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New frequency for South Hill repeater

The South Hill (Mecklenburg county) area DMRVA repeater changed frequency pairs to 444.125 MHz (+5) this weekend.  Please spread the word about this change and reprogram your gear as needed.  There are no changes to talkgroups and repeater coverage should not change.  Please feel free to send any comments or questions .  The DMRVA team wishes to thank several amateurs who have been involved in ensuring DMR coverage is available in this area.  K4MJO (both Sammy and Matt) have been instrumental supporters.  WB4EOT and KO4YXG have often been boots on the ground and are always willing to assist.  We hope all amateurs enjoy this system as a continued resource to the community.

Two new repeaters coming soon!

 

Happy New Year!  We are pleased to report two more repeaters joining the network in the coming weeks.  K2VIZ  is adding a site in the Middle Peninsula / Middlesex County area on 440.625 MHz +5 CC1 with a January 2025 ETA.  WB4EOT and the Roanoke team is adding a Franklin County / Thornton Mountain area site on 145.080 MHz out/146.480 MHz in +1.4 MHz split CC1 (yes it’s an odd split but SERA approved) with a March/April 2025 ETA.  This will be our third VHF site on the system.

 

The lower pin on the map reflects the combined coverage of the new Franklin County site along with the other Roanoke area systems.  Look for more announcements and more specific maps/pictures in the coming weeks.

 

Repeaters in use for Allianz Partners Richmond Marathon on Saturday, November 16

Please keep clear of TS1 talkgroups on the RATS 443.5875 repeater (DMRVA “RIC” zone) during this event.  This includes Richmond Metro, TAC A & B, the Virginia regional talkgroups, and “private” radio-to-radio calls.  Virginia Statewide and HEARS on TS2 may be used as normal without interference to marathon operations.Please keep clear of RVA Metro (27500/31511) on all repeaters and hotspots.  If you wish to utilize one of the TAC channels or regional talkgroups, please use one of these other DMRVA network repeaters serving our area:  Beaverdam (BEA), Goochland (GCH), New Kent (NKC), or Powhatan (POW).  Note that you will be be competing against TS1 activity on Richmond Metro;  VA Statewide is recommended.  Full details about this event can be found at this link.

K4MJO SK

 

We have learned about the recent passing of Sammy (Simmons) K4MJO. Sammy operated the South Hill site and played a prominent role in expanding DMR to this and other areas of Southside Virginia. Sammy was a friend to all on the air and was also involved with numerous other repeater projects for many years. We will certainly miss his involvement in the hobby.  The South Hill repeater site will continue to operate without interruption.

New UHF Repeater in Goochland joins the Network

The K2VIZ 443.4375 MHz (CC1) repeater located in the Gum Springs area of Goochland has joined the network. Testing with a mobile radio has demonstrated coverage from Ferncliff (Louisa County) to Rockville (Goochland) along I-64.  This repeater will bring coverage to other areas in Goochland, including Shannon Hill, Gum Springs and Hadensville including routes 250 and 33.

The TG line up is the standard DMRVA talkgroup including Richmond Metro.  This system enhances the coverage around metro Richmond, complementing the existing sites such as Beaverdam, Richmond, Petersburg, Powhatan and New Kent. Look for an updated talkgroup matrix to be published shortly.

 

 

Link between DMRVA and N4HRS repeaters updates

8/13/2024 update: all links are restored and operating properly.

Previous post from late July: Most links between DMRVA and N4HRS sites are experiencing issues at the moment.  This is impacting all N4HRS sites with the exception of NRV, South Boston and Rocky.  Virginia Statewide works to all DMRVA repeaters and to external networks (like K4USD) but is not passing to N4HRS at this time.  This includes TAC channels and others.   We hope to have this resolved soon.

New VHF repeater in Roanoke area joins DMRVA Network (July 2024 update)

 

A second VHF repeater is now connected to the DMRVA network.  The WB4EOT 147.165+ MHz system (CC1) is operating from Fort Lewis Mountain overlooking Salem.  This system should provide superior coverage to the Roanoke valley and beyond.   Pictured are WB8BON and W4KDN working on securing the DB-224 antenna at an elevation of approximately 3222 feet.  It is attached to a Motorola SLR5700 repeater. The local talkgroup will be linked full time to Mountain Lake, Poor Mountain, Tinker Mountain (HEARS) and Long Ride (Brandmeister)  sites to provide comprehensive connectivity in the region.  Make sure to take a look at the coverage map to see what you can expect!  Thanks to W4KZK, KD4EG, W4KDN, WB8BON, and N4MGQ for contributing to significant coverage in this part of Virginia.

July 2024: system network connection is restored and repeater is fully operational!

South Boston repeater is moving to a new site

Spring has sprung across most of Virginia and just like you are at home, we are busy making spring improvements on the largest linked repeater network in Virginia.  The South Boston area repeater is moving to a new repeater site that is significantly higher than the previous site (now at 300 ft level).  This new site near the town of Halifax will offer significant coverage to most of Halifax county, south into area of North Carolina and also to areas along route 360 and 29 that previously had no coverage at all.  Take a look at the proposed (mobile) coverage map and see what you can expect in this area.  This move also includes a frequency change to 443.575 MHz and the color code will also be CC 9.  A repeater is active from the site now and we request any coverage reports or observations. The old frequency of 443.1125 MHz will be retired soon so you have a little time to handle reprogramming of your gear for this change (and we can update all of the documents on the website as well).  The talkgroup lineup will remain the same.  Please join us in celebrating this improvement to the system!

 

South Hill Repeater Antenna Change

The K4MJO repeater located in South Hill had been operating on a backup (and directional) antenna for an extended period of time due to damaged feedline that occurred during maintenance at the site.  Over the weekend, a team was able to restore the repeater to normal operation on a Telewave ANT-450 antenna at the site.  The antenna and repeater system were tested and noted to have improved performance.  Thanks to WB4EOT and KO4YXG for supporting these repairs.  This system operates on 444.7875 MHz on CC1 with the standard talkgroup line up.  As always please reach out if you have coverage reports or other observations about repeaters on the network.

Links to Brandmeister TG’s are currently down (RESOLVED)

Note: issue resolved Monday around 10am.

All links between DMRVA and Brandmeister are currently down due to an outage at the provider that hosts their 3104 server.  They have been down since about 3pm today and there is no ETA currently.  Traffic between our repeater sites is not impacted, of course.  This post will be updated when a resolution occurs.