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Visiting the 146.98/447.750 Repeater(This repeater is supported by the Tricity Amateur Radio Club and the City of Tempe. Both are open repeaters using a subtone of 100.0 on VHF and 100.0 on UHF. It has an open autopatch) Many new hams know what a repeater is. Could they point one out in a crowd? Probably not. So, I give you this little photo tour of a small repeater site in Tempe, Arizona. You will see the antennas, the repeater, and some views from the hill. This repeater isn't really on a mountain...more like a butte, and in this case Tempe Butte located near Broadway and the Freeway.
This is the repeater in the rack. Actually, it has gone through many changes, but this is the basic box. Notice the high amperage power supply below it. The repeater has an output of about 90 watts, but only 50 to the antenna. There are many filters on it to keep a 500 watt pager from getting into the receiver, and of course its own transmit signal.
The antenna has also changed. What you see here on the far right of the rack is an AEA Isopole antenna. Although it worked well for several years it really doesn't have any gain. We now have a Diamond antenna that works on both 2 meters and 70 centimeters (440) so we can use the 440 repeater on the same antenna at the same time. The Diamond also has gain. The gain means that, although the repeater has a 50 watt output to the antenna it's the same as 400 watts because of the antennas ability to flatten the signal pattern to cover the ground better.
This is the walk up to the antenna once we get up the hill. (actually, we need some new pictures because Tempe has really made this hill a whole lot safer and added stairs and power to the antenna area..along with safety lines) Trust me..your legs will hurt after a few trips on this one. It's the only time the thought crosses my mind on why I do this again? View to the North View to the South View to the East View to the West I hope you have enjoyed this tour and I hope to work you on it. 73 |
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Dave, AI7R |
