147.30 W4YSB Repeter History

The 147.30 repeater was originally placed at the Ashe County Airport in 1986 with Russ Hamilton, W4YJG as trustee. It was a Spectrum repeater and the antenna was a Ringo Ranger. When new radio equipment was installed at airport, the club felt that it would be wise to move the repeater away from the airport and eliminate any potential for interfering with the airport operation. An arrangement was made to rent a small room (with water closet) at the Glendale Springs fire station and the repeater was moved there in 1991. The repeater was replaced by an Icom RP-1510, a CES SDI-50 Controller and the antenna was replaced by a Cellwave Super Stationmaster. In the fall of 1994, Harry Mills, KK4X (SK) took over as trustee and the repeater call was changed to KK4X. In the spring of 1999, The repeater call was changed to the club call and Johnny McGinnis, N3QAW took over as trustee.

For years, ACARC repeater committees have looked longingly at Mt. Jefferson and Phoenix mountain as possible sites for our repeater. VHF frequencies travel in a straight line and the mountainous terrain of Ashe County has many RF holes, areas that could not be reached by a repeater located at a lower altitude than the mountains that surround it. Abortive attempts had been made to place the repeater on Mt. Jefferson because it stands at 4683 feet and has a paved road to the top. Unfortunately permission could not be obtained. The other alternative, Phoenix Mountain stands at 4710 feet and the road to the top is a slightly improved goat path that is usable only by 4 wheel drive vehicles in good weather but there are three towers on Phoenix. In November of 1994, ACARC received permission from Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation (BREMCO) to put the repeater on the BREMCO tower on Phoenix Mountain. Space was made available in the BREMCO building for the ACARC equipment.. With trepidation, the club decided to climb the mountain. With that decision, the club entered the world of the care and feeding of a mountain top repeaters. A world where the repeater hears signals for hundreds of miles around. These weak signals are strong enough to activate the repeater but not strong enough to even hear audio whichd will eventually time it out. To alleviate these weak signal problems, the noise squelch system was switched to a PL squelch and a CTCSS (PL) tone of 103.5Hz is required to access the repeater. There are still times when a VHF "duct" appears that interference can be noticed from a repeater activity near Charleston, SC, which uses the same CTCSS tone as we do. The picture at the left shows the BREMCO tower and the ACARC 2 meter Cellwave antenna being installed.. Mike Mahan, KB4WJA is installing the upper brace on the antenna and Chet Rataski, KB4LAF is routing the coax down the tower. The crew responsible for moving the 147.3 repeater to Phoenix Mountain were:

• Rich Cook, AF4TC ex-WA4WXF
• Adam Lawler, KD4MCA
• Mike Mahan, KB4WJA
• Harry Mills, W4FD (SK) ex-KK4X
• Marty Norris, W4MLN, ex-KD4AWV
• Jim Pigg, N7ZHP
• Chet Rataski, KB4LAF
• James Young, KD4RVJ

Our special thanks goes to Glenn Diamond (Junior), N4VL for helping us put the 147.3 repeater in top notch shape for it's trip to the mountain.

The picture on the left shows two of our young hams, James Young, KD4RVJ (L) and Marty Norris, KD4AWV who acted as ground crew while installing the antenna. James is now a student at UNC in Chapel Hill, NC and Marty is a student at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. The Picture at the right shows Mike Mahan, KB4WJA. Mike is a part time resident of Ashe County and lives with his YF and two boys in Winston-Salem, NC

The building in back of them contains the ACARC repeater as well as all of our packet equipment. It also houses the WUNC Channel 25 transponder and the BREMCO load control communications equipment. The building is air conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter. It provides and excellent environment for electronic equipment. It is accessible at anytime of the day or night.. Provided we can make it up the mountain!!.

The picture at the left shows Mike Mahan, KB4WJA installing the dual band antenna that will be used for our 440 repeater and our packet node. The first ACARC packet node was installed in the summer of 1995. The node runs under XIJ4 "The Net" programming and is identified as PHXMTN:KD4AWV-5. Interest in the Packet modes prompted the installation of the node to give access to all parts of the county and to provide access to several PBBSs on 145.05 Mhz. The picture at the right shows the 147.3 repeater with it's cavities on the floor and the 145.05, X1J4 packet station and it's power supply on the shelf on the back wall.

A 440 repeater on 444.7 was installed in the fall of 1995 to provide the club with 440 access. It was never too successful and was removed in 1997. Phoenix Mountain is high but not really high enough for the UHF signals to get into the deep hollows located in much of Ashe County. To make room for the 440 repeater, the 147.3 repeater was moved to the left behind the Channel 25 equipment and the 440 repeater moved directly back against the wall under the packet node. When the 440 repeater was removed, the 145.05 packet node was moved to Glendale Springs and a cross band remote base was installed, connected to the dual band antenna and placed on the shelf. The cross band remote base provides the ability to remote the PC required to support our NOSPHX:W4YSB JNOS node. The remote base receives traffic on 145.03, the 2 meter JNOS frequency and retransmits it on 440.975 to the PC installed in the home of Rich Cook, WA4WXF. This considerably reduces the risk from lightning strikes and minimizes many maintenance problems inherent in running BBSs on PCs.

Since these pictures were taken, an additional dual band antenna has been mounted on the tower below the original antenna shown at left. The 145.05 X1J4 node was moved from Glendale Springs and re-installed on Phoenix Mountain. The 145.05 node is again located on the shelf beside the cross band remote base. Ham radio is a many faceted hobby and the modes of communications change with the requirements of the members of the club. In the short time that we have had the availability of Phoenix Mountain, we have seen many changes.. As requirements change and time goes on, I'm sure we will see many more changes.

In the spring of 1999, the W4YSB BBS and the KD4AWV Node were deactivated, the equipment removed and stored. Packet radio has become a a victim of increased internet availability and activity.

At the December 2001 meeting, the club approved the purchase and installation of a new CAT-300DX repeater controller. At the same meeting, Ken Pooler, K1ZYM donated a GE Mastr II Station cabinet that he had acquired so that the repeater could be installed in it. The repeater and duplexers were brought from the top of the mountain in late December of that year. Marty Norris, W4MLN spent the next month refurbishing the repeater and installing and programming the repeater controller. Stoney Owen, WB4PZA, a local broadcast engineer, offered his assistance with tuning the Wacom duplexers. In January 2002, the W4YSB repeater was returned the top of Phoenix Mountain after several expedition attempts failed due inclement weather. The Celwave Super Stationmaster was remounted on the BREMCO tower by Rick Price and Jimmy Johnson, AB4JJ. When the repeater was turned on an instant DX pileup occurred. Several stations were on the air to give signal reports including one from Fayetteville.

The W4YSB Repeater consised of:

Icom IC-RP1510 25 Watt Repeater

CAT-300 DX Repeater Controller

Wacom WP-642 BpBr Duplexers

Celwave Super Stationmaster Antenna

CSI TS-32 CTCSS Tone Decoder (Set to decode 103.5 Hz tone)

A&A Engineering Smart Charger (for backup battery)

Ashe County ARC
W4YSB
P.O. Box 545
Jefferson, NC, 28640