WB4GBI 145.470 Repeater Page

2 - Meters

220

440

6-Meters

Repeater Statistics:

Location:
Cross Mountain
Anderson
County, TN

Ground Elevation:
3530 Feet

Antenna Height Above Ground (Approx):
100 Feet

Antenna Height Above Average Terrain:
2001 Feet

Frequency:
145.470

It has a tendancy to
get very cold and lonely on top of a mountain in
East Tennessee.

This is
evidenced in a photo of
145.470 repeater antenna...
on this remote mountaintop.

The 145.470 (-) repeater is located NORTH
of the Knoxville area - high atop Cross Mountain!

UPDATE:
Current Status: Open (no tone needed)

When this repeater was first put into service at this location, we had hoped it would cover an area just to the north of Knoxville to up near the state line... however... that was not to be the case. As it turns out, we were pleasantly surprised that this machine has far exceeded those boundaries!

In reality... this repeater covers a wide and rugged area of the Southeastern United States! Many regular users of this machine do so routinely from Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky!

Although many East Tennessee hams use this machine every day, we have been known to make contacts in Virginia... Georgia and even parts of Ohio!

To the left, is a shot of the rear of the cabinet, that shows some of the many connections

To the right, you will see a front shot of the cabinet that houses this machine.

(Notice the controller is closed, and outside of view).

Some of the equipment that makes up this machine includes:

General Electric "Master II" VHF repeater with internal controller
Securitron CW ID unit
Phelps Dodge (now Celwave) PD-497 6-cavity pass/reject duplexers
Phelps-Dodge (now Celwave) PD-220 "Stationmaster VHF antenna
7/8' "heliax" transmission line

Since this repeater has been on the air, it has developed a bit of a following. So much so, that a repeater users group has been formed. They call themselves the "470 Amateur Radio Group"... and have their own newsletter, Web Site, and everything!
To check out their web site, click on their Logo, above... or, You can access their 'Blog below...

A brief history of the 145.470 Repeater...

The 145.47 was Tim's first repeater, which went on the air for the first time on September 17, 1981. The picture you see here is the actual 145.47 repeater when it was located at Tim's home, before it went to its first location atop View Park Hill (the present 145.17 site) in November 1981. The equipment you see is General Electric "Progress Line" tube -type equipment. The repeater was a "prog-line" receiver and transmitter with a home-brew control board and diode-matrix ID'er. From View Park, it has been located on House Mountain, Bluff Mountain (near where 146.94 is now), and "Top-of the-world" (the present 146.625 site). After the GE progress line equipment was retired, the 145.47 repeater sported a GE Master Pro solid state receiver and a Motorola VHF exciter/PA combination. In 2005, Tim took the repeater off the now 146.625 site and completely rebuilt the repeater, using a factory-stock GE Mastr II repeater that you see in the above pictures.

After the rebuild.... and after receiving the SERA coordination, Tim was finally able to relocate the 145.470 machine to its long awaited home on top of Cross Mountain. For a long time, it has been obvious that this location was perfect for a repeater. As a matter of fact, Tim originally did attempt to locate a machine there back in the 1980's, but for one reason or another it just wasn't to be. Now however, that the dream has finally been fulfilled.

Yes... you can see from these photos that this repeater location is not only at a high elevation,
but is certainly in a Rugged area of East Tennessee

Now... for a breathtaking look at the view from this repeater site. It is truly a sight to behold!
(Click on any image to get a larger version)