Extra K9WZ Repeater News Extra Extra.doc (4-8-2017) HELLO ! Thank you for your recent interest in the K9WZ repeater system. This EXTRA EDITION should provide you with a general overview of the main features of the repeater. It will also provide you with the information needed to enable you to join the group if you so desire. The repeater system consists of a main transmit site, with remote receive sites linked to it. The main transmit, and central receiver site is located just south of U.S. 6 and 31 on a 370 foot commercial tower. This is just north of the town of Plymouth, IN. It transmits / receives on the coordinated frequencies of 147.285 / 147.885 mhz. The repeater is protected with full time P.L., so your radio will require a sub-audio tone of 131.8 for access. The transmit power is 110 watts, with an effective radiated power of 225 watts. It is computer controlled by a ACC RC 850 controller with a DIGITAL VOICE RECORDER OPTION. Through the utilization of these items, along with others, the K9WZ repeater is able to offer to the supporting member, many features, some of which are expanded upon in the text that follows. Again, Thanks for your interest, and we welcome you to become a member if you so desire. REPEATER FEATURES DVR The Digital Voice Recorder, or DVR is one of the most useful features of the repeater. It acts somewhat like a tape recorder, in that it records your voice over the air, and then plays it back just the way you said it, mistakes, and all. The DVR has many parts, or functions that make it a very useful tool. The Public mail box is a voice mail box, where you can leave a message for any , or all members of the repeater. You are prompted for - Who is the message for? - and, then - Record it now -. The DVR then periodically announces at the end of tail messages, that - There are messages for -, and then plays back the first recorded response. Often times there will be messages waiting for more then one member, and each is announced in order. Since these Public mail messages are announced at regular intervals, the member your message is for, has a good chance to hear about it, even if they are just monitoring the repeater. This is the most effective way to grab someone's attention. The nice feature is that you don't have to hang around waiting for them to show. It effectively ends the amateur version of "telephone tag". The Private mail box isn't really private, as everyone listening will either hear you putting the message in, or the member taking it out. In this case Private means, that the message is placed in the members personal mail box. This message is not announced, as in the Public message section. The member has to check his particular box number in order to know if someone has left him a message. This feature is used if the message is not urgent, or no quick reply is needed. Often times this feature is used to just say hello, or let them know, they have been thought of. Another feature of the DVR, is that it allows for human voice identification of the repeater. This replaces the traditional CW identifications. This feature allows announcements of amateur events to be made, or just some comment to brighten your day, along with the voice id - This is the K9WZ REPEATER, etc. Since we are not limited to canned messages, we can make our announcements fit the event, and give all the details. This is often used to announce special events that will be upcoming on the repeater, local hamfests, meetings, breakfast gatherings, helpful tips, and other useful amateur related happenings. Just by monitoring the repeater you will be able to keep up with what's going on in the area. While this particular feature can only be accessed by a Control Operator, they are always looking for volunteer voices, and/or announcements. WIDE AREA COVERAGE One of the best features of the repeater is it's wide coverage area. With the addition of the remote receive sites, the repeater's capability to pick up that weak signal improved dramatically. The repeater system currently has three remote sites. The 400 foot Winona Lake site near Warsaw, In. increased our range to the east. The 610 foot Mishawaka, In. and 300 foot South Bend, IN location improved our coverage to the north. Depending on your equipment, of course, the repeater system, with the remote receivers are able to hear, and be heard for much of the Northern Indiana area, and parts of other adjoining states. This means that you don't have to end your QSO when you reach the city limits. Also the wide coverage range, allows more amateurs to reach the repeater, and therefore provides for a greater number of possible contacts. BATTERY BACKUP The 200 amp/hour battery backup at the main site is just one of the many safety features added to this repeater to insure it stays on the air. IRLP Wayne has joined the IRLP project, which links repeaters around the world via the Internet. Each location is called a node, and can be connected to directly as desired. Additionally there are Reflectors, which are like a big party line, where numerous repeaters can connect to form a big "round - table" like connection. There are nodes located across the world, including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and many other exotic locations. Of course, you may be wondering what does IRLP stand for, that's simple - Internet Radio Linking Project. More information regarding the IRLP and how it works can be found on the official web site http://www.irlp.net WHERE DOES IT GO? Now that you have an idea of what benefits, membership in the K9WZ repeater will bring you, you may wonder just where is my donation going? The big answer is that a repeater of this scope takes dollars to just to keep on the air. Every month the mail brings a bill for the control telephone line and electric. Also mother nature is always trying to stimulate the economy by bombarding antennas, hardline, and the system itself, with the usual bag of tricks. That's not to mention the "Express" lightning-gram she occasionally delivers. In addition, the equipment itself, subjected to hours of use wears out, and repairs have to be made. Since Wayne strives to maintain an excellent system, with little downtime, many of the components are commercial grade items, with the resultant higher price tags. The commercial antennas were over $1000. In addition, your donation helps to provide Wayne the ability to plan and implement new features, and improve the overall reliability of an already great system. The ongoing remote receiver project has been, and continues to be a costly project. A quick look at any amateur magazine will convince you, that equipment able to handle repeater duty cycle traffic, is not cheap.