53.270

53.270 Repeater - Republic, MO (Master & Transmit site)

On-Air Date:                    May 2006

Repeater Transmit:          53.270

Repeater Receive:           51.570   (-1.7 MHz)

PL Tone (System):             162.2 Hz

PL Direction:                      Encode & Decode

Transmit Power:               250-Watts

Antenna System:              DB212-C-4 with custom heliax phasing harness (tuned to 53.270 MHz) -500' AGL

Link Antenna:                    DB436 - 50' AGL

Remote RX Antenna:       DB408 - 400' AGL

Coax:                                   Repeater - Commscope LDF6-50 1-1/4" Heliax

                                            Remote RX - Commscope LDF5-50 7/8" heliax

                                            Link Antenna - Commcope LDF4-50 1/2" heliax

Controller:                         SCOM 7330

Voter:                                  JPS SNV-12

Repeater:                           Motorola CDM-750 for transmit; Motorola CDM-750 for receive]

Amplifier:                           Henry C300C30R (12vdc model)

Link Radio:                         Motorola CDM-1250

Remote RX Radios:          Motorola CDM-1250

Backup Power:                  Building UPS with Generator Backup

Router:                               Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X

Internet:                             Yes - Springnet

Nets:                                  Mondays @ 7:30 p.m. - Region D ARES 6-meter net

                                          Thursdays @ 7:30 p.m. - Nixa ARC Check-in Net

Remote Receive Sites:

Branson West

Receive:                              51.570

PL Tone:                             162.2 Hz (System) or 127.3 Hz (site specific)

Receive Radio:                  Motorola CDM-750

Transmit Radio:                Motorola CDM-1250

Controller:                         Motorola R.I.C.K.

Receive Antenna:             DB212-C-1 single bay antenna tuned to 51.570 MHz - 120' AGL

Transmit Antenna:           DB436 - 155' AGL

Backup Power:                  Building UPS and generator

Cedar Springs                  

Receive:                              51.570

PL Tone:                             162.2 Hz (system) or 107.2 Hz (Site Specific)

Receive Radio:                  Motorola CDM-750

Transmit Radio:                Motorola CDM-1250

Controller:                         Motorola R.I.C.K.

Receive Antenna:             DB212-C-2 - 2-bay antenna system tuned to 51.570 - 160' & 142' AGL

Transmit Antenna:           DB436-C-2 - Dual yagi array - 170' AGL

Backup Power:                  418 Ah 48vdc power plant

Freistatt

Receive:                              51.570

PL Tone:                             162.2 Hz (System) or 71.9 Hz (Site Specific)

Receive Radio:                  Motorola CDM-750

Transmit Radio:                Motorola CDM-1250

Controller:                         Motorola R.I.C.K.

Receive Antenna:             DB212-C-1 Tuned to 51.570 MHz - 105' AGL

Transmit Antenna:           DB436 - 50' AGL

Backup Power:                  Building UPS & generator

Granby

Receive:                              51.570

PL Tone:                             162.2 Hz (System) or 77.0 Hz (Site Specific)

Receive Radio:                  Motorola CDM-750

Transmit Radio:                Motorola CDM-1250

Controller:                         Motorola R.I.C.K.

Receive Antenna:             DB212-C-2 2-bay antenna system tuned to 51.570 MHz -  225' & 207' AGL

Transmit Antenna:           DB436-C-2 dual yagi system - 175' AGL

Backup Power:                  Building UPS & generator

Strafford

Receive:                              51.570

PL Tone:                             162.2 Hz (System) or 91.5 Hz (Site Specific)

Receive Radio:                  Motorola CDM-750

Transmit Radio:                Motorola CDM-1250

Controller:                         Motorola R.I.C.K.

Receive Antenna:             DB212-C-2 - 2-bay antenna system tuned to 51.570 MHz - 500' & 482'

Transmit Antenna:           DB436 - 50' AGL

Backup Power:                  Building UPS & generator

The 53.270 MHz repeater is a multi-site repeater system.  The 5 remote receivers listen on 51.570 and re-transmit audio back to the main transmitter site in Republic via UHF link frequencies.  All sites utilize identical receive radio, link transmit radios and controllers to ensure that the audio shapes are as close to each other as possible.  The link receive radios at Republic de-emphasize the audio and feed it to a JPS SNV-12 voter which determines the received audio with the best signal to noise ratio and sends it to the transmitter for rebroadcast.  When using the system PL of 162.2 Hz, you have the opportunity for any of the 5 receive sites to copy you and you let the system voter send the best signal to the transmitter.  However, if you use a site specific PL tone, ONLY that receiver sends your signal to the main site for re-broadcast on the repeater.

The repeater has a UHF link radio at Republic which links the repeater to the Nixa ARC multi-band linked repeater system via the Republic 442.425 MHz repeater for the Thursday night Nixa ARC net.

The repeater has an All Star node #551050 permanently connected to the SCOM 7330 controller

The 53.270 repeater started out as a single-site repeater transmitting and receiving from Republic.  Without the help of then Greene County Emergency Manager Joye McElwee, N0OCP, and City Utilities  TRS manager Don Kocian, KC0VNS, (who became a ham AFTER this process), the repeater would have never been a reality at 500' AGL on the Republic CU TRS tower.  After nearly a year of meetings and committees, permission was received to install the repeater system.  Originally a 6-bay DB-212 system was installed in May 2006 but a problem with the 6-way phasing harness forced a replacement 4-bay DB212 system with custom 1/2" heliax high-power phasing harness in July 2023.  The first hurdle to overcome was getting the tower agreement in place.  Once that was received, we had 3 other expensive items to obtain:  The coax and antenna system, the duplexer and bandpass cavity and the installation.  Commscope donated the antennas and coax to the project first.  With that equipment in hand, we asked TX RX to donate the duplexer and bandpass filter - close to $4300 total.  After talking to Mike at North Central Marketing, TX RX decided to make the donation.  To raise funds for the installation, the club needed to raise close to $5,000.  With the help of the Nixa Fire Department, the club was able to buy 125 Midland Low-band radios and 50 Midland VHF radios and sell them to amateurs in the area after modifying them for amateur use.  To purchase the actual repeater equipment, club members Al Gallo, W0ERE, Doug Schumpert, K0DPS, (now K4DPS) and James Adkins, KB0NHX secured donations greater than $1000 from Great Southern Bank, Wal-Mart and the Queen City Fraternal Order of Eagle Lady's Auxillary.  After Phase I of the project was completed, at a cost of over $40,000, the club again approached Commscope and they donated the DB212 and DB436 antennas for the remote receive sites as well as 1500' of Andrew AVA5-50 coax!  It would take few years but eventually tower sites were located and MOU's approved for location of the remote receivers for Phase II of the 53.270 buildout.

The Strafford receive site was installed in October 2011 with the Granby & Cedar Springs remote receivers coming online in May 2016.  The Branson West remote receive site came online about a year later in May 2017 with the Freistatt receiver installation in November 2022.  Only one additional site is desired Northeast in the Preston area but no immediate possibilities exist.

The first net on the repeater was the Monday Night 6-meter net.  It was originally started by a couple of amateur radio 6-meter enthusiasts - Jeff Kerr, KC0VGC, and James French, KC0TQD.  When their availability to run the net was complete, Joye McElwee, N0OCP, took the reigns and the net morphed into the Region D ARES 6-meter net so ARES members in the region could test their radios should there be a regional emergency requiring a wide-coverage rally point.

Currently the repeater transmits 250-Watts output from the Henry C300C30R amplifier.  The club is also looking at higher power amplifier options as well.

Hints for use:  If you are using an HF radio, please program your radio for PL Decode also to remove the PL tone hum from the received signal and adjust your mic gain for FM operation – most HF operators keep the Mic Gain at or near max.  This setting will not result in good audio on the 53.270 repeater system so you will want to start with your mic gain at 50% and adjust from there.  In addition, if you are using a base station, you will have the best results programming in the site specific PL tone for the remote receive site closest to your QTH.  It is not uncommon for base stations to hit more than one or all sites with a good signal and the JPS voter doesn't handle that well at times.  Using the site specific PL tone resolves this problem and allows us to test specific sites as well when trying to troubleshoot the system.