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Winter 2003 Issue |
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Building a Super (Repeater) System
You say you have a super repeater system? |
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David Corsiglia, WA6TWF, Southern California Super System chief (left) with system engineer John, KF6QCQ. |
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“Every week I have been trying a new mode over my Super System,” says David Corsiglia, WA6TWF, a long-time ham pioneer who knows what it takes to draw a crowd. Every month members of the WA6TWF Super System get to try something new on different ham bands. Although the UHF frequency may stay the same, Dave and the system coordinators program a new “show” that everyone from Technician class to Extra class can work with just a little HT. Ten independent repeaters, all with full autopatch capabilities, operate in the 70-cm band with strict system user controls; precise adherence to southern California 70-cm frequency coordination grants; and absolute compliance with FCC Part 97 rules, Subpart C, “Special Operations,” which covers auxiliary, repeater, telecommand, and most important, Part 97.3(a)(7), a cooperating system within the definition of an auxiliary station.
A quick tune of the southern California 70-cm
repeater sub-band will reveal under-utilization of coordinated repeater
pairs. Call them “paper machines,” or simply seldom-used private stations.
More than half of the recently shuffled 20-kHz spaced repeater pairs are
silent. Tune into any of the WA6TWF Super System channels, however, and
listen to Wayne, KC6WDD, bringing up the IRLP (Internet Radio Linking
Project) for system members to work all day; Jerry, KK6YO, managing the
big 20-meter beam pulling in HF signals for some crossband excitement;
David, AC6PP, and John, KF6QCQ, on another channel working the remote to a
high-level, 2-meter SSB system making a tropo contact 2500 miles away in
Hawaii; and finally, Terry Dean, N6WI, demonstrating different handheld
capabilities at a local club breakfast and talking over another crossband
channel all the way to the East Coast as if they’re sitting next door. Rules and Coordination “Get started by getting frequency coordinated on one UHF 70-cm channel,” suggests Bob Paquette, W6ZPL, one of the Southern California Super System administrators. “Better yet, find the owners of a high-level UHF system already on the air who might be interested in turning their system into a multi-opportunity, crossband base and begin exploring all that you might do to add components to the system that would be of interest to hams in your community,” adds Paquette.
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