ACRG currently maintains a repeater on the UHF (70cm) amateur band. The antenna is a Comet GP-1 mounted at approximately 190ft AGL, fed with 7/8″ hardline. Transmitter and receiver are both Motorola CDM-1250 UHF radios, connected to a Bridgecom BCD-440 Duplexer, with around 11 watts of power output from the duplexer. The controller is a Qotom SFF PC running the Debian version of the AllStarLink (Asterisk) software, and the audio interface is a DMK Engineering URI-X. Output frequency is 444.825 MHz, with a +5MHz shift, and a PL tone of 91.5 Hz. The PL tone is also transmitted on the output signal, so you may use the “Tone Squelch” function of your radio with this repeater.
This repeater is also connected to the world-wide “AllStarLink” system of internet-linked repeaters as node number 48924. With this system, you can use specific DTMF commands to perform certain functions – including linking to other machines. Below is a list of the current DTMF functions supported by the repeater:
- *3 (node-id) – Connect to another AllStar network node – see below
- *1 (node-id) – Disconnect from specified AllStar network node
- *806 – Disconnect *ALL* Links
- *721 – Force Repeater ID
- *722 – Say time of day
- *883 – Say current temperature for Iola
One system available over AllStar to note is the K-Link system, which is a large network of linked repeaters across Kansas – see their site for more information. On the AllStar network, the K-Link system is node 46304, so to connect our repeater to their system you would dial *3 46304 without letting up on the PTT switch. Our repeater will respond “Node 46304 connected to node 48924”, and until this link is disconnected, anything transmitted on the K-Link network will be retransmitted by our repeater, and anything on our repeater will be transmitted on the K-Link system. During storm activity, this particular link will most likely be activated to monitor storm activity across the state.
You can find a complete listing of all active AllStar nodes here.
This repeater provides coverage over most of Allen County. Solid coverage from a mobile should be available north to around Welda, East to Moran, South to Chanute, and West to Yates center. Below is a coverage map provided by Radio Mobile Online.
ACRG would like to thank Robin Boyer, N0PWB, for providing the tower space and network connectivity for this repeater.