Some RVARC History

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Also see RVARC history update.

The following notes are adapted from a talk originally presented by W4MHQ at the RVRC club meeting held in August 1993.

The original Rappahannock Valley Radio Club (RVRC) was active in the 1950's and early 1960's. The club was formed after World War II by local hams primarily for swapping parts (most hams had to build their own gear as there was little or none commercially available). The club became inactive in the mid 1960's.

Attempts were made to reestablish the RVRC club by W4UMC and others in the late 60's and early 70's, but were unsuccessful.

The RVRC was finally resurrected in 1975 due to efforts by K4HLY, (Charlie Caldwell), WA4NDT, (Bill Lenzi), W4UMC, (Frank Brooks), W4MHQ, (Josh Cockey) and others. W4MHQ was elected as the first President of the newly reformed club.

In the mean time, 2m VHF FM was beginning to become popular thanks in large part to W2NSD, Wayne Green of 73 Magazine fame. W2NSD also had the distinction of pushing sstv, packet radio, satellites and most other technical innovations over the last 40 years or so, first as editor of CQ magazine and then with his own 73 magazine. Whether you happened to agree with his opinions or not, he did a lot for the hobby over the years.

In the early days, the most popular and most used repeater frequencies were 146.94 and 146.76. As more and more people became active on 2m FM, additional frequencies were used, the ARRL VHF/UHF BandPlan came into being and various volunteer frequency coordinating committees were established by interested groups around the country. We are located on the borderline between T-MARC to the north and CVRA-SERA to the south and consequently, belong to both although technically, we are coordinated by T-MARC.

Locally, hams had established 146.49 as our local frequency of choice instead of using the nationally recognized simplex freq of 146.52. Most 2m rigs were crystal controlled and only had a few channels (2-6 or 10) and put out about 10 watts. There were no synthesized rigs and Handi Talkie's as we now know them. The only HT's were 1 or 2 channel crystal controlled rigs made by somebody like Motorola or GE and were very expensive. The first readily available reasonably priced HT was a 6 channel kit made by VHF Engineering in the late 70's which sold for about $100 + crystals and batteries.

Most active local hams on 2m FM had invested in a decent antenna system (usually something like a Cushcraft 11 el beam or 2 stacked 11 element beams) and a good receiver preamp so we really didn't need a repeater for local communications.

Most travelers through the area were unaware of the local custom of using 146.49 so we would also monitor 146.52 to pick up transients most of whom couldn't operate on 146.49 anyway as they were crystal controlled. Lots of people complained because there was no repeater available for them to use between Washington, DC and Richmond. That really wasn't a valid reason for providing a repeater as far as we were concerned since we had established our own systems to meet our communications needs.

By 1978, there were enough people locally on 2m FM and synthesized equipment was becoming available [either stand alone or by connecting a synthesizer to a crystal rig, (some of us built our own synthesizers)] that the subject of building a repeater began to be discussed at club meetings. At the time, only a small percentage of club members had 2m capability, so a separate organization, the Rappahannock Valley Repeater Association (RVRA), was formed for the purpose of designing and building a 2m FM repeater. About 20 people each contributed $50 as an original investment for purchasing necessary equipment. Reasons for going ahead with the project were:

The original technical committee consisted of:

KB4XF, Jack Cavanagh Duplexer,
Propagation Forecast
WB4LNT, Gordon Thomas Antennas
WA4EMU, Bill Dahmke General
W4MHQ, Josh Cockey Controller,
Hardware,
Telemetry,
Remote UHF Control Link.

Plus several others in various capacities.

We acquired a used COMCO 25 watt VHF HI Band Mil-Spec tranceiver and modified it for the 2m hamband. After researching the literature (73, QST, HR), controller circuitry was designed, breadboarded and constructed. A suitable card cage was purchased from a surplus dealer and double sided PC board was purchased to make a suitable shielded enclosure for both the transmitter/receiver and the controller. The enclosure was designed and the PC board material sheared to size by a machine shop and then soldered together. Our original duplexer was made from a kit purchased from Circuit Specialists consisting of double sided PC board material. The antenna was a Cushcraft Ringo Ranger. We later acquired a homemade duplexer from the WoodBridge Wireless club and also some ex telco heavy duty rechargable batteries for power backup.

WB4LNT/R went into service from WB4LNT's house in the fall of 1979.

Special design features included smart ID, anti-kerchunk, pl, dtmf capability, uhf control link and remote telemetry capability. Lots of option capability was engineered in to allow flexibility and ease of future expansion. The controller hardware consists of both digital (ttl and cmos) and analog circuits (lots of 741 op amps and 555 timer chips). The ID circuit originally used a diode rom card arrangement which was replaced by a prom chip. The circuit cards are audio/mixer board, dtmf & control logic decoder, cos & id timing, id generator, and remote telemetry. The receiver has a pre-amp and all switching is solid state (no relays). There are lots of test points and led indicators for ease of maintainance. Maintainance normally consists of a yearly checkup involving pulling all the cards and making sure all chips are seated and circuit board contacts are clean and a general inspection of the hardware to make sure everything is in good shape.

The repeater has been located at WB4LNT, (Gordon Thomas), WB4TPE, (Keith Angstead), WA4HKM (Al Truitt, near US17/I95), and WJYJ (90 joy fm, near Spotsylvania Courthouse).

When the WJYJ site became available in the summer of 1983, we did some redesign and purchased a Phelps Dodge StationMaster antenna and a WACOM duplexer. An end of reel of 75 ohm 7/8" Cable TV Hardline (about 1000') was donated by N4DME (Harold Edwards) who worked for the Spotsylvania Cable TV Co (at the time, they were running new cable all over the county and they didn't use splices if it could be avoided). We had to design and build matching stubs to use it in a 50 ohm system.

WB4LNT/R operated from WJYJ from Thanksgiving weekend 1983 until November 1996. The antenna was installed at 310' on their 500' tower and the equipment was housed in a rack in their transmitter building. The repeater has been in almost continuous service since first activated in 1979 with only a few days total downtime.

At the annual RVRA meeting in Feb 1993, a vote was taken to recombine the RVRA with the RVRC since the original reasons for maintaining separate organizations were no longer valid. The RVRC then voted to accept the merger, combine the assets of the organizations and create a repeater technical committee to oversee operation of the 2M FM repeater system.

In the Spring / Summer of 1993 there was considerable interest expressed by several RVRC members in establishing a 70 cm repeater and sites were investigated and some parts were acquired for the construction of a UHF repeater system, but no suitable site was ever identified.

The RVRC in 1995 changed the name of the club from RVRC to Rappahannock Valley Amateur Radio Club (RVARC). The simple change of club sponser name necessitated recoordinating the repeater with T-MARC.

In Oct 1996, the club received a letter from WJYJ requiring a number of technical and operational upgrades . At the October club meeting, WJYJ's letter was discussed and it was felt that the requirements were unreasonable and unaffordable considering our limited membership and budget, (move antenna to top of tower, increase power to 100 watts, install autopatch with reverse capability, upgrade controller to provide voice ID and other options, add 70 cm capability, increase financial contribution to WJYJ). Since complying with the changes would cost somewhere between $3000 and $5000, among other things, the club responded with a counter proposal, offering to implement some but not all of the requests. It was, after all, our repeater.

Our counter offer was rejected by WJYJ and the WB4LNT repeater ceased operation from the WJYJ site at 0900 on November 9, 1996 after almost 13 years of continuous operation from that location.

The repeater was moved the same day to a temporary location at the home of Norm Steak, KA4RLJ, near Hartwood. Our Phelps Dodge StationMaster antenna, KLM control link antenna and hardline were left on the WJYJ tower. WJYJ would only allow their tower maintainance contract personnel to remove our antennas from their tower and expected more than the cost of replacing them with new antennas to remove them. Initial operation at the temporary site was very marginal due to a lower antenna height, using a Ringo Ranger antenna and receiver desensing probably caused by detuning the duplexer in transit. Fixes were tentatively scheduled for the following Saturday, weather permitting.

Several problems have plagued the operation of the repeater since it's removal from the WJYJ site, including duplexer detuning, a bad antenna connection and high frequency oscillations in the power supply. The duplexer was quickly retuned by KB4XF and KC4YMB, but inclement weather delayed climbing the tower to repair the antenna connection. The antenna repair was eventually accomplished, replacing the power supply has solved the oscillation problems and the new controller system will enhance the operation. Finding a new site with a more favorable antenna location will restore the repeater to it's previous coverage.

Also see RVARC history update.

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Update Saturday, February 26, 2000 - W4MHQ