|
The 145.470
(-) repeater is located NORTH
of the Knoxville area
- high atop Cross Mountain!
UPDATE:
Current Status: Open (no
tone needed)
Interfering noise that has plaqued this machine
has diminished...
so I have once again, opened the machine back
up to normal carrier squelch.
We certainly hope the interference will remain
subsided, otherwise we will be
forced to turn the 118.8hz tone BACK ON.
How long this problem will last is anyone's
guess...
but it will certainly go away in February,
when the TV Digital Conversion deadline gets
here.
I will, of course, keep you updated here,
and on the 'blog as well!
Some background information:
Recently, this machine began passing a horrible squealing noise.
It has since been confirmed the noise is a result of an “intermod
hit” from 5 megawatt
(that's 5,000,000 watts) TV transmitter
immediately adjacent to the 470 Machine's building.
I have been in contact with those responsible for the maintenance
of that TV Transmitter,
and understand they are diligently working to correct the problem,
as fast as they can. Of course,
since the noise is coming from an Analog TV Transmitter, the problem
will literally go away - anyway,
after the TV Station converts to Digital broadcasting in February
2009.
This means, worst case: any tone will only be needed until February
at the latest!
I will keep you posted here, and on my 'BLOG as well!
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)
Web Design by Dave Jeffries
Copyright © 2010 - Dave
Jeffries Productions
|
