Category Archives: IRLP & Echolink

IRLP & Echolink

VK6RFM’s new location

Due to the previous location of VK6RFM being unavailable in the future, there was a requirement for it to be relocated this year.

On Sunday 12 July VK6RFM was transferred from the QTH of VK6KW to the “Equipment Enclosure” at the Wireless Hill Museum, installed in the VHF Group’s Beacon Rack, connected to the shared (with VK6BBS) collinear antenna and switched on at ~ 15:10H.

Subsequent tests all the way home to VK6KW proved that it was working as expected.

The mains power supply is a Yaesu FP-700 which draws 31W supplying 14v09 on idle/standby  and  182W supplying 14v03 on Tx Hi. – It had been proving for ~72 hours and all seemed very happy together just warm enough to prevent condensation.

It was noted that there is some annoying local interference on the output frequency but the repeater seems happy on air.

Report thanks to Bob VK6KW

A big thank you to the WA VHF Group for providing WARG with a new home for the VK6RFM Repeater.

The WA VHF Group website can be found at http://www.wavhfgroup.org.au/

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New Perth Repeater Site – VK6RLM

Negotiations are in place for a new WARG repeater site. Coverage is expected to be the majority of the Perth are.

It’s expected that the site will be used for hosting VK6RLM after a long period without a home. Once installed, Echo/IRLP is expected to be connected up to the repeater to enable a broader coverage Echolink/IRLP round Perth.

Bringing RLM back on air will enable all of the regular ‘nets’ to relocate back to 146.750, allowing VK6RAP to be free for general/mobile voice traffic.

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Fremantle (VK6RFM) has a new antenna.

The Fremantle repeater VK6RFM now has it’s new antenna installed thanks to Bob VK6KW.

Coverage and Signal reports so far show a significant increas in the repeaters coverage compared to the temporary discone antenna.

Some have reported that the signal is better than the previous repeater location, whilst others have reported that it’s slightly lower. This is to be expected as it’s physically in a different geographical location, as well as using a new antenna with different gain and radiation pattern.

We plan to do some more testing/tweaking on the Cavity Filters to improve on the repeaters performance.

Please let us know any signal/coverage reports.

Echo/IRLP is also back online. It was ofline for a short period as the Echo/IRLP ‘node’ couldn’t access the repeater with it’s temporary antenna.

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Fremantle VK6RFM’s new QTH – Echolink/IRLP

The Fremantle repeater VK6RFM has now settled into it’s new home.
Coverage from the new QTH i currently limited due to suspected cavity issues (thanks to a lightning strike) and being run off atemporary discone antenna.

March should see the cavities either retuned or replaced, and see the installation of a new co-linear antenna which should see the repeater back to full operation.

Due to current coverage limitations, the Echolink/IRLP access node hosted by VK6DN can’t get into the repeater so use of this service is currently ‘out-of-order’. It’s expected that with the work on the cavities and the new antenna that Echolink and IRLP services will return to operation.

Thanks to Don VK6DN, James VK6FJA, Bob VK6KW, Anthony VK6AXB, John VK6JAH and Heath VK6TWO for their wok on the relocation and getting the repeater back into service.

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Fremantle VK6RFM – Lightning Strike & New QTH

There has been an ongoing effort by many to find a new site for the Fremantle Repeater VK6RFM. Don VK6UT has hosted the Fremantle reapeater for many years at his QTH, however due to unfortunate circumstances, wouldn’t be able to host it for too much longer. WARG is very greatful for Don’s hospitality.

Several letters were sent to site owners around the Frementle area by Anthony VK6AXB, Craig VK6FLAM, Ian VK6SKY in an attempt to find the repeater a new home.

Bob VK6KW who lives in the vicinity of the existing repeater location, offered to host the repeater at his QTH, however it was preferred that the repeater went to a more suitable and permanent location.

December saw a lighning strike to the repeater which took it off air. Fault finding by John VK6JAH and Bob VK6KW resulted in the repair of the repeater back to operation, though it’s suspected that there may still be an issue with the cavity filters.

Once the repeater was returned to an operational state, it was installed to it’s new home at Bob VK6KW’s QTH.

Thanks to John Don VK6UT, Anthony VK6AXB, Craig VK6FLAM, Ian VK6SKY, VK6JAH, Bob VK6KW.

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Lesmurdie repeater (VK6RLM)

Lesmurdie repeater VK6RLM and DSTAR repeaters (VK6RWN) have had some bad news and had to vacate the prominent site up at Walliston. This has seen DSTAR relocated to an excellent site at Roleystone, and RLM is searching for a new home. A new site has been proposed as it’s new home, and preliminary suitability and coverage tests are in progress. VK6RLM photos during the DSTAR project here:

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