147.290+ 23cm Voice 1284.500-

442.550+ 23cm Data DD_1298.500

Well, at this time there is really no N8EOD repeater. The callsign on the repeater is currently WM8TG and John N8EOD is part owner and primary financier of the WMPORN D-Star repeater. Since the D-Star repeater requires the use of a club call and this is the only repeater that John owns it seemed only fitting to put the WMPORN D-Star repeater here on this page.

John is an interesting fellow, count yourself lucky if you can catch him for a chat on one of the WMPORN repeaters.

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.

Below are some pitcures that were taken the day that we got the repeater and started working with it. Racked up in what we could find to rack it in with antennas and dummy loads so that we could start tesing the system out. I think we spent the most time trying to find enough rack screws to put this thing together.