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Beaverdam repeater is on the air

The Beaverdam repeater is on the air as of today on 444.6125 MHz (CC1).  A special thank you goes out to K2VIZ and KD4RJN for their support at this site and to N4MW for technical assistance.

This new system will enhance DMR coverage for many who travel I-95 between Richmond and F’burg as well as Route 1.  Other areas that will benefit include Hanover County, the town of Ashland, Caroline County, portions of Louisa County and other areas.

Due to the hardware configuration, this repeater will not show users RSSI on the last heard list.

The local TG is part of the Richmond Metro talkgroup (Richmond, Petersburg, Powhatan and portable repeater sites).  It otherwise carries the standard TG lineup that is listed on the talkgroup page.

We would appreciate reports on coverage and user experience.  Please contact the DMRVA team with information about this repeater.

Special Olympics event on Richmond/Petersburg repeaters this Friday and Saturday

Operators supporting the Special Olympics in the Richmond area will be using Timeslot 1 on the Richmond and Petersburg repeaters during the days of June 7 and 8, 2019. All traffic on Richmond Metro (TG 27500, TS1) will be managed by Special Olympics Net Control during this time.

Accordingly, all Talkgroups on Timeslot 1 will be unavailable for general amateur use during the duration of the Special Olympics nets. Please QRX but feel free to use VA Statewide (3151) and PRN (2) on Timeslot 2 as per usual.

Again, this only affects the Richmond and Petersburg machines. All other machines on the DMRVA network will be unaffected.

Thank you for your understanding during this important event.

Virginia DMR resources

If you are like most operators, you want to stay up with what is happening with DMR in/around Virginia.  While we try to post updates here often, there are other online resources to consider checking out.

On Facebook the SWVA DMR page is one of the most active, and there is also a page for the Tidewater talkgoup.  On groups.io, the VirginiaDMR mailing list has posts about activity and hardware.  If you know of additional resources, please contact us.

DMRVA portable repeater to be on the air at Dayton hamvention

If you are at the Dayton hamfest later in the week (May 17 – 19) and want to talk back to your friends who have to work (or couldn’t get a permission slip to go) try the DMRVA portable repeater on 440.800 MHz (+) on CC1. It’ll feature VA statewide on TS2 and Roanoke Local (27500) on TS1. The repeater will be located in the flea market front lot. It’ll be intermittently available as it’ll be on battery power. Thanks to KD4EG and WB4EOT for this effort.

PSA: Hotspot Configuration

Hotspots are all the rage these days, and they are becoming extremely inexpensive. If you have multiple hotspots in your shack, please be sure to use a different frequency for each one. Especially if more than one is used on the same mode. We have noticed quite a bit of looping happening on some of the national TAC channels, in addition to VA Statewide (3151.) This is almost always being caused by multiple simplex hotspots in the same vicinity utilizing the same frequency.

This is of course a major annoyance, wastes system resources, and ties up an entire regional/national talkgroup unnecessarily. Please be mindful of this.

Please also be sure to pick frequencies for your hotspot(s) in the proper part of the band according to your local amateur coordination association. Virginia is covered by either T-MARC, or SERA, depending on which part of the state you live in. For example, SERA guidelines have set aside 440.9125-441.1750 for digital simplex. Any frequency in this sub-band should be acceptable for a low-powered simplex hotspot. Listen to the frequency you pick for awhile to make sure it is not currently utilized on a regular basis. Doubly so if you connect your hotspot to an external antenna. If you want to run a high-powered simplex “megaspot” on an external antenna, you should check with your coordinating body for their recommendations.

Please do not under any circumstances park your hotspot(s) on the weak signal or satellite allocations, or repeater input/output sub-bands.

Thank you for your cooperation.

James
K4JK

New talkgroups are active on DMRVA repeaters

We are please to announce some additional TG’s on the system.  These TG’s are linked to Brandmeister and will allow additional connectivity to other repeaters and hotspots.  All of these TG’s are active on TS1 (PTT activated, 15 minute timer).

SWVA Regional – 31513
Shenandoah Valley Regional – 31514
Tidewater Regional – 31515
Tac 318 
Tac 319

We also plan to add the Peninsula and OBX TG’s as soon as Brandmeister turns on the feeds (we asked for feeds over a month ago and haven’t heard back).  Eventually we will publish new codeplugs that include these TG’s.

Please see the talkgroup page for a full and complete listing.

If you experience any issues with these TG’s, please contact us and let us know.  Enjoy!