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New VHF repeater in Roanoke area joins DMRVA Network

 

A second VHF repeater is now connected to the DMRVA network.  The WB4EOT 147.165+ MHz system (CC1) is operating from Fort Lewis Mountain overlooking Salem.  This system should provide superior coverage to the Roanoke valley and beyond.   Pictured are WB8BON and W4KDN working on securing the DB-224 antenna at an elevation of approximately 3222 feet.  It is attached to a Motorola SLR5700 repeater. The local talkgroup will be linked full time to Mountain Lake, Poor Mountain, Tinker Mountain (HEARS) and Long Ride (Brandmeister)  sites to provide comprehensive connectivity in the region.  Make sure to take a look at the coverage map to see what you can expect!  Thanks to W4KZK, KD4EG, W4KDN, WB8BON, and N4MGQ for contributing to significant coverage in this part of Virginia.

 

South Boston repeater is moving to a new site

Spring has sprung across most of Virginia and just like you are at home, we are busy making spring improvements on the largest linked repeater network in Virginia.  The South Boston area repeater is moving to a new repeater site that is significantly higher than the previous site (now at 300 ft level).  This new site near the town of Halifax will offer significant coverage to most of Halifax county, south into area of North Carolina and also to areas along route 360 and 29 that previously had no coverage at all.  Take a look at the proposed (mobile) coverage map and see what you can expect in this area.  This move also includes a frequency change to 443.575 MHz and the color code will also be CC 9.  A repeater is active from the site now and we request any coverage reports or observations. The old frequency of 443.1125 MHz will be retired soon so you have a little time to handle reprogramming of your gear for this change (and we can update all of the documents on the website as well).  The talkgroup lineup will remain the same.  Please join us in celebrating this improvement to the system!

 

South Hill Repeater Antenna Change

The K4MJO repeater located in South Hill had been operating on a backup (and directional) antenna for an extended period of time due to damaged feedline that occurred during maintenance at the site.  Over the weekend, a team was able to restore the repeater to normal operation on a Telewave ANT-450 antenna at the site.  The antenna and repeater system were tested and noted to have improved performance.  Thanks to WB4EOT and KO4YXG for supporting these repairs.  This system operates on 444.7875 MHz on CC1 with the standard talkgroup line up.  As always please reach out if you have coverage reports or other observations about repeaters on the network.

Links to Brandmeister TG’s are currently down (RESOLVED)

Note: issue resolved Monday around 10am.

All links between DMRVA and Brandmeister are currently down due to an outage at the provider that hosts their 3104 server.  They have been down since about 3pm today and there is no ETA currently.  Traffic between our repeater sites is not impacted, of course.  This post will be updated when a resolution occurs.