Gainesville Repeater News...

UPDATE! The 146.850 AllStar repeater is off the air in order to support a problem with the GARS 82 site. This repeater is temporarily reprogrammed to 146.820 with 123.0 PL until antenna repairs can be made at the Ch.5 site.

Conventional Analog

Whether operating 2 meter, 222, 70cm or even 1.2 Ghz, this is the most popular and least expensive mode. Radios can be purchased for as little as $25 for the Chinese handhelds up to the more powerful and full featured dual and multi-band mobiles.

You will find that most of the "digital" mode radios also include the conventional analog features allowing these repeaters to be the most popular for local operations

Analog - AllStar

Around the world on Analog

Expanding on the basic analog... by adding a digital board and a Raspberry-Pi computer, you can now connect your analog radio to the internet! This allows you to connect to other "nodes" and talk to other amateurs around the world. Many repeaters have done this making this mode very popular in some areas.

What do you need to join this new mode in Gainesville? Just your regular handheld or mobile radio tuned to our repeater! See how our 444.9875 or 146.850 repeaters has done this by joining the East Coast Reflector and Southeast Link, a collection of repeaters and nodes across the US...and even a few in other countries!

Digital - DMR

DMR or Digital Mobile Radio, has quickly become the most popular of the digital formats. Available as inexpensive (Chinese) handhelds and mobile radios, these radios make digital radio affordable. See the DMR link to learn more about how DMR works and about the two DMR repeaters (one VHF and one UHF) that are available for your use.

DMR repeaters and hotspots, connected to one of the many networks, provide worldwide communications with only a handheld radio.

In Gainesville, we are blessed with 4 DMR repeaters... 146.640, 444.8375, 146.685 and 444.8125.

Yaesu YSF

Also known as Fusion or WiRES-X

A proprietary format, YSF provides a digital mode that is also capable of transmitting other data such as photos and GPS data. Like DMR, many of the repeaters have affiliated themselves with various reflectors and "rooms" such as America Link.

Visit our 444.050 repeater (default is linked to Florida I-75 along with 147.21 in Ocala and 444.575 in the Villages) with full WiresX capability.

Jon Simonds, KC4NWK, has a WiresX system on 444.525. Not presently "linked", you will find this an excellent place to visit with locals and experiment with visiting other systems through the WiresX capability.

Icom D-STAR

D-Star or Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio was developed by the Japan Amateur Radio League and is probably the first digital radio seen by most hams.

We presently do not have a working D-Star in Gainesville (it is very hopeful that the Alachua County Sheriff's Amateur Radio Club will soon have their "stack" on the air), there are two Ocala repeaters.

Check out the KG4NXO repeater on 145.170 (PL of 123.0) and the KK4DFC repeater on 146.790.

P25 Digital

Project 25 (P25), also known as APCO 25 and ASTRO 25, is a standardized two-way digital radio communications platform that was origionally developed for the government and public safety market. You will find many surplus P25 repeaters (as the public safety repeaters are upgraded to the next generation) becoming available in amateur radio service

Even though we do not have one in Gainesville, there is a P25 repeater located in The Villages. WN4AMO operates on 146.850 using NAC 293 and a PL of 103.5.

GMRS or General Mobile Radio Service

Although not amateur radio, it is still very popular with many of the local hams, allowing them to still communicate with their families and neighbors. GMRS is being used as a community wide emergency system along with the amateur ARES system. Operating on channels in the 462 and 467 Mhz frequencies, many of the channels are also shared with the license-free FRS (Family Radio Service) channels. GMRS is permitted to use up to 50 watts and has several channels available to operate repeaters. You can get a GMRS license for $35 which covers your entire family for the next 10 years.

Gainesville 462.550, Melrose 462.600, Windsor 462.725 and Cross Creek 462.650 (141.3 PL).

Please donate!

Needless to say, obtaining, installing and maintaining a repeater system is very expensive. Repeaters can run anywhere from $1500 to $8000 and this does not count the antennas (including paying someone to climb the tower), hardline cable, combiners, duplexers, isolators, power supplies and the monthly charges including internet service.

Donating to this site assures continued maintenance of the multiple repeaters, continued access to commercial internet (I have to pay the monthly Cox bill!), and ongoing purchases of new repeaters, controllers, interfaces and computers to run them. Ongoing projects will be to add a PA Amplifier to the Yaesu Fusion repeater (it is presently at 20 watts - my goal is to be at 50 watts) and replace the aging 146.850 homebrew Motorola repeater (UPDATE: This was replaced with a Yaesu VXR-9000 on August 10, 2022, as a result of a lightning strike on this and the GMRS repeaters). Future possibilities include a possible UHF P25 repeater.
By donating to this site, you will continue to have available the best repeaters possible..... maybe even another site to cover the "out of county" areas?

Just click on either of the Donate! buttons and click "SEND"
73's, Jim

DONATE!

photos

Repeater Room

Amateur Repeaters are on the right.

Repeater Equipment

Analog
  146.640   123.0 PL  DMR
  146.820   123.0 PL  GARS Primary
  147.270   123.0 PL  DMR
  444.5875  123.0 PL  AllStar,Echolink
  444.8375  123.0 PL  DMR
  444.9875  123.0 PL  AllStar
DMR
  146.640   cc 1  World Wide,
Kansas City Wide
  147.270   cc 1  Quadnet,ArkLaTx,
TGIF Free Speach
  444.8375  cc 1  Nationwide 3100,
Rfinder
Yaesu Fusion
  444.050  Florida I-75
  444.525  KC4NWK
Winlink and Packet Digipeaters
  144.990                   GNV Winlink
  145.070                   GNV Packet
GMRS
  462.550   141.3 PL  Gainesville
  462.600   141.3 PL  Melrose
  462.650   141.3 PL  Cross Creek
  462.725   141.3 PL  Windsor

KC4MHH Repeater System

Gainesville, Florida