Repeaters

KB4ZIN Repeaters

Jim Bailey (KB4ZIN) was the owner of these repeaters. Jim was a passionate home brewer and a lover of solder fumes. Jim built the first controller for the 146.76 repeater and he enjoyed hearing the various repeaters being used.

Jim passed away in early April 2017. We will miss his wealth of electronics knowledge, and all the stories he had over the years.

Jim gave the Williamsburg area repeaters life, Chris Courson (KC4CMR) is the one that ensures they have a nice home, he maintains them, and keeps them on the air. John Magda (KB4YFK) is the node sponsor for the IRLP link. He provides space for the computer, an internet connection, and maintains the Linux OS for the IRLP node.

Many thanks go out to this team that provides such great systems and support to the amateur users in the local and regional area!

146.760- (transmits 118.8 tone) NOW with EchoLink capability

The antenna for this unit resides 400ft up on a tower in the area of Centerville Road and News Road. The location provides a wide coverage area (basically, from Richmond to the ocean). This is an open repeater with backup emergency power and autopatch. The repeater broadcasts local weather warnings, and is a primary Skywarn communication node for the Wakefield National Weather Service office.

This repeater does not require tones on the input, but the 118.8 tone will be implemented on the input as needed when conditions cause propagation to go long, and result in overlap of repeater coverage. Users are encouraged, however, to program this tone for the repeater into their radios to help minimize confusion when the tone is implemented.

The tone is always present on the output of the repeater. This is useful for combating interference by using the “tone squelch” capabilities of modern rigs. When “tone squelch” is employed, only signals containing the provisioned “sub-audible” tone will be passed to the receiver.

NEW!! As of March 2021 there is now EchoLink functionality on the 146.76 repeater. Users can download the EchoLink app to their PC, smartphone or tablet to connect to KB4ZIN-R. More information is available at www.echolink.org.

If you are interested in Ham Radio but don’t yet have a license; or if you’re out of the area and would like to listen during the C&R or ARES nets, you can use Broadcastify to monitor from your phone, tablet, or desktop/laptop.
A direct link is: https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/29772
Click the little triangle/play button under the “Listen” heading, NOT the big green “Start” button. There are also apps for your phone: https://www.broadcastify.com

This service courtesy of Chuck AI4WU. The feed will lag behind the real RF based audio you’d hear direct from the KB4ZIN machine. There will be a 30 second add that plays before the connection is started.

147.105+ IRLP node 4943

This is a much more local machine, and used primarily as a backup to the 146.76 machine. It has autopatch capabilities and a smaller foot print. It also has IRLP capability. It is used when the 146.76 machine is involved in emergency communications. The node number is 4943.

444.100+

The local 440 machine is quite handy. Less traffic since not everyone has 440 capabilty. It is a handy machine to use when 76 is busy.