146.76 MHz repeater gets new duplexer, firmware

Category: News

Published on Wednesday, 03 June 2015 13:04

Written by Jay Farlow, W9LW

Hits: 1471

Paul Prestia, KA3OPZ reports that he and Steve Nardin, W9SAN have installed a replacement duplexer on the FWRC 146.76 MHz repeater.

This allowed the crew to reconnect the repeater to the highest available antenna and reactivate the repeater's external amplifier. Paul reported that some changes to connectors, etc. remain necessary, a task that he expects to perform soon.

In addition, Paul reported that he has updated the firmware in the controllers for the 146.76 MHz and 444.875 MHz repeaters. He changed the Morse code ID on both to W9TE/R. He also enabled transmit audio per-emphasis, which improved the transmission of high audio frequencies.

Echolink returns to 146.91 MHz repeater

Category: News

Published on Sunday, 31 May 2015 23:28

Written by Jay Farlow, W9LW

Hits: 1550

Echolink services have returned to the FWRC 146.91 MHz repeater, after a brief outage while Paul Prestia, KA3OPZ upgraded the Echolink PC from Windows XP to Windows 7. The node number is 519521.

Tone squelch set to 141.3 Hz on 146.91 MHz repeater output

Category: News

Published on Friday, 22 May 2015 11:43

Written by Jay Farlow, W9LW

Hits: 1581

Paul Prestia, KA3OPZ informed the FWRC websmaster that he has configured a continuous tone-coded squelch system (CTCSS) tone of 141.3 Hz on the output of the FWRC repeater on 146.91 MHz, located on the campus of IPFW.

The repeater's input continues to operate on carrier squelch, which means CTCSS is not required to use the repeater. The tone on the output, however, will allow users to optionally configure their radios to remain silent except when the repeater is transmitting, thus preventing the reception of intermodulation interference, distant repeaters on the same frequency, etc.

The table below reflects the current CTCSS status of all FWRC repeaters as of today:

Revised: May fox hides along river downtown

Category: News

Published on Thursday, 21 May 2015 13:59

Written by Al Burke, WB9SSE

Hits: 1481

Webmaster's note: After we published an article about the May, 2015 fox hunt, author Al Burke, WB9SSE submitted a revised version, which appears below.

This month's hunt, which occurred on the third of May, was held on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in shirt-sleeve weather. The hunters included the team of Linda & Steve Nardin, K9's LAN & SAN and their grandson Alex, the team of Jim & Annie Pliett, K9OMA & KA9YYI plus Carole & Al Burke, WB9's RUS & SSE, the team of Jim & Kim Machamer, KB9's DOS & DOT, and the team of Jason Eicholtz, KC9UOQ & Debbie Romine, KK4QXC.

The duties of the fox were provided by Charles Ward, KC9MUT, Fred Gengnagle, KC9EZP, and Robert Dean, KC9UHU. They chose a shady location in Guildin Park along the south bank of the St. Mary's river northeast of the Van Buren St. Bridge to hide the microfox. It was cleverly emplaced and camouflaged in a tree branch about 6' off the deck. They employed three high power foxes located around the hide area, including one, in Fred's truck, parked between two semi-trailers with the evil intent of creating a quasi waveguide aimed towards downtown Ft. Wayne. As usual, the microfox would transmit a cw signal at about 50 milliwatts for one minute followed by the high power fox who would transmit for one minute, this sequence repeated every five minutes.

Read more: Revised: May fox hides along river downtown

FWRC spring banquet May 8

Category: News

Published on Monday, 04 May 2015 19:43

Written by Steve Nardin, W9SAN

Hits: 1454

The Fort Wayne Radio Club Spring Banquet will be this coming Friday, May 8th, at the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church. The church is located at 4700 Vance Ave in Fort Wayne, just south of Snider High School. We will get the Banquet started at 6:30 pm EDT.

As usual, the Banquet is a carry-in. The club will provide Chicken, both grilled and fried, plus necessary placeware and utensils, lemonade and coffee. Please bring your favorite main course, side dish, or dessert to share with the group.

We hope to see you all there! We have a lot of fun things planned for the rest of 2015, so please come join us.

The May 2015 Allen County Ham News is now on line for your download and reading pleasure! Lots of great articles, pictures, and news about the 3 FW clubs! Check it out now.

Also, if you operated in the Indiana QSO Party this past Saturday, please send in your logs before the June 1st deadline and don't forget to list Fort Wayne Radio Club as your club affiliation! Even if your score wasn't spectacular, all of our scores may add up to another win and plaque! Thanks for supporting the club!

How can the club get the Amateur Radio Message in front of more than 100,000 people in less than two hours?? By marching in the Three Rivers Festival Parade on July 11th, that is how! Mark your calendars for this date. We will need walkers and drivers. Please plan on helping show the fun and relevance of Ham Radio to the Public!