Crawford Co. Repeater Coaliltion W8DZN Repeater System

Crawford Co. Repeater Coaliltion W8DZN Repeater System This page is dedicated to the Amateur Radio W8DZN Repeaters located in Shelby Ohio. There are two Re Ohio.

We are a group of Amateur Radio Operators in which four of us are The Board of Directors for the W8DZN Repeater System located in Crawford Co. We are open to anyone that is interested in Amateur Radio and Repeaters. We also welcome comments and suggestions for communication improvements.

10/25/2019

At this time I am in the hospital and things are not working that great. With that in mind I am in the process of switching and lining up new owners for the repeater. It is with great regret and sadness that I must do this. I am hoping that if something happens to me that they will apply for a club call sign for the repeater and keep my call sign on the air in memory of me.

05/16/2019

WOW! I am in shock! I have been in Amateur Radio hobby since 1991 and into repeaters since 1993. My whole hobby I have lived, breathed repeaters! I heard a rumor and have since confirmed it to be true that a retired, supposedly RF Professional has recommended removing some existing repeaters hard-line and to be replaced with LMR400 coax for 300’ run! His only excuse is the coax is old. It has not been tested to determine its condition! This person is a complete fool. I never thought to much of him, but I know for a fact he is a complete dunce cap, corner dweller!
1. You never use any mixed shielding coax in repeater service!
2. The loss rate of LMR400 is tremendously high for VHF let alone UHF service. 18 Watts out would only be 2.7 Watts at the top. Totally unacceptable. Also remember that the loss is a both ways and signal received would be reduced dramatically as well.
My repeater site, 2meter repeater suffers from noise issues. These issues are beyond my control and I have used the best coaxes, connectors I could buy!

I cannot wait to hear all the complaining and frustrations these repeaters will be experiencing in the future. I am grabbing the Pop Corn and a soda for the fun to begin!

05/08/2019

Waiting for 110W Mobile amp to arrive. Repairing VHF Repeater Amp that failed. Looks like minor mods required!

04/24/2019

Now why in the heck did the Weather Radio stop working? Dang Electronics will be the death of me yet!

04/24/2019

Repeater Server OS lost its license. (Licensing Server Not Found) UGH! Bought new License from MS. Working & legal again!

12/17/2018

Strange that my last post has disappeared from the page, but the Image with it has not!

A couple of possible ideas for the Repeater System. I am still considering removing them from the air and scraping them ...
12/03/2018

A couple of possible ideas for the Repeater System. I am still considering removing them from the air and scraping them out. I am also looking at continuing moving and pushing to try and fix the VHF noise issue. Here are a couple of ideas. I am looking for everyone's opinion on this matter.

11/25/2018

I had a long chat with a Ham friend about the repeaters. I get so discouraged concerning them and their future. First, I have invested a large about of money into them. Money that I could have created a very nice Ham Shack here at home. The sad part is they just sit there running 24/7 and never seem to get used. It has been at least three weeks since I can remember the last QSO that had taken place on it. I needed to visit the site and perform some needed maintenance. Replacing the UPS batteries. Install the Battery Backup Cutoff switch which has been there for 1 ½ years waiting for installation. I can never seem to get any help and my health has really hampered what I can do anymore. Adding the Weather Watch and Warn announcements to the UHF Repeater as well. The need to split the RX from the site for noise testing. I tried many times to go to the site and work, but I was unable to get into the building because of stuff stored in it.

What to do? Keep them and scrap them out and sell the parts off on eBay? I should be able to get at least $2000 for the pieces.

08/02/2018

Since the first time we installed the Repeaters at Country Star at Bucyrus in 2003 we had a noise issue and the PL Tone was changed from 71.9Hz to 88.5Hz. It was a test to see if the noise was possibly the 71.9Hz Tone. Well it was not, but we left it at 88.5Hz because a few HAMs had commercial Radios that required costly reprogramming. Well they have since passed away or no longer are active HAMs. I am seriously considering changing the 88.5Hz to a different one. I am getting what appears to be possible interference from another repeaters. Maybe it is just someone keying the repeater to see if it still works without IDing.

Also still fighting with RX noise (De-sense) where the Transmitter gets into the RX. I or we have preformed some tests and it appears the problem is in fact the Grain Leg at the site acting as a great antenna driving the RF back into the RX! The only solutions I have come up with is to either find a new “Tower” site or split the site by moving the RX to another site. I cannot get any help in finding site to split and install the RX. I have grown very frustrated. I still want to try splitting the site, but I am being forced into looking for a new “Tower” site…
The Drama continues!

Address

Shelby, OH
44827

Telephone

(419) 310-6466

Website

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