Tag Archives: repeaters
Rigger Safety – VO1BT Procedure Changes Due To New Weather Radar
A new, more powerful, weather radar has been built to replace an existing one at Holyrood.
RF Hazard signs have been placed on the two towers at VO1BT. The rf radiation levels are safe at ground level but can exceed acceptable limits while climbing.
Click for a picture of the warning signs: Tower RF Hazard Sign 36h x 24w VER201809A
Before climbing the tower contact the number on the sign so that the weather radar may be made safe. Advance notice is required and a Call Before You Climb procedure must be followed as laid out on the left side of the following document: 20181206 – CBYC Procedure V1.0
The RF energy at ground level is safe. The exposure risk is only when entering the path of the radar antenna beam. The hazard begins at 304 MSL.
VO1BLR Birchy Lake (Deer Lake) Repeater Now On Linked System
The VO1BLR Birchy Lake (Deer Lake) 2m repeater is now linked to the island-wide repeater system!
You can find it on 146.640- in the area.
As of posting, tests had not been done west towards Corner Brook, but in the other direction, it is confirmed excellent coverage west of Springdale Junction, all the way to Deer Lake airport.
Special thanks to VO1AJD and and VO2JAS who are hosting the Allstar node, and thanks to everyone who has contributed to help extend the coverage of the island-wide NL link! The more coverage it has, the more beneficial it is.
See the full repeater list and map on the Repeaters page.
VO1BT Holyrood Repeater Update
A big thank you to the crew who volunteered their time to get the VO1BT Holyrood repeater operational again. The tower (which was already due to be replaced) lost its top half in the March wind storm.
Despite a cold and windy day (-15 wind chill!), on April 19th, we were able to put some temporary measures in place to get VO1BT back on the air using the lower half of the tower and some alternate antennas.
If everything goes according to plan, we will be returning on a much warmer summer day to erect a new tower and perform some additional upgrades! This temporary fix should tie us over for now.
Also, a repair was made that brought the repeater output from around 1 watt to about 22, so you may notice an improvement even with the lower height.
For a bit of history about this site, the next tower will be the 3rd here for a ham repeater. The one pictured is the second, which was put up in the 80s. The concrete for the original tower is located behind the shack. Also, if you look closely you can see the original small shack and the larger part (with the peaked roof) which was built on afterward.
Miraculously, the falling tower did not take out our electrical service!
Chris & Joel (VO1FMJ) on the tower rigging the temporary antennas. This picture does nothing to show the strong winds and -15 windchill! Mark VO1MRK supervises from the ground.
Doug uses a SiteMaster to sweep the lines and antennas. A faulty antenna sends Chris back out into the cold and up the tower to swap it out! We’re thankful the shack has a heater.
Chris weatherproofing those connections.
Repeater News
A couple of updates for the island-wide linked repeater system:
- VO1 ISR Goulds is now linked to the island-wide system. If you already had this repeater programmed in your radio, it will now function with the link. Coverage is Goulds, Mount Pearl and the highway south-west towards Bay Bulls and Outer Ring Road. Freq: 146.640 –
- VO1 MST Marystown is now back on the air and on the island-wide link! Special thanks to VO1 DNK. Freq: 146.850 –
The nightly Caribou Net happens 9pm NT on the linked system.
Thanks to VO1 MXZ for his continued work on the repeaters and all others who have been helping!
St. Anthony repeater is being worked on and we will provide an update soon. Plans for Birchy Lake & Baie Verte are in the works as well.