DELARANEWS

Club News

Time to reprogram your radios!

145.19 repeater is changing In the good ol’ days of the 1990’s, there used to be a wide area repeater system that covered several states on two meters. It was an absolute blast to listen as hams from Louisville to Indianapolis and Columbus all talked among each other. A series of repeaters and remote sites were linked together to form this network. The home frequency? 145.19. This was the FARA system, based in Fairfield. As things happen, the club dried up, people actually got annoyed that operators were talking long distances (the purpose of the system??) and many were truck driving hams. Add to that combination the amateur radio phenomenon of “grumpy old men” and you have the picture of why this system eventually went off the air. Enter Delaware County ARES, which was tipped that this very rare two meter frequency was actually open, and the coordinated pair was assigned to the DELARES call of N8DCA. Because I didn’t know any better at the time, I became the license trustee. Happy to do that, btw. Thanks to Ken, we were able to put a GE Master Pro repeater on the air, later to replace it with the first generation of Yaesu repeaters offered at the onset of Fusion systems. After blowing the first set of finals, this machine has been on the air untouched for several years now. I installed it without an access tone with the idea that any ham could just dial it up during an emergency and it would work. That brought with it the reality that ~any~ RF near that frequency would also bring up the repeater. That included legitimate signals talking into the 145.17 repeater since they’re so close in frequency. Recently, long bursts of static from some type of electronic device near Conger school has been beating the repeater into submission, so it’s time to change! STARTING SEPTEMBER 1ST, YOU WILL NEED 123 TONE TO ACCESS 145.19. This will mean you need to re-program your mobile and handheld radios to include 123 tone on the 19 repeater. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience! (I have 10 radios to reprogram here at home!) The good news is this will be a one- time inconvenience and will result in a lot less extraneous noise and interference as you scan the two meter bands.

August Meeting: Who can actually

hear me?

It’s generally agreed that some being has kidnapped the ham bands and replaced them with a series of RF brick walls. That 11-year sunspot cycle? I think we’re on hear 25 now. Every year we hear optimistic predictions, “This year it’s going to start back up the slope!” and at the end of the year, we’re still sitting on nada, zip, zilch. But what If I told you the bands were NOT dead… that your signal could actually be heard in many places around the world? And what if I told you there was an easy web page to find this information? The magic of ham radio - being able to reach around the globe brings with it the fascinating study of how signals work. Software is available now to not only see how each band is performing, but to see where YOUR signal is being heard! This is the topic for the DELARA August meeting- August 19 at the Red Cross! Richard Wynkoop, KD8PHG, co-manager of the W8SGT station and DELARA Field Day “ringer” operator has been deeply involved in the band-mapping process. He’ll have examples and suggestions that we all can follow! Hope to see you there (or see you on Zoom!)

DELARA News again in top three

DELARA News was rated the #3 newsletter in this year’s ARRL Newsletter competition. See more in John’s article (From the PIC). A HUGE thanks to all our writers and contributors for your consistent, excellent writing!
DELARANews

Club News

Time to reprogram your radios!

145.19 repeater is changing In the good ol’ days of the 1990’s, there used to be a wide area repeater system that covered several states on two meters. It was an absolute blast to listen as hams from Louisville to Indianapolis and Columbus all talked among each other. A series of repeaters and remote sites were linked together to form this network. The home frequency? 145.19. This was the FARA system, based in Fairfield. As things happen, the club dried up, people actually got annoyed that operators were talking long distances (the purpose of the system??) and many were truck driving hams. Add to that combination the amateur radio phenomenon of “grumpy old men” and you have the picture of why this system eventually went off the air. Enter Delaware County ARES, which was tipped that this very rare two meter frequency was actually open, and the coordinated pair was assigned to the DELARES call of N8DCA. Because I didn’t know any better at the time, I became the license trustee. Happy to do that, btw. Thanks to Ken, we were able to put a GE Master Pro repeater on the air, later to replace it with the first generation of Yaesu repeaters offered at the onset of Fusion systems. After blowing the first set of finals, this machine has been on the air untouched for several years now. I installed it without an access tone with the idea that any ham could just dial it up during an emergency and it would work. That brought with it the reality that ~any~ RF near that frequency would also bring up the repeater. That included legitimate signals talking into the 145.17 repeater since they’re so close in frequency. Recently, long bursts of static from some type of electronic device near Conger school has been beating the repeater into submission, so it’s time to change! STARTING SEPTEMBER 1ST, YOU WILL NEED 123 TONE TO ACCESS 145.19. This will mean you need to re-program your mobile and handheld radios to include 123 tone on the 19 repeater. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience! (I have 10 radios to reprogram here at home!) The good news is this will be a one-time inconvenience and will result in a lot less extraneous noise and interference as you scan the two meter bands.

Holiday Party 2019

(Click picture for larger view)