Recent NI4CE Repeater System News, Events and Information Verna 145.430 Status Update On Thursday, July 24th, we started getting reports of serious problems with the Verna 145.430 Big Stick repeater. Users would indicate that the system would be good and strong one second and then the next second so weak they could not even hear the top of the hour announcements. On Saturday Dave (KG4YZY) and Bill (KI4SWY), made the trip down to Verna to investigate the problem. What they found was not good, 145.430 has suffered a critical failure. The repeater was putting out less than 1/100th of a watt of power at times. The PA has died and repairing it is not the solution as over 1/2 of the parts used on the PA are no longer available due to the RoHS restrictions now in place for electronic equipment. That along with the fact the repeater itself is 25 years old based on dating that is on the internal circuit boards it is time to replace the Verna 145.430 system. To do this we need the support of the users of the system. The technical committee has put together a list of the equipment that we need to make this happen, and the ball park figure to correctly replace this system is $1,700.00. Right now the system is up at 10 Watts so if you are getting this e-mail and note that you are not getting the system back as strong as you normally do, or if you can't get it at all, this is why. Our technical team is ready to replace the old system with a new one and restore the system to full power the only thing standing between them is the ability to purchase the equipment. Just 40 gifts of $35 per gift would cover that cost. With your contribution of $35 or more we will throw in one of our yellow 6th Anniversary T-shirts while limited supply lasts - tell us your size and we try to match your size. As we are privately supported when stuff breaks unexpectedly we have to turn back to our membership base to ask for their help. This is one of those times. If you can help by making a 100% tax deductible donation to us by way of PayPal to support@ni4ce.org or by sending a check, or money order to us at West Central Florida Group, Inc. - 31860 Taylor Grade Rd - Duette FL 33834. As soon as the funds are available we will move forward on getting the site back up to spec for everyone to use. NI4CE D-Star Initiative June 14th - Project complete! The NI4CE B D-Star Digital Voice Repeater at 444.425mhz is now on the air from 805ft above ground level at Riverview. We have created a new webpage specifically for D-Star. The link to it is on the toolbar above, or you can get to it directly via http://dstar.ni4ce.org. We have posted more information, links, and FAQ's about the repeater and the gateway on that page. Second Annual NI4CE Picnic -- Was a success! On Saturday, May 10th, we had our Second Annual Picnic. Photos from this year's picnic are online in our photo album. If you took photos at the picnic, send them to dave at ni4ce dot org, and we'll include them as well in our 2008 online album. Pebbledale 442.825 Antenna Orientation Change With the completion of the 442.550 repeater in Riverview at 805ft in January, the western pointing antenna on the 442.825 repeater caused a expected overlap that was unnecessary. Since 442.550 now blankets Hillsborough County, we have as of April 11th taken the antenna off the west leg of the Pebbledale tower site at 800ft and moved it to the east leg of the tower. What does mean for users? The tower has a 7 foot wide face, which creates a null that is created behind the antenna. This null used to face a huge portion of Polk County. By moving this antenna to the east, the null is now facing essentially Brandon/Riverview, where 442.550 is now located at 805ft. So far we have gotten incredible results from users in eastern Polk County. Some users in Sebring reporting almost full scale signal, and mobile users with hand helds on 27 at 5 watts can use 442.825 now. None of this was previously possible. So with this move, expect to hear more Polk, Osceola and I-4 corridor area users making it into the network. Special thanks goes out to David Duke, KI4OYX from Tower Communication Maintenance for making this change possible. This is David you see on the tower on the photo just above. Verna back to full power... This is one example of the damaged NI4CE transmission line at Verna that was replaced on Valentine's Day. A tropical system last year pulled the line out of their butterfly hangers over about 200 ft of line and allowed that section of the cable to bash up against the tower. A tower crew replaced over one hundred fifty feet of 1 5/8" heliax cable that had been compromised by water and physical damage. The West Central Florida Group, Inc. wishes to thank the following people for their generous donation of $5,500.00 in materials and time: Ed Allen, WA4ISB Dave Anderson, KG4YZY Cox Radio, TampaBay Roz Clark, KI4WIF Tower Communication Maintenance David Duke, KI4OYX Richard Sharp, KQ4KX Bill Stillwell, KI4SWY Project Riverview is complete!!!! Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 16:09, the NI4CE Riverview 442.550mhz repeater was activated from its new home at 805ft AGL. You should be able to use the repeater approximately 40 miles from the site, our coverage map shows the details. It took us longer than expected to get all the work done because of delays in getting power, but the wait is finally over. From signal reports we're hearing from users, the wait was worth it. The site is on the air, as promised with generator backed up power, and a fully sealed environmentally controlled enclosure to keep the gear safe and secure. With this move our APRS digipeater is also now running at 805ft, running the callsign of NI4CE-12, supporting the WideN-N method of operating. You can visit our photo album for all the photos of the new site listed as Riverview and also view some of the photos of the days we were working up on the platform as well under the Candid Shots of us section. Listen to us on the web... You can also listen to the NI4CE repeater network on the internet! If you find yourself without a radio, or are just a intersted scanner listener you can listen to the network via your PC. To listen to the repeater using Windows Media Player click here. There is about a 5 second delay in the playback compared to the actual repeater network. NI4CE operates several APRS weather stations and digipeaters at repeater sites: NI4CE-10 has the latest weather conditions at the Verna (Manatee Co.) repeater site. NI4CE-11 has the latest weather conditions at the Riverview (Hillsborough Co.) repeater site. You can view all of West Central Florida's APRS stations real time and with street level mapping online at http://www.aprsfl.net/javaprs.html APRSfl Callsign Lookup QRZ Callsign Lookup findU Callsign Lookup