444.35 MHz Repeater Status (Hebron, Maine)

A few months ago, the AARC and members donated funds to help get a UHF D-Star repeater on the air on Streaked Mountain (Elevation 1700 feet). When installing the repeater, it was discovered that it was only putting out microwatts and nobody could hear it. The repeater was taken down and shipped to Icom for repair. Icom claimed there was nothing wrong with the repeater and shipped it back to us. Upon receiving the repeater, Paul Michaud, N1RXF, helped test the repeater and it was found that the repeater was putting out 17.3 watts in FM mode. While this was below the advertised repeater spec (25 watts), it was certainly better than a mere few microwatts.

In the meantime, we swapped out equipment for the repeater site to improve performance: RG-162 jumpers were obtained to replace the LMR-400 jumpers and the Switching power supply was swapped out with an Astron RS-35 Linear power supply.

We had to wait for the radio tech to go back up to the repeater site, however, he was encountering his own problems. The South Paris Fire Department repeater was broken and had to be shipped back to Motorola for repair and was then returned broken (sound familiar??). After re-shipping to Motorola and having it fixed right, the repeater was back in Oxford County Sheriff’s Office possession.

I went up to Streaked Mountain this morning (5/10/2023) at 8 AM. After re-installing the Icom G3 repeater and swapping out other necessary equipment. I tried testing D-Star. The repeater kept dropping out and it was not being heard. Come to find out, the repeater was still in Analog FM Only mode (which was how it was left to do testing). To switch repeater mode, it must be done with programming software. The repeater was tested in Analog FM mode and stayed keyed and was putting out about 16-17 watts (before the duplexer). I attached a cable to connect the repeater to the gateway computer. Joe Grace, W1SK, is working to install a Windows Virtual Machine on the gateway computer remotely so that, hopefully, the programming software can be installed and allow switching the repeater to Mixed Mode (Whatever the repeater hears, the repeater switches to: Analog FM or D-Star). The issue may be how much bandwidth is allowed. Joe is using a cell phone connection that has 10 GB per month, however, since a VPN must be used to establish the right connection, it eats up most of the allotted bandwidth. Understand, this may take a few sessions to complete as monthly bandwidth allows. 

As it stands, the repeater is operational in Analog mode only if you would like to test it to see how the coverage is, please let us know your findings.

Analog Programming Info:
Frequency: 444.35 MHz
Shift: +
Offset: 5.0 MHz
CTCSS: 100.0 Hz
(Recommend programming T-SQL so that when the digital mode is enabled, you will not hear the hash on Analog FM)

Digital Programming Info (Not operational yet):
Frequency: 444.35 MHz
Shift: +
Offset: 5.0 MHz
UR Field: CQCQCQ
RPT1 Field: KC1SBG (space) B
RPT2 Field: KC1SBG (space) G

73 DE KU1U
Cory