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Richmond repeater is back on the air

The repeater site in Midlothian experienced a power failure due to the storms on Thursday, a lightening strike or a mixture of both.  There was damage to a host of equipment at the site and the Richmond repeater was off the air and the network for parts of the last couple of days.

After a thorough exam and status check, the repeater is back in service and operational.  Please report any issues or observations to us.  Thanks to WB4KXS, N4MW and N4ZRW for the assistance at the site, and as always a big shout out to the RATS board and technical groups for their support as well.

New portable repeater on DMRVA network

We wish to welcome the KV4VP portable repeater to the DMRVA network.  The repeater will primarily operate in the tri-cities area south of Richmond but may show up in other areas as needed.  This is a preliminary view of the system, operating with a Motorola SLR5700 repeater with a cellular modem to reach the network backend.  Stay posted for more updates on this system.

New BrandMeister repeater on air in Richmond

While not directly connected to the DMRVA repeater network, this new repeater is operated cooperatively by DMRVA staff.

The repeater is located in downtown Richmond with an elevation of approximately 350 feet.  The repeater performs nicely to the north, east and south.  Coverage to the west is decent too but there is some shadowing due to the buildings.

It operates on 443.5375 MHz, up 5 MHz with CC1.  TS 1 is wide open for any talkgroup available on the BM network.  TS 2 currently carries Va Statewide (3151), Local 2 (2), Local 9 ( 9, local repeater only) as well as Richmond Local (31511 – tied to the DMRVA repeater local).

There are no codeplugs available for download with this new repeater system (yet).

For further details on how the BrandMeister particular repeater operates differently than DMRVA (a c-bridge network) check out this page from AF6FB.

Two northern Virginia repeaters carry Virginia statewide talkgroup

Two repeaters in northern Virginia on the Chicagoland DMR network are carrying the Virginia Statewide talkgroup (3151) on TS1.

The 442.4375 MHz repeater in Herndon has mobile coverage from Gainesville to across the Potomac, and from the mountains to Tysons Corner.  An image of coverage is located at this link.

442.900 Mhz is located in Vienna with much different coverage and also uses TS1 for statewide.  For both repeaters, the talkgroup is PTT activated and times out after 15 minutes of inactivity.

 

Happy New Year and DMRVA updates

Happy New Year!  2016 was full  of fun times, windy tower climbs, and great folks operating on our network.

The downloads page has newly edited and revised codeplugs posted.  Files are available for Motorola, Connect System, Anytone, and TYT radios at this time.  Thanks to all who contributed!

If you are wondering where the  link for the Multiwatch page went, please look right under Last Heard.

We are actively working on new repeater sites for 2017 as well.  Stay tuned for more!  If you have an opportunity for a site you would like to discuss with us, please contact us.  We are also available to do club presentations on the network and digital voice modes.

Other repeaters that carry the Virginia Statewide talkgroup

There are other ways to access the VA Statewide talkgroup (3151) if you are outside of the coverage area of DMRVA repeaters.  There are hotspot options via the Brandmeister network as well as K4USD repeaters.  Most K4USD repeaters will only have it set to PTT (not always on) so keep in mind that the repeater may time out if you aren’t actively in a QSO.

The following K4USD repeaters carry VA Statewide full time –

W4YP (Haymarket, VA) on TS1
WB6EFW (Ashburn, VA) on TS2
KB3LYL (Damascus, MD) on TS1
N0AGI (Burnsville, MN) on TS2

Please see the K4USD website for information on their repeater network. Always remember to QSY to a local or TAC channel as appropriate to not tie up multiple repeaters.