SAD NEWS

SAD NEWS ....

 

To all of the WB4GBI repeater family, 

 

It is with a heavy heart that I share this news with you. Matt Kirby, WB4IOB,  who was one of the founders of the 146.73 repeater, passed away this past Friday. For those of you who didn't know Matt, you missed an opportunity to be around one of the smartest, classiest people I have known.  Matt and his brother Sam (WB4HAP), founded the 146.73 repeater in the early seventies. I remember when Matt and Sam placed .73 on the air, they told us in the RACK newsletter "not to buy crystals yet; they were still testing." How many of you remember crystal-controlled two-meter radios?

 

Matt was very active on two meters, 440 Mhz, and the HF bands,  as well. He had the FCC First Class Commercial license, which was the "Extra Class" of the commercial radio world. He also enjoyed his houseboat on Norris Lake and taught many to ski. Several hams are on the air today due to Matt being their "Elmer."  What may surprise you is that Matt did all of this while suffering with Cerebral Palsy all of his life.  He spent his entire life in a wheelchair. Matt lived his life to the fullest and never let his disability interfere with any of the accomplishments that exemplified his life. Please remember his family in your prayers. Here is a link to the online obituary: 

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/knoxnews/obituary.aspx?n=matthew-owen-kirby&pid=159729461#fbLoggedOut

I took over the 146.73 repeater in 2007 when Sam, WB4HAP, became a silent key. I always hoped that Matt was pleased with what I was doing to get .73 back on English Mountain and return it to its once great service to the Amateur Community. Matt got a scanner at a RACK club meeting after Sam passed, and the first thing he asked me to program in it was 146.73. Matt was a great amateur radio operator, but more importantly a great person.

 

 

73 de Tim WB4GBI

FINALLY!! The new 146.94 antenna is installed and on the air!

 

FINALLY! The new 146.94 antenna is installed and on the air!

 

I'm sure you all probably know that I have been (im)patiently waiting on the opportunity to replace the 146.94 repeater antenna, which had been "arcing" on weak signals in recent months.  I have had the new antenna onsite and ready for install for well over a year. Since this antenna is 250 feet up on one of my employer's towers, I had to wait until I needed to have our usual tower climber on the site and up the tower for an official (company-needed) reason. Otherwise, it would be a VERY expensive replacement. Well, the official reason finally happened a few days ago when one of our top-of-the-tower beacon lights went out. The FCC and FAA are very strict about tower lights and their operation. I had only 15 days to get the lights repaired on this 330-foot tower, so I scheduled our tower climber, Tower Services (from Chattanooga) to change the lights as soon as the weather allowed. We tried last Tuesday and were rained out, but today, the weather, the tower climber, and my schedule all cooperated! Initial reports from some of the .94 users are very encouraging!  There are reports of as much as a 5-db improvement in signal strength. I will post pictures soon, but if you are interested in the type of antenna that .94 now proudly uses, just click on this link: http://www.wiscointl.com/celwave/antennas/pd220/index.htm

 

Please note that the .94 antenna does NOT have the secondary director shown in the picture. In addition, this is the same kind of antenna that 145.47 has used since its installation on Cross Mountain in 2007!  That one sure has served well, hasn't it?

 

As promised, I have asked for NO additional support from the WB4GBI repeater users after the fiasco involving the previous .94 antenna. That one was removed three years ago, and the old DB-224 was rebuilt after the company refused to honor their warranty on the new antenna. I hope this one lasts a long time; that will make the $1,200 investment worth the wait.

 

So now, what's next? I am awaiting the same opportunity to replace the 146.73 antenna and relocate it much higher on the tower that where it is presently located; I have a new antenna standing by and ready for it. This tower, however, is one on which I rent space, so I must follow the owner's rules regarding climbers and locations. Hopefully, this will happen very soon.

 

I also want to replace the antenna on 147.075, and will be waiting on an opportunity similar to the one that came about for 146.94 today.

 

Lastly, I want to install the 53.15 repeater antenna on the same tower on which 146.625 is located. That tower will be much easier to schedule...I know the owner really well :-)  

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: The autopatch on 147.075 is presently DOWN. The phone line protector that was on the phone line was destroyed by a lightning storm. I hope to have it replaced within the next week or so. And yes, believe it or not, there are still some folks that use the autopatch. You might need to, as well, when the next storm hits... and your cell phone is inoperative. :-)

 

Thanks for reading, and 73 for now!

 

 

Tim Berry WB4GBI
timb447457@aol.com

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION CONCERNING WB4GBI/R 927.725 Mhz!!

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR WB4GBI/R 927.725 USERS!!

 

As of Wednesday, April 19^th, 2012, the WB4GBI 900 Mhz repeater is now on 927.0625 Mhz, with a PL access of 151.4 Hz. Why did this happen? As those of you with 900 Mhz radios already know, my 900 Mhz repeater was not working well at all. Even the strongest of signals were experiencing "arcing" and noise as they transmitted thru the repeater. I was finally able to spend some time at the repeater site (the same site as 146.94 and 444.300) and troubleshoot the problem.

 

Kevin, W4KEV, has already placed his 900 Mhz repeater on the air from Sharp's Ridge in the center of Knoxville. When he did so, he experienced noise and interference problems as well. What he discovered was the same information that I used when troubleshooting mine. The 900 Mhz band is a "shared" band, meaning there are lots of other services, licensed and unlicensed, that are in the same "neighborhood" as we are. Some of those services are "spread spectrum," meaning that they emit an RF signal over a broad range of frequencies.  This includes hospitals, some cordless phones, fixed links (ever wonder about all those yagi antennae on traffic light control systems?),  and remote meter-reading devices used by electric utilities, etc. Kevin discovered that the 900 Mhz spectrum was littered with this kind of noise at his site above 927.100 Mhz (remember I was on 927.725).

 

After checking the repeater thoroughly for "desense" and antenna problems, and finding none, I decided to re-program the Motorola Quantar repeater and give it a try. The results are REMARKABLE. Users who were constantly noisy and hard to copy were quiet. Even when users are less than fully quieted into the repeater, they were not "arcing" as they were before. The data burst noise that appeared in the repeater at regular intervals is GONE. Finally, I can be proud of how the repeater is performing.

 

Lastly, Kevin has installed a link radio that has our two 900 Mhz repeaters linked together. So far, it seems to be doing very well.

 

For those of you who have one of the Motorola MCS2000 radios that were purchased recently, you can find my new frequency by selecting "ATL 0625"  in the first zone of programming. There is a repeater in downtown Atlanta that is on this same frequency and PL tone. I picked this frequency and tone combination on purpose, as it is already in the MCS2000 radios that I have programmed. This is one channel above the "NFARL" channel that Kevin's repeater is on. Or, you can contact me and I will make arrangements to re-program your radio for you.

 

I have just received notification that my coordination request for the frequency change was approved by SERA.  Thanks to Mike Bishop, WM4RB, for his quick response.

 

And on a final note, while at the repeater site, after taking care of a couple of matters for the " Frog," (that's the nickname of the radio station whose tower we share), I was also able to complete some work on the 146.94 repeater which removed the FM broadcast audio from the repeater audio. Now I know some will be disappointed that they can no longer hear the faint country music on 146.94, They can tune to 107.7 and hear it for real J.

 

I have the 53.150 Mhz antenna in hand, and will be installing it post haste! Get your six meter radio ready!

 

73 de Tim WB4GBI

 

Tim Berry

 

***PLEASE NOTE NEW EMAIL ADDRESS!!!***

tim.berry@cumulus.com

 

Tim Berry WB4GBI

Chief Engineer

Cumulus Media-Knoxville

WIVK-FM   WNML  AM/FM   WNRX-FM  WOKI-FM

OFFICE: 865-212-4519 (leave a message, I will be paged)

FAX: 865-909-0821

check out my website at www.wb4gbi.com

 

Chief Engineer

Vol Radio Network

IMG College/University of Tennessee

 

Tim Berry
timb447457@aol.com