6 Meters 
2 - Meters 
220
440
900 Mhz
DMR 
D-STAR 
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The History of the 146.940 Repeater in East Tennessee
One of the most
used Amateur Radio Repeaters in the entire East Tennessee region is the
146.940 machine, which is located high atop Bluff Mountain, just outside
of Pigeon Forge. It's footprint allows it to be accessed from Bristol
to Chattanooga...
and all parts
in between.
The history
of this shared resource is also quite extensive... as it can be argued
that the '94 machine is the oldest active repeater on the air in the region!
Here is a look
back at the path this machine has taken over the years, to become one
of the most-used repeaters in the area!
In the 1970's, the FCC licensed repeaters with their
own unique callsign. The 146.94 repeater held the callsign of WR4ADF.
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George W. Shaver,
K4HXD,
the founder and owner of
the 146.94 repeater
from 1967 until 1985
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The 146.94 and 444.300 repeater
when they
were in the Tennessee
Forestry Building
on Chilhowee
Mountain,
circa May 1973.
Just
four scant months later,
a Novice license
was issued to:
WN4GBI
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This photo is one of the first 444.300 repeater.
The transmitter is using a 2C39 tube.
The receiver and repeater coupler is to the right,
and the transmitter is to the left.
This is a sideways view,
looking into the repeater cabinet. |
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George Shaver was K4HXD,
the founder of the 146.94 repeater.
This picture of George & his
lovely wife Cathy
was taken at Bob Scott (WB4RJE)'s
wedding.
(Thanks to Bob for supplying many
of the 146.940 repeater history photos!!)
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This is a photo
of George, K4HXD,
tuning either the .94 or 444.3
repeater.
This photo is dated May 1973
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This is a look down the mountain from the fire tower. The power line that
served the mountaintop site is visible, as well as one of the old State
of Tennessee Forestry line antennae
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This is
a look from inside the State Forestry fire tower on Chilhowee Mountain.
One of the VHF state of Tennessee forestry link antennae is visible, mounted
on the outside of the fire tower. In the background is Maryville
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This view from the state Forestry Fire Tower is that of Bluff Mountain
(Greentop), the present .94 site, at the peak of the far end of the mountain
range
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This is a picture of the
K4HXD (later licensed as WR4ADF) antenna system. The .94 antenna is at
the top, and one of the six meter repeater antennae is mounted on
a side mount bracket. The 440 antennae are to each side, and another VHF
antenna is below the top of the tower. Perhaps George had .94 on split
antennae in its early days. |
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This a view of the forester's cabin atop the Chilhowee Mountain site.
Unfortunately, this cabin was later destroyed by vandals. George (K4HXD)'s
state issued station wagon is on site. Notice the sun peeking thru the
trees! It must have been late in the afternoon!!
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Once upon a time,
there were no such thing as readily programmable radios!! To use your
local repeater, you had to order crystals for your favorite local repeaters.
In this undated photo, an external "channelizer," made by GLB electronics,
has been added to a Heathkit transceiver to allow it to be tuned to repeater
frequencies. Note that the synthesizer is on 146.13/73, but the external
display says 146.61. Interesting! And as a side note, there was no "scan"
in those days..you monitored one repeater at a time! |
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This is a photo
of the 146.94 repeater
on Chilhowee Mountain, with
its
"new" DTMF control decoder
at the top of the cabinet. The decoder was designed and built by Bob Scott,
WB4RJE, who has supplied many of the 94 history photos that you see.
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This is a photo of the 444.300 repeater,
as it was setting in George's
basement.
Note the large assortment of
tubes
on the shelf in the background!
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This photo shows the second generation of the 146.94 repeater, which lived
on a tower site on Chilhowee Mountain. The site was owned by Communication
Specialists, where George and Tim worked together for several years.
The receiver was a Motorola “Motrac” solid state receiver, and the transmitter
was a Motorola tube type vintage transmitter. The duplexer on the side of
the repeater is still in use today, as is the homebrew control panel in
the center.
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This is a close up photo of the second generation
146.94 repeater controller and ID. At the time of this photo, there were
no manufacturers making ready built repeater controllers!! The control
panel (top), contained "modules" for audio coupler, time-out timer, and
delay timer (repeater hang time). The controller is in use today!
It has stood the test of time. The ID unit, built by Bob Scott, WB4RJE,
was a lightning casualty in later years |
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an RCA 829B tube, removed from the 146.94 transmitter. The arrow is pointing
to the cause of failure with this tube...there is a HOLE in one of the
"plates" of the tube!! This tube was actually two tubes in one glass enclosure
for higher power operation. It was melted open by the continuous duty use
that an amateur radio repeater delivers every day! Now, most all PA units
on repeaters are solid state. Aren't we glad? |
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This is a photo of
the duplexer used on the 146.94 repeater in the seventies. It is still
in use today. It has only had one failure since I acquired the repeater
in 1985. |
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This is a photo of the tower where 444.300 lived until I acquired it from
George around 1989. This tower has since fallen. Incidentally, I moved
the 146.625 repeater off of this site in the summer of 2004.
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Here's a photo of David,
K4DR, George, and Bob, W4ZTV.
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