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As we had mentioned earlier... this repeater will soon be returning to the area where it had been in operation for years... namely the crest of English Mountain, in Eastern Tennessee. The only real snag to this plan has been our economy. With gas prices and other factors eating away at every dollar, it is taking longer and longer to make the necessary modifications to the machine, before it's trip back up the mountain. However, please know that we have NOT GIVEN UP... and the machine will be going back home, but for now, time & equipment issues will dictate when the trip will take place. (So keep your fingers crossed!) In
the meantime... this repeater IS ON THE AIR... from it's LOW profile location
at Tim's House in South Knoxville. If you are in the vicinity, you
can use it all you like, with the provision that it will not have the range
that it will hopefully have when it returns to the Mountain top!
We will keep you abreast of the latest developments as they occur. The
146.730 (-) Repeater is the NEWEST acquisition of the WB4GBI Repeater System.
Until recently this machine had been maintained by Sam Kirby, WB4HAP... now SK. Tim acquired this repeater from Sam's estate on September 12, 2007... and with the help of Gene Price-WA4YON... moved the machine from it's semi operational site at Sam's home, to Tim's home... where although it IS on the air... it is also undergoing some minor refurbishing. As mentioned before... this machine had occupied space on top of English Mountain, a very high profile location, which enabled this repeater to enjoy a very wide area footprint of the Eastern Tennessee landscape. However, due to economic and more importantly, political reasons, the machine was forced to relocate from it's strategic position, where it was put into a much lower profile service at Sam Kirby's home. There it remained, awaiting a better political climate, which would hopefully allow it's return to English Mountain.  Although it is on the air, it is not at full strength. Many local folks have been able to access the machine from Tim's south Knoxville ridge top location... but the majority of East Tennessee hams will most likely have to wait until a new, more high profile location is secured for this valuable asset. |
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The 53.150 (-) Repeater was acquired by the WB4BGI Group along with the 146.730 machine, from Sam Kirby (WB4HAP-SK) on September 12, 2007. Although Tim has maintained other 6-meter repeaters in the past, this marks the first venture into 6-meter territory in quite some time. Like the 146.730 machine... it is undergoing some refurbishing... and will hopefully be back on the air very soon!
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