Tower work and 2 meter Fusion Repeater

Apr 5, 2021 | News, Repeater

All repeaters will be down for tower maintenance on Monday, April 5.  There will be installation of new antennas, and tower climbers will need to be working in a RF free environment.  No idea how long this will take but it should be done by end of day.

In addition, there will be a new Yaesu Fusion repeater installed for 2 meters.  This will replace the 40 year old GE MASTRII mobile radio which is showing its age.  The 2 meter Fusion repeater will be operating at a lower power level until  it can be matched to our existing amplifier. This consists of building an attenuator to reduce the 5 watt output of the Fusion repeater to match the 1 watt input requirement of the amplifier.  This might take a week or two to get done.  Also the existing UHF Fusion repeater will be connected to our existing controller which will result in slightly different audio and courtesy tones.

– Bob, K3DBD

FCC approves new fees for Amateur Radio and GMRS Licenses

Jan 16, 2021 | News

The FCC approved new license fees for Amateur Radio and the GMRS.According to the FCC Report and Order released December 29, 2020, The new Amateur Radio license fee is $35. This fee will apply to new licenses, renewal licenses, and vanity call signs. Previously, no fees were collected for ham licenses or vanity call signs issued to amateur radio operators, so technically it is a significant change. However, it is less than the $50 fees originally proposed by the FCC.  A GMRS license will now cost $35, down from $70. The license is still valid for 10 years and covers an entire family.

Winter Field Day – Jan. 30 – 31

Jan 16, 2021 | News, Special Event

Winter Field Day is to foster Ham camaraderie, field operation, emergency operating preparedness, and just plain on the air, outdoor fun in the midst of winter for American, Canadian and DX Amateurs. Don’t let those winter doldrums keep you locked up in the house… get out and play some radio. Winter Field Day runs for 24 hours during the last full weekend in January each year from 1900 UTC (2pm EST) Saturday to 1900 UTC (2pm EST) Sunday. For 2020, the dates are January 25th and 26th. Station set-up may commence no earlier than 1900 UTC (2pm EST) on Friday before. Station setup may consume no more than 12 hours total. How & when you schedule/spend those 12 hours is up to you. ​Bands: All Amateur bands, HF, VHF, & UHF except 12, 17, 30 and 60 meters. Modes: Any mode that can faithfully transmit the exchange intact without conversion table… CW, SSB, AM, FM, DStar, C4FM, DMR, Packet, PSK, SSTV, RTTY, Olivia, Satellite, etc…(note FT8 and FT4 cannot). There are 3 categories of entry: Indoor, Outdoor, and Home.