local amateur community, though some elements of that same community have placed significant barriers in its path. Whatever success may come from this project is a testament to the positive and co-operative spirit that still exists here, as well as the vision and drive to experiment found in some quarters. While the site in NE Minneapolis keeps the 223.900 in the "hobby" repeater class, we are exploring various linking options to make this repeater more valuable to the amateur radio community.  And, as I predicted back in September, The Aggrandizer is in full operation before the TCRC has restored their 224.540- repeater.

•  In an on-air conversation with N0BVE (Don) yesterday (3/7) I found out that the VHF SNP 145.230- (114.8 PL) repeater that he's running is currently located in Chaska. It comes back to me with a (somewhat noisy) S6 signal, but pretty much everyone in town has a better antenna arrangement than I do, so you can probably reach it much better than me. The .230 is EchoLink-capable (through KA0KMJ-L), though not connected to the rest of the HandiHam network. 

• Per K0LAV (Paul), the 146.850- (no PL) operated by MARA is averaging 9.5 hours of key-up time per day. That figure didn't mean much to me, until Paul explained that it's about twice the activity of just two years ago. No similar records are kept for MARA's UHF counterpart, the 444.800+ (114.8 PL), though it seems to me that activity has increased somewhat over the past year. Certainly, there are more people monitoring it regularly, based on the number of people coming back to me when I throw out my sign there. Maybe UHF is slowly becoming more accepted by the two-metre crowd here.  

Loose Notes 2/22/15

As usual, just a few scattered bits of info that don't merit an in-depth examination. 

• N0BVE (Don) has apparently been trying to get his SNP 2M repeater to take off. On 145.230- (114.8 PL), it's operating out of either Minnetonka or Chaska. It's hard to keep up with the constantly-shifting status of his multiple machines, after all. The EchoLink node says Chaska, but Don has told me that it's at his home in Minnetonka. The 145.23 has a decent signal strength (S7 here in Plymouth), but there's a fair amount of noise. I'm not sure if the audio is just fairly low, or if there's interference, but the quality of the signal is not good relative to the signal strength. There's not a lot of local activity on the repeater, and it's not often linked to the rest of the network, but Don does frequently connect it to a different EchoLink conference -- MN_CONF. This is a chatty (and friendly) group of people from outside of the area, and the connection to the conference server does create activity on a repeater that would otherwise be dead. It's worth checking out.

• One of Don's other projects, the C4FM repeater on 442.925+ (114.8 PL), is still holding up. There's been issues with the PA blowing on the local C4FM repeaters, but this one is working fine. It has a much better signal than the 145.23 machine (from my vantage point, anyway), though it doesn't seem to be connected to the larger HandiHam network. I'm pretty sure that it has WIRES-X access, though, so it's a bit more than a stand-alone UHF machine. 

• It's not often that we can look forward to a new two-metre repeater in town. The frequency pairs are tightly locked up, but K0LAV (Paul) managed to get his hands on the 147.390+ (94.8 PL) pair a few months ago. In an on-air conversation with him, I learned that his two remote receive sites (White Bear Lake and Columbia Heights) are up and running. The repeater itself is not yet on the air, though. Current plans involve a cross-band link to his 1.25M 224.100- (no PL) repeater in Gem Lake, and DTMF access to the SuperLink network. Big plans, certainly, but Paul has a proven track record of making big plans a reality. It's also encouraging to see something innovative finally taking shape on the local 2M scene. The vast majority of those who cling to the two-metre pairs have rejected, struggled, and fumbled with anything new. Adding voice ID seems to be the major concession to the world of thirty years ago. And there's those three D-Star repeaters. And a bare few EchoLink nodes -- that never seem to be logged in. So it's pretty impressive that Paul has undertaken this novel course of action. 

• The major digipeater in the metro, K0YTH-13, has been down for the past three days. I notified N0ZRD (Gordy), and he's confident that it can be returned to service quickly. This is why it's great that we have redundancies in coverage. Most of that redundancy is provided by individuals, and not the clubs. The clubs talk up EmComm, but seem completely incapable of connecting a BaoFeng to a junky old laptop and making even a feeble pretence of  supporting the local APRS infrastructure. Thanks go out to those guys that are there when things fail. 

• I've confirmed that KA0KMJ (John) has his C4FM repeater back on the air in Osseo. Operating in hybrid mode on 444.725+ (127.3 PL), John has reduced his output power to 20W in order to prevent the PA from melting down again. I'm only about seven miles from the repeater, and it comes back S9++ (full scale), but I'll have to try out the coverage on my mobile to get an idea of how useful the machine will be for my day-to-day purposes. The 444.725 holds up the NW for UHF C4FM, while Don's 442.925 repeater takes care of the SW metro. And, of course, K9EQ (Chris) runs his power-house (100W+) 444.525+ (114.8 PL) machine out of Mounds View, which takes care of Minneapolis and St. Paul proper (at least). UHF is definitely where the new stuff happens around here. 

• In about a week, the 1.25M Aggrandizer repeater on 223.900- (100.0 PL) will have its new PA up and running. Capable of 100W, it will be run at "only" 80W to provide a margin of safety and reliability. KE0NA (Dave) has run some models, and we expect that it will cover Minneapolis and most of the first-ring suburbs quite well. The rest of the metro generally falls into a S5-or-less zone. Options for expanding this range (which is already far more than we originally anticipated) are being explored. You can get a full-powered rig for this band for $150, and there's decent mobile coverage for most of the metro already. In a few months, the HandiHam network will be linked to 1.25M and the SuperLink will be accessible. There's already EchoLink on the 224.660- (100.0 PL) repeater. N0FKM (Dan) is pondering the restoration of UHF cross-band with his 224.500- (100.0 PL) machine, too. Things are happening on the infrastructure end, but we need more operators using this band or we'll lose it to commercial interests.

HandiHam network update

I ran into N0BVE (Don) on the Medtronic UHF .525 repeater tonight, and he let me in on a few new developments: 

• The two-metre SNP repeater that I previously mentioned is now on the Chaska water tower. N0BVE (Don) is running a machine on the 145.230- (114.8 PL) pair, and it has EchoLink and tone squelch implemented. I've never heard anyone on it, and it seems as if Don is keeping it in reserve while testing it for reliability. It's quite functional, and comes back S7 here in Plymouth. 

• The 443.000+ (100.0 PL) UHF repeater in Chaska  is back on the bench, and the 444.925+ (114.8 PL) has taken its place in Chaska. Those of you in the SW and Western metro on UHF should make note of the change. 

• N0BVE has also set up a Yaesu System Fusion (C4FM) repeater in Minnetonka on the same site as the 145.450 2M HandiHam machine. It operates on 442.925+ (114.8 PL) in hybrid (both analogue and C4FM) mode. This is the same frequency pair as KA0PQW (Matt) uses for his UHF HandiHam repeater in Ellendale, and it's currently being tested as a possible backup for his failing machine there. I ker-chunked it for an S7 return, though it took at least ten watts. That's odd, since it's only about five miles (at most) from my location. My impression is that Don is also using this repeater to get acquainted with the C4FM mode, as he plans to link it to the network in the near future. So, the western metro is going to get another UHF machine -- and one that's linked, too. 

EDIT: I was able to get in to the 442.925 okay with my PuXing HT and a stock duck antenna indoors, and also with my indoor Leixen rig. I guess that I need to clear some of the ice off my outdoor antenna. The 442.925 is definitely linked already, as I could hear the Friday Night Tech Net quite well on it.

Loose Notes 11/29/14

Just a few brief items that don't merit their own post: 

• There's a 2M repeater on the SNP frequency in Maple Lake sponsored by the HandiHam network. This morning, I "ker-chunked" a machine on the 145.230- (114.8 PL) SNP pair, and it came back S5 here in Plymouth using a fairly marginal antenna. The MRC listing shows this as a "closed" repeater, so I contacted the local HandiHam expert, N0BVE (Don), and inquired about it. Per Don, this is actually an open repeater and the MRC data is out-of-date. There aren't many VHF machines west of the metro, so it's a welcome development for me. The other HandiHam repeater in Maple Lake is on 145.470- (114.8 PL), and is pretty hard for me to reach even here in Plymouth. The SNP machine isn't linked to the network. It uses tone squelch and seems to have decent "ears", too. Give it a shot. 

• N0BVE (Don) also confirmed the current status and configuration of the linked UHF machines in the HandiHam network, which is good because it's always in flux. The 444.925+ (114.8 PL) is still in Chaska, the 444.325+ (131.8 PL) is still in Bloomington at the airport, and the 443.000+ (100.0 PL) is down for repairs. 

•  I've inquired of several people (N0YNT, N0BVE, K9EQ, and K0LAV) over the previous few weeks to see who knows anything about the 444.875+ (114.8 PL) repeater in downtown Minneapolis. This UHF repeater has pretty decent coverage and operates with FM analogue voice, but there's also digital traffic (D-Star) on the frequency. D-Star machines don't operate as hybrids (both analogue and digital), so there's speculation that there are actually two repeaters on the same pair. Neither the RepeaterBook listing nor the MRC listing sheds any light on the matter. If the four "movers and shakers" that I mentioned don't know about a repeater, then that really makes me curious. If you have the definitive info on this mystery, please post a comment or email me (address to the left under "Contributors"). 

•  It seems as if the conversation on the MARA UHF .800 repeater a few nights ago had a whole lot of people listening in. You guys know that it's okay to transmit on that repeater, don't you? If you support the MARA 146.850 repeater, you are also supporting the MARA UHF machine, too. So don't be scared of UHF, and get your money's worth by using the .800 machine. 

•  EDIT: I've neglected to mention the new UHF C4FM repeater that KA0KMJ (John) is operating on 444.725+ (127.3 PL). It came back with a full-scale signal here in Plymouth this morning, but that's not too surprising since it's in Osseo. The repeater is working as a hybrid (digital and analogue), and it joins the 444.375 as one of the few repeaters operating from the NW metro suburbs. Program it in and give it a shot, and maybe enter a propagation report on the RepeaterBook listing to confirm John's coverage estimates.