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As depicted in the image above, repeaters are used to increase the coverage area of everything from handheld units to mobile radios in vehicles to home fixed base stations.
Coordination:
Amateur radio repeater locations and frequencies in Texas are coordinated by the Texas VHF/FM Society. Hams and clubs wishing to have a “coordinated” repeater work with the Society to ensure that their repeater won’t interfere with another nearby repeater on the same frequency, or that the other repeater won’t cause interference with their own repeater. In the case where coverage areas overlap slightly, one method of reducing interference is to use PL/CTCSS tones.
Equipment:
Red River Valley Amateur Radio Club (RRVARC) repeaters are Yaesu DR-2X 144/430 Dual Band Dual Mode C4FM/FM Analog/Digital units (details here). C4FM is a digital mode and unfortunately several different radio manufacturers have their own proprietary digital modes which are incompatible with each other. To ensure universal availability in the region, RRVARC opts to only use the analog features of the DR-2X, not the C4FM capability, so that all makes and models of radios can utilize them.
Frequencies:
VHF 146.760 – PL/CTCSS 203.5 (Linked to North Central Texas Connection (NCTC))
UHF 444.500+ PL only 114.8 and VHF: 147.080+ PL 107.2 (These repeaters are linked locally.)
APRS:
Additionally, the Club operates a digipeater/APRS gateway. APRS stands for automatic packet reporting system (details here) and in North America it operates on frequency VHF 144.390 MHz. If you are unfamiliar with APRS and want to see an example of it on a live map, please click aprs.fi at this link (here) and check it out.
Coverage Area:
The repeaters and APRS digipeater/gateway provide coverage for Lamar County and surrounding areas of northeast Texas and southeast Oklahoma.
Trustee:
Federal Communication Commission regulations require that a repeater have a licensed amateur radio operator who is responsible for operation of the equipment. The person designated for such things is called a “trustee” (details here). The RRVARC trustee is Kelly Collins (W5KJC)