2 - Meters 220 440 6-Meters

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.      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                         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 the repeater site, looking back toward Knoxville.... Click on the photo for a larger version!