The picture above is an early version of the D-Star repeater.
This repeater has been nicknamed the Porn-Star repeater, but
we continue to build this repeater and slowly but surely make
it better.
At the top of the rack is the D-Star Gateway. This computer
is a Core II Duo 2.2GHz with 1GB of DDR5300. Needless to say
it is "smokin" fast. Below the computer is the keyboard drawer
then the Cisco 2600 router that feeds across the room to our internet service provider
Freedomnet, who supplies us with a 12MB feed. Below that is the
Cisco switch that we use to hook up all of the WMPORN network
devices that we use on the network. Next is the wire management
panel, and below that is the repeater controller, a blank panel
and the four RF modules that make up the complete stack of the
WMPORN D-Star repeater. At the very bottom of the rack is a
custom modified power supply for maintaining constant power
to the repeater.
The repeater is a full blown D-Star repeater with
VHF, UHF, 1296 and 1296 data modules. Currently only the VHF and UHF modules are up
and fully useable. The transmit antenna is located at 460' above ground
level, with the receive antenna located at 525'. The UHF and 1296 antennas
will be at the top of the tower. A current
coverage prediction map shows the expected
coverage of the repeater as it is now. As the repeater improves new maps will be
available.
The first pictures that we took was at the
site where we began testing using a borrowed duplexer that was a homemade unit
built from plans in the ARRL handbook way back when. While they are not pretty
they worked well for our preliminary tests. Those tests are over and we are now
actively building the repeater up. The VHF repeater is up and working. We will
be tuning the UHF Combiner/Multicoupler and beginning full scale operation with
UHF as well. During the next few weeks the VHF repeater may not always be
available as we begin the final adjustments to maximize the range of the
repeater.
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