Virginia's Amateur DMR Linked Repeater Network
Virginia's Amateur DMR Linked Repeater Network
DMRVA is a Virginia-based, Commonwealth-focused digital mobile radio linked repeater system for amateur radio. For updates on the status of the system and repeaters, check the posts below often.
If you have questions please drop us a line.
73,
Jay – KD4BPZ
James – K4JK
The 443.5875 MHz repeater is now back on the air in the West end of Richmond and should provide excellent coverage to Short Pump, Laurel, Willow Lawn, Glen Allen, Tuckahoe, across the river to Bon Air as well as other areas. Reports on performance would be appreciated (please state mobile or portable). A second repeater will be added this fall in the downtown area to offset the loss of coverage.
We wish to thank the RATS club and the numerous club leaders for assisting with hosting this repeater and creating a wide coverage area from 2014 until 2022. Please stay tuned as we explore permanent opportunities for the best coverage possible in the Richmond area.
We’ve been unable to get a response from BrandMeister regarding their apparent decision to stop receiving our feed of Virginia Statewide. We were not notified of this decision, so we have no information about it.
According to BrandMeister, 3151 is officially hosted by DMRVA.
Therefore we’ve made the decision to feed 3151 to the K4USD cBridge system, which is in turn feeding 3151 to BrandMeister.
This should resolve connectivity issues with the BM network for the time being.
73,
James
K4JK
We are aware of the loss of link to Brandmeister for traffic on 3151. The problem appears to be on their side.
We have reached out to Brandmeister regrading this issue, but have not received a response.
We will post a new update when we have more information to share.
Many of you may have noticed that the Harrisonburg repeater has been operating in stand-alone mode for several weeks. We are happy to report that the site network issues have been resolved. Thank you for your patience!
One of our hosting providers has a scheduled maintenance window the evening of August 4th, beginning at 9pm. Some network services may be intermittent or unavailable during this time.
There is a new DMRVA-affiliated repeater in the Charlottesville area! Please add the KF4UCI repeater to your codeplugs. The frequency is 444.9875 +5, CC1. It carries the standard talkgroup lineup, with 27500 (Local) being standalone and not linked to any other repeaters.
The repeater is on Carter Mountain and should provide excellent coverage of Charlottesville and the surrounding area.
If you hear Elmer on the air please thank him for putting up this repeater.
Due to network issues at the hosting site, the Linden repeater is currently off the air. We hope to have the problem resolved soon.
It is available in stand-alone mode for the time being.
UPDATE: The Linden Repeater is back on the network and fully operational.
Due to changes within the corporate environment at the host facility, the 442.1125 DMR repeater in Fredericksburg is now off the air. Other options are being explored at this time and we hope to have the repeater back online soon. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause and many thanks for your patience. I hope to hear you all on the system again in the not too distant future.
73,
Rod
N8RAT
Hotspots are all the rage these days, and they are becoming extremely inexpensive. If you have multiple hotspots in your shack, please be sure to use a different frequency for each one. Especially if more than one is used on the same mode. We have noticed quite a bit of looping happening on some of the national TAC channels, in addition to VA Statewide (3151.) This is almost always being caused by multiple simplex hotspots in the same vicinity utilizing the same frequency.
This is of course a major annoyance, wastes system resources, and ties up an entire regional/national talkgroup unnecessarily. Please be mindful of this.
Please also be sure to pick frequencies for your hotspot(s) in the proper part of the band according to your local amateur coordination association. Virginia is covered by either T-MARC, or SERA, depending on which part of the state you live in. For example, SERA guidelines have set aside 440.9125-441.1750 for digital simplex. Any frequency in this sub-band should be acceptable for a low-powered simplex hotspot. Listen to the frequency you pick for awhile to make sure it is not currently utilized on a regular basis. Doubly so if you connect your hotspot to an external antenna. If you want to run a high-powered simplex “megaspot” on an external antenna, you should check with your coordinating body for their recommendations.
Please do not under any circumstances park your hotspot(s) on the weak signal or satellite allocations, or repeater input/output sub-bands.
Thank you for your cooperation.
James
K4JK