2 - Meters 220 440 6-Meters 900 Mhz

For over 40 years now, one of the most widely used 2-meter repeaters in the area is the 146.940 (-) repeater, located on  Chilhowee Mountain just outside Pigeon Forge, TN. Here is the very latest on the 146.940 Machine: We have been on a bit of a mission lately to find out exactly when .94 went on the air. For those of you who are recent additions to our great hobby, you might not know that the 146.94 repeater was the very first 2-meter repeater in East Tennessee. Its history is that of great and continuous service. I am VERY proud to be carrying on the tradition started by George, K4HXD, who was the creator and founder of this repeater. We lost George in 1995. He was of my mentors.  With all that being said, we feel confident now in saying:  The 146.940 repeater is the  oldest "continous service" 2-Meter Amatuer Radio Repeater  currently on the air in East Tennessee! In addition to our in-depth investigation into the history of this machine... we have uncovered a few tidbits of this history.  You can see the fruits of this effort on the newly created HISTORY PAGE of the 146.940 Repeater! Simply click HERE to check out the History Page!   We recently discovered that after only five months of service, the 146.94 antenna is defective, AGAIN.  Kevin, W4KEV, took some close-up pictures of the antenna, (shown below) which indicate the two bottom elements are visibly broken. This is the cause of the “static” or arcing noise that you hear.  I know this is hard for some to understand when their receiver is showing .94 at full strength, but it is the repeater receiver that is experiencing the problem.   So now what?  Well... I have no other option but to replace the antenna once again. This time, I will be using an RFS Stationmaster Antenna,  (Similar to what is currently in use on the 145.470 machine)  Here’s what I will NOT be doing: This time I will NOT be asking for financial help for this project!  Granted, this won’t be an inexpensive adventure, as estimates vary from $700 to $1000. However, area hams were more than kind enough to generously support the last purchase... Therefore,  I DO NOT want the repeater users to feel like I have my hand out once again.      I am also looking to possibly rebuild the old .94 antenna that was removed last August.  It was moved to the site as a used antenna, and it lasted 11 years  after I installed it there.  That’s a little better than the five months that the new one lasted.  In the meantime... I sincerely apologize to everyone that this problem has happened once again.  I hope to get a new antenna delivered and installed shortly.  I         The 146.940 Repeater, located on Bluff Mountain (Green Top) in Sevier County      This wide coverage repeater is located on the same tower as the commercial FM station WIVK, 107.7 FM.  This radio station, licensed to Knoxville TN,  has a very wide coverage area, which encompasses the majority of Eastern Tennessee, from Bristol to Chattanooga.  So, if you can hear this frequency on your regular FM Broadcast radio, you can most likely also hear this repeater!      As everyone knows, it isn't how far a repeater can transmit a signal that makes it a good repeater... it's how well it can copy a low power station, to repeat it's signal that makes it a great machine!      In the photo to the right, you will see that the '.940 machine's antenna shares the tower structure with many other primary service antennas, including police & fire departments, commercial pager & repeater systems, and of course, the 7-bay  FM antenna of the radio station take up the very top of the tower. Many thanks to WIVK for their use of this facility!      In addition to the coverage benefits of being co-located with it's "Tower-neighbors"... this repeater site also has many other benefits as well.  Since WIVK is the primary EAS Station in east Tennessee... there is ample emergency power for use during power failures, for whatever reason.  This makes the 146.940 machine a very important part of the emergency communications infrastructure, regarding amateur radio.       This repeater is the primary relay for SKYWARN in east Tennessee, where weather spotters can contact the National Weather Service, directly, during inclement weather, to officially log in unusual weather observations.  It is also used by many other groups for emergency communications, due to it's wide coverage area, and it's reliability!         EQUIPMENT LIST FOR THE 146.940 REPEATER:  Motorola "Micor" series receiver Motorola "Micor" series exciter (output 500 milliwatts) Motorola "Micor" series PA  Homebrew control panel, fashioned after the General Electric "KC-19" panel  Phelps Dodge (now Celwave) six cavity duplexer  WACOM tuned pass filter on transmitter output for additional filtering 7/8 foam heliax  Decibel Products DB-224 antenna (@ approx. 265 feet up the 330 ft tower)

The photo on the left is the actual 146.940 repeater... It shows the Motorola micor exciter and 100 watt Micor PA. Motorola stopped making the "Micor"  series in the early eighties, but plenty of this equipment is still out there and in everyday service. The top piece of rack mounted equipment is the 100 watt PA. The middle box is the 146.940 exciter, and the lower panel with the homebrew plug in modules is the control panel. The control panel is fashioned after the old GE KC-19 panel used in the "MASTR PRO" series of base stations. You can see the top of the six cavity Phelps Dodge (now Celwave) duplexer in the left of the picture.

This photo (to the right) is a more full view of the 146.940 repeater cabinet. It shows a overall picture from the side of the side of the cabinet which also shows the filter cavity installed between the transmitter and duplexer -  and the duplexer itself.        The duplexer is the six cavity set of filters mounted on the side of the cabinet.

Also located on Chilhowee Mountain just outside Pigeon Forge, TN. is the 444.300 (+) repeater (T-100.0) 2 - Meters 220 6-Meters 900 Mhz                       The 444.300 machine  looks very similar to the 146.940 repeater, because it's made of the same type of equipment (Motorola Micor) ! The major difference between 444.300 and 146.940 is the power amplifier, which was upgraded to a Vocom products commercial grade 100 watt continuous duty PA.    In the photo on the LEFT,  you can see a close-up view of the 44.300 machine.  The receiver is mounted at the bottom of the rack-mounted equipment, then another home brew control panel similar to 146.940 is on top it, then the exciter, Vocom PA, and the six cavity Phelp-Dodge (now Celwave) six cavity duplexer at the top of the cabinet Meanwhile, the photo on the RIGHT depicts the bottom of the Rack cabinet, containing the the 50 AMP homebrew power supply, which was built by Bill Nobles   Below, is a view from near the repeater site, looking back toward Knoxville....  (Notice the Seymour community in the lower-right... with the city of Knoxville in the Distance) Click on the photo for a larger version!

2 - Meters 220 440 6-Meters

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR  927.725 USERS!!  As of Wednesday, April 19th, 2012, the WB4GBI 900 Mhz repeater is now on 927.0625 Mhz, with a PL access of 151.4 Hz. Why did this happen? As those of you with 900 Mhz radios already know, my 900 Mhz repeater was not working well at all. Even the strongest of signals were experiencing "arcing" and noise as they transmitted thru the repeater. I was finally able to spend some time at the repeater site (the same site as 146.94 and 444.300) and troubleshoot the problem.  Kevin, W4KEV, has already placed his 900 Mhz repeater on the air from Sharp's Ridge in the center of Knoxville. When he did so, he experienced noise and interference problems as well. What he discovered was the same information that I used when troubleshooting mine. The 900 Mhz band is a "shared" band, meaning there are lots of other services, licensed and unlicensed, that are in the same "neighborhood" as we are. Some of those services are "spread spectrum," meaning that they emit an RF signal over a broad range of frequencies.  This includes hospitals, some cordless phones, fixed links (ever wonder about all those yagi antennae on traffic light control systems?),  and remote meter-reading devices used by electric utilities, etc. Kevin discovered that the 900 Mhz spectrum was littered with this kind of noise at his site above 927.100 Mhz (remember I was on 927.725).  After checking the repeater thoroughly for "desense" and antenna problems, and finding none, I decided to re-program the Motorola Quantar repeater and give it a try. The results are REMARKABLE. Users who were constantly noisy and hard to copy were quiet. Even when users are less than fully quieted into the repeater, they were not "arcing" as they were before. The data burst noise that appeared in the repeater at regular intervals is GONE. Finally, I can be proud of how the repeater is performing.  Lastly, Kevin has installed a link radio that has our two 900 Mhz repeaters linked together. So far, it seems to be doing very well.  For those of you who have one of the Motorola MCS2000 radios that were purchased recently, you can find my new frequency by selecting "ATL 0625"  in the first zone of programming. There is a repeater in downtown Atlanta that is on this same frequency and PL tone. I picked this frequency and tone combination on purpose, as it is already in the MCS2000 radios that I have programmed. This is one channel above the "NFARL" channel that Kevin's repeater is on. Or, you can contact me and I will make arrangements to re-program your radio for you.  I have just received notification that my coordination request for the frequency change was approved by SERA.  Thanks to Mike Bishop, WM4RB, for his quick response.    This repeater was purchased from a Ham Operator in Northern Ohio,  and just recently made the trip from just south of  the great lakes area, to East Tennessee! This machine also features a tone-squelch access of 151.4 as all 900 Mhz repeaters are tone-squelch machines. This repeater is a Motorola quantar machine,  with the internal high stability oscillator  and  has been installed on the same tower as the  146.940 and 444.300... along with  commercial radio station WIVK-FM 107.7!  The duplexer on this machine is a 2 cavity decibel products unit,  and the machine delivers 80 watts out of the duplexer to the antenna. The antenna, by the way, is installed at about 120 feet up the tower, and was a leftover gift from a paging company  when they moved to a different location. This machine was placed into service on Tuesday, March 8th 2011, and is currently available to all licensed amateur radio operators who have the proper equipment. Enjoy! Photo of the Repeater being tested before installation..... This is the inside-rear of the repeater cabinet The inside-front of the cabinet.  Note the 900 Mhz duplexer in the bottom of the rack