145.470

145.470 Repeater - Conway, MO

On-Air Date:                  August 17, 2018 (By Nixa ARC)

Repeater Transmit:         145.470

Repeater Receive:           144.870               (-600 kHz)

Bandwidth                        Narrowband – 12.5 kHz

Modes:                             DMR **See note

Color Code:                      12

Color Code Direction:      Encode & Decode

Transmit Power:               25-Watts

Antenna System:              Commscope DB-222E - 150' AGL

Link antennas:                  None

Coax Cable:                       Commscope LDF4-50 1/2" heliax

Controller:                         None

Repeater                            Motorola XPR-8400

Duplexer:                           Wacom WP-639

Link Radios:                       N/A

Backup power:                  N/A

Router:                               Ubiquiti Edgerouter X

Internet:                             Yes - Rayfield Communications

Nets:                                  Mondays @ 7:30 p.m.  - Branson Area DMR Net - TG31293 - TS2

                                          Wednesdays @ 7:00 p.m. - Ozarks All Digital Net- TG31291 - TS1

                                          Wednesday @ 7:30 p.m. - Missouri Statewide DMR Net - TG3129 - TS1

The Lebanon ARC has had a repeater operational continuously since the 1970's with the 146.700 normally being located in or close to Lebanon.  In the late 1980's, the club opted to install a VHF repeater in Conway because club members couldn't reach the Southwest part of Laclede County via the 146.700.  The 145.470 was installed on the old City of Conway water tower.  The repeater was there for several years until it got struck by lightning.  In about 2010, Jon Ayres, KB0YDU, was able to secure tower space on the new City of Conway water tower and a new antenna and coax was installed. 

In May 2018, Gary Wescom, N0GW, of the Lebanon ARC reached out to the Nixa ARC and inquired if the club would be willing to take over the site and operation of the 145.470 analog repeater and make it a DMR repeater.  Shawn Roesslet, KE0JGI, approved and in August 2018 the repeater went live as a DMR repeater.  The repeater site, a City of Conway water tower, had an older fiberglass antenna and Randy VanScoy, K0RLV, climbed the water tower for the club and replaced it with a Commscope DB222-E VHF exposed dipole omni antenna with elements pointing NE and SW along I-44 to maximize DMR coverage along the I-44 corridor.  The repeater currently covers I-44 from the 67mm to the 130mm for DMR mobile radios.

In 2021, the Bike MS changed their route to go East from Springfield and the SMLRS coverage needed to be expanded to the East for such an event.  The club installed a JPS NXU-2 Radio over IP link that has a direct, point to point link to the 147.015 SMLRS repeater.  Also installed was a Velleman VM-204 which allows the repeater to be changed from it's normal DMR operation to Analog operation with auto linking to the 147.015 repeater remotely via the Nixa ARC repeater remote control page.  In analog mode, a PL of 110.9 Hz is needed.

Hints for use:  A person would be wise to program in the 145.470 - PL 110.9 Hz on encode and decode so that when the repeater is switched to analog use for special events it will already be programmed into the radio and ready for use.  When the repeater is in analog mode, it is automatically linked to the SMLRS repeater network via a direct one-to-on IP link to the 147.015 repeater.