W4RYZ 145.210 Repeater Upgraded To Fusion

Happy New Year!

You may have noticed the repeater it sounding different.  The club has installed the new Fusion DR-1X repeater on Thursday (Dec 31, 2015).  It is running great and already I have seen an improvement in the repeater receiver sensitivity.  Over the next few weeks try it out and see what you think.  At this time the repeater is set up with what is thought to be the best settings.  As the club gets a better understanding of these settings on how they work for the way the club uses the repeater adjustments can be made.  Right now the repeater is set up this way:

1) The repeater is set up on "Automatic Mode Select" (AMS).  What this means is the repeater will adjust to the incoming signal mode (FM or Fusion) and repeat out the same mode.  When the repeater receives a FM signal a FM signal will be transmitted out.  When the repeater receives a Fusion signal a Fusion signal will be transmitted out.  For the ones with FM radios, when the repeater is being used in Fusion mode you will hear a continuous hum without audio.  Hearing the Hum you will know the repeater is in uses in Fusion mode and the repeater is not having problems.

2) There in no courtesy beep on this repeater to let you know when to transmit after someone stops transmitting.  Right now it is believed the repeater does not offer this.  The repeater carrier (Squelch Tail) is set for 2.5 seconds (the max setting).  That means the repeater will stay on for 2.5 seconds after the end of someone transmittion ends into the repeater.  Even without the courtesy beep you can tell someone has stopped transmitting because you will hear a hash sound when the incoming transmission stops.  You may think 2.5 seconds is not enough time but when you read about setting number three it will make better sense.    

3) The Time Out Timer (TOT) is set for three minutes.  This will most likely be adjusted to be longer.  What this means the repeater will time out after three minutes of continuous uses where the repeater does not drop out (stop transmitting) during that three minutes.  What needs to happen is to let the repeater drop out at least once within three minutes of continuous use where the TOT can reset. 

These are the settings being used right now that are different from the old repeater.  I am open to any comments and suggestions as the club gets more time using this repeater and see what it can do.  Please get on the air and use it and enjoy.

73,

Bob WB8PAF

The install team included Bob Leasko WB8PAF, Jim McQuagge  K4LIX, Jack Crusan N1HQ, Bob Plank KK4DIV and Cory Welch N4UVR.

Bob Leasko WB8PAF, Jack Crusan N1HQ, Cory Welch N4UVR and Bob Plank KK4DIV (left to right)

See more photos at this link

A Ham Night Before Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Panama City Amateur Radio Club!

The KK4IQW D-Star Hot Spot is Elevated and Operational

The 144.905 MHz KK4IQW HOT SPOT is back on the air at a new location. It is still in Panama City but the antenna is now at 160 feet. It is available to everyone with D-Star capability and allows you to connect to reflectors and repeaters via the internet. This is not a repeater! It is simplex so you will only hear one side of a conversation from the hotspot (if the local ham is close you may hear him
direct and thereby hear the entire qso).

Remember we have D-Star repeaters on 2m and 440 so use them for conversations with local hams until we get them connected to the internet (soon, I hope).

To talk on the hot spot your radio should have “CQCQCQ” in the UR field, “KK4IQW C” in RPT1, and “KK4IQW G” in RPT2. The hot spot also supports the Status and Echo commands (status requires “I” and Echo requires “E” in the 8th position of the UR field).

I will conduct the North Florida D-Star ARES Net at 0800 on Wednesday using the
Hot Spot linked to reflector REF046C. There is also a D-Star training net on REF046C Thursday nights at 2000 and you can check in to that net using the hot spot.

Remember the Hot Spot is simplex. You will not hear another local station unless you can hear them direct.

Please use it and enjoy. If you have any questions/comments or need help with programming your D-Star radio, please contact me.

Victor B. Johnson, Jr., K4GXV

Email: vixsal@comcast.net

Amateur Radio -a 21st Century hobby

A Young Lady Joins Our Ranks

Congratulations to Marie Drinkwater for passing her Technician Class exam at the Panama City ARC. Her call is KM4LZW. 

St. George Island Expedition

The Panama City ARC will participate in the US Islands W/VE QSO Party 1200z 29 August – 0300z 30 August, 2015. 15 Hours. The our operating frequencies are 14.250-14.260 (main) 7.250, 21.350,and 28.450 mHz phone. Our club callsign will be W4RYZ. The US islands designator is FL007S. Our headquarters will be at the St. George Island Lighthouse. Additional stations may operate around the Island including at the State Park. Club members and all area hams are welcome to come by to visit or operate. More information is at http://www.usislands.org/ Questions may be directed to Greg N4KGL email LaneKG at gmail.com Information on the Lighthouse is at http://www.stgeorgelight.org/ and the State Park at https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/St-George-Island We will packup at the light house about 6 PM local.

Photos from Panama City ARC 2015 Field Day

Here is a link to the album
Our Field Day was at the Bay County Florida Emergency Operations Center this year.