147.060

147.060 Repeater - Bolivar, MO

****** SMLRS Linked System Repeater ******

On-Air Date:                   October 4, 1975 (August 5, 2020 the Nixa ARC began operations)

Repeater Transmit:         147.060

Repeater Receive:           147.660               (-600 kHz)

Modes:                               Analog

PL Tone:                             162.2 Hz

PL Direction:                      Encode & Decode

Bandwidth:                        Wideband – 25 kHz

Transmit Power:               110-Watts

Antenna System:              Comprod 874F-70TM-1/4 - 180' AGL

Link antennas:                   Commscope DB-436 - 10' AGL

Coax Cable:                       Commscope AVA7-50 1-5/8" Heliax - Repeater & LDF4-50" Heliax Link Radio

Controller:                         SCOM 7330

Repeater                            Motorola MSF-5000

Duplexer:                           Sinclair Q2330E

Link Radios:                       Motorola CDM-1250 403-470 MHz UHF

Backup power:                  Site Generator & UPS Backup Power

Router:                               Ubiquiti Edgerouter X

Internet:                             Yes - Total Highspeed

Nets:                                   Mondays @ 7:00 p.m. - Polk County Amateur Radio (PCAR) (similar to ARES)

                                           Fridays @ 7:30 p.m. - Region D ARES Net

In the fall of 1974, Dave, WB0NTZ, and Gary, K0BC, began talking about installing a local 2-meter repeater in the Bolivar area.  On March 31, 1975, a letter was sent to the Telephone Company that owned the tower requesting antenna installation.  A 20-Watt VHF Engineering RPT-144 was ordered in the summer of 1975 and on September 15, 1975 they received permission to install the antennas on the tower for the 147.060 repeater.

On September 26, 1975, two Larson BSA-150K antennas were installed on TX at 110' and RX at 180' fed with 75-ohm CATV hardline donated by the Kansas City amateur radio group.  The installation cost $74.38.

On October 4, 1975, the 147.060 went online with the callsign of WR0AJL.  In 1976, a homemade outbound only autopatch was installed allowing outbound phone calls through the repeater.  By the mid 1980's, the coax began having problems and 50-ohm hardline was installed along with two new Hustler GT-144 antennas.

On February 29, 1988, a Wacom WP-641 duplexer was ordered for $615.00 and a 150-W amplifier added to the repeater and the top antenna at 180' was used for repeater operation. 

In March 1991, the tower was replaced by Alltel and a new DB-224E with LDF4-50 hardline was installed thanks to a large donation by Stan, K0BFM.  The repeater callsign was changed to K0BFM at this time.

With interference becoming an issue, a PL tone of 107.2 Hz was added in 1998.  The club then added a Link-comm controller in 2000 adding voice ID's, announcements and alerts.

In April 2020, the Dave Fish, WB0NTZ, and Gary Harrison, K0BC, approached the club about the Lakes Area Radio Association (LARA) dissolving and asked the Nixa Amateur Radio Club if they would be interested in taking over the repeaters and maintaining them for the amateurs to continue using in the region.  On August 5, 2020, Nixa Club President Shawn Roesslet, KE0JGI, accepted the ownership change with the Missouri Repeater Council.

When the exchange took place, the repeater was a 50-W Motorola SLR-5700 with a 27 year old DB-224E antenna with LDF4-50 1/2" heliax.  In the Spring of 2021, a tornado when through the area and damaged the antenna, breaking off half of one of the exposed dipole elements.  The club was also taking over operation of the 145.290 and 443.675 repeaters at this.  A plea went out to amateurs throughout the region and generous cash donations came in that used in conjunction with the funds the LARA had left in their savings account allowed for the purchase of the new antennas in January 2022.  To raise the funds to pay for the installation, the club sold about 600' of AVA5-50 that had been donated to the club for the Queen City Digital Project.  In addition, a 100w primary and a 40w backup Tait T800 Series II repeater was sold to Bill Whetstone, KB8VLL, to replace the 146.670 in El Dorado Springs and a 100w repeater and 40w backup T800 Series II repeater was also sold to the Aurora club to replace the W0OAR 146.970 repeater.  James Adkins, KB0NHX, worked with these clubs to program and tune the repeaters and add external controllers to them greatly helping their group's repeater systems. 

Throughout the spring of 2022, approval was received to move this repeater, the 145.290 and the 443.675 from the old metal building to the climate controlled Verizon shelter with backup power.  Looking for a good repeater for the 147.060 to bring it back to its glory, the Nixa club purchased the 350-W Motorola MSF-5000 repeater from the Southwest Missouri Amateur Radio Club (SMARC) which had been used for the 146.910 before they removed it for a Yaesu Fusion repeater.  It would not make more than 125-Watts and was only running at about 60-Watts when we received it.  Todd Christell, AD0RR, re-capped the repeater and James Adkins, KB0NHX, began work on the FPA (Final PA).  There were 6 power modules in the PA - 3 of them had unsoldered omega straps that connected the inputs and outputs to the combiner / splitter boards.  Those were repaired.  One module was bad so a spare module from another PA was installed.  Shortly thereafter, it was discovered that the large omega strap connecting the two splitter boards was broken and the output balancing resistor bad on the side of the PA with the 3 power modules that had unsoldered omega straps.  After robbing a balancing resistor from a spare Motorola MSF-5000 UHF amplifier (same exact part!) and fixing the omega strap, the amplifier was ready to be placed back into service.  On 12-1-2022, the MSF-5000 went online with 225-W out of the amplifier and 170-W out of the duplexer  As of January 2025, the high power amplifier failed again and it was replaced with a 110-W standard Motorola MSF-5000 PA due to the lack of available parts.  The repeater still maintains phenomenal coverage with the best coverage to the East of the site.

Hints for use:  The repeater automatically unlinks from the SMLRS from 6:45 p.m. and re-links to the SMLRS at 9:00 p.m. on Mondays to allow for the local Polk County Amateur Radio (PCAR) weekly net