Virginia's Amateur DMR Linked Repeater Network
Virginia's Amateur DMR Linked Repeater Network
The Northern VA repeater system (AWSVirginia) team has provided two updates for us to share.
First, a wide area coverage repeater has been added in the Tysons Corner area of northern Virginia (see proposed coverage map). It operates on 441.3375 MHz (+5, CC1) with their normal TG lineup. We have also posted an updated list of their talkgroups at this link.
The W4DHW repeater system located in the Lexington area came on board the DMRVA system, enhancing coverage in the valley especially along I-81. The repeater is on 441.925 MHz (+) and uses CC1. The TG lineup for this system will be Virginia centric and slightly different than other sites. Full details on what TG’s are carried can be seen at the Talkgroup Matrix page.
We put the C’ville repeater on the air in 2016 at a high profile site that offers significant coverage. Of course sites of this magnitude also come with trades offs – in our case we have experienced a degree of desense in the repeater system. This has been an intermittent issue that is difficult to track. The desense is possibly a mixture of other transmitters on the tower or in the adjacent area.
We recently swapped repeaters and this did not change performance. As of today have now made changes to the antenna system. Presently the repeater is running on a pair of antennas instead of just one single antenna. We intend to leave it in this mode for at least a couple of weeks while we observe the performance of the repeater. In the C’ville area itself you may not notice much difference, but towards the east you may see the transmit signal of the repeater a bit higher, and towards Staunton area it may be a bit lower. Overall, the goal is to balance the TX and RX and eliminate as much desense as possible.
Please share this news and make use of the C’ville repeater in the coming days and send us any observations or experiences. You can click here to send us a report. Thanks to KG4HOT and WB4EOT for their assistance today.
Edit: Powhatan system returned to service in September.
The internet connection has been down at the Powhatan site since yesterday. Estimated restoration time may be several days. We will post an update when available. Thanks to Jim, KK4IUH and the team there.
The Beaverdam repeater is on the air as of today on 444.6125 MHz (CC1). A special thank you goes out to K2VIZ and KD4RJN for their support at this site and to N4MW for technical assistance.
This new system will enhance DMR coverage for many who travel I-95 between Richmond and F’burg as well as Route 1. Other areas that will benefit include Hanover County, the town of Ashland, Caroline County, portions of Louisa County and other areas.
Due to the hardware configuration, this repeater will not show users RSSI on the last heard list.
The local TG is part of the Richmond Metro talkgroup (Richmond, Petersburg, Powhatan and portable repeater sites). It otherwise carries the standard TG lineup that is listed on the talkgroup page.
We would appreciate reports on coverage and user experience. Please contact the DMRVA team with information about this repeater.
Operators supporting the Special Olympics in the Richmond area will be using Timeslot 1 on the Richmond and Petersburg repeaters during the days of June 7 and 8, 2019. All traffic on Richmond Metro (TG 27500, TS1) will be managed by Special Olympics Net Control during this time.
Accordingly, all Talkgroups on Timeslot 1 will be unavailable for general amateur use during the duration of the Special Olympics nets. Please QRX but feel free to use VA Statewide (3151) and PRN (2) on Timeslot 2 as per usual.
Again, this only affects the Richmond and Petersburg machines. All other machines on the DMRVA network will be unaffected.
Thank you for your understanding during this important event.
The Richmond repeater will be undergoing a brief period of maintenance this afternoon and there will be intermittent availability. Thanks to KG4INW for his support.
If you are like most operators, you want to stay up with what is happening with DMR in/around Virginia. While we try to post updates here often, there are other online resources to consider checking out.
On Facebook the SWVA DMR page is one of the most active, and there is also a page for the Tidewater talkgoup. On groups.io, the VirginiaDMR mailing list has posts about activity and hardware. If you know of additional resources, please contact us.
If you are at the Dayton hamfest later in the week (May 17 – 19) and want to talk back to your friends who have to work (or couldn’t get a permission slip to go) try the DMRVA portable repeater on 440.800 MHz (+) on CC1. It’ll feature VA statewide on TS2 and Roanoke Local (27500) on TS1. The repeater will be located in the flea market front lot. It’ll be intermittently available as it’ll be on battery power. Thanks to KD4EG and WB4EOT for this effort.