VK3RSW Portland

All the hardware for the new repeater for South West Victoria is complete, working and installed on Mt Richmond.

VK3RSW repeater. Frequency:146.875MHz output, 146.275 input
Linked to VK5RMG via 449.875MHz
President Peter has driven this project and the members thank him for his work

VK3RSW uses crystal controlled TAIT modules and a VK5DJ Mk1 controller. Power comes from 4 solar panels stored in two 100AH batteries seen to the right of Peter’s left leg in the overview photograph. The state of charge can be read remotely as the charger is WIFI controlled. John chose Xtal units as they consume less power and so kinder on the power budget. The transmitter is putting out about 15W and 10W after the cavities. A shelf below the batteries contains the documentation and basic tools.

There are three cavities in the transmitter circuit, two of which have notches on the receiver frequency (146.275MHz) and one bandpass cavity on 146.875MHz to minimise any out of band signals in accordance with ACMA requirements.

There are three cavities in the receiver circuit. Two have notches on the transmitter frequency (146.875MHz) and a third with a notch on 145.175MHz in a less than successful bid to keep the APRS TX on site out of the repeater receiver. As a result it has been necessary to set the 91.5Hz CTCSS active ON. This has prevented the APRS from triggering the transmitters. A single filter on 449.875MHz (link) rests on top of the cabinet for the moment, its purpose is to meet ACMA requirements.

Two folded dipoles at about 12m on top for the repeater and a 16 element yagi pointing at The Bluff. Signals are rockcrushers from SA while the 2M repeater can be used from many Mt Gambier home stations. Mobile stations seem to have good coverage from south of Mt Gambier to Port Fairy. Home stations at Warrnambool have good signals.The club thanks Brian VK5VI for assembling and wiring the repeater chassis and his continuing interest in the project.

Below we see the equipment at the South Australian VK5RMG hub

The Bluff (VK5RMG) with links to Mt Richmond, Mt Benson and Naracoorte. The local 2M repeater, a Phillips PRF1520 in a grey unit on 146.9, and UHF links to the left while the right hand cabinet contains the YAESU UHF C4FM repeater, power supplies, backup batteries and power switching.
The link antenna at The Bluff SA towards SW Victoria – a 9 element horizontally polarised yagi
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