LCARA HAM Radio: Abandoned Repeater Site - The Long Journey!!!!

[@benosborne6062]

Because your club did this work and made videos like this is why I got my Ham radio license. I can hear this tower now.

[@dominicdoringdg2dca186]

Great Story to tell. We will pass around this video here in german club F07 / DL0GH, 73!

[@faustteufel9727]

Guten Tag !

[@brandonhawkins3266]

Great job guys.

[@geoffpriestley7001]

Our repeater was in an underground cold war observation post we had to dig out drains to stop it flooding , then install a power supply mile from the nears habitation . The farmer was paid in cash and whiskey. He sold the farm and the new farmer found out how much the site was worth and kicked us off

[@Subgunman]

That is a common place especially in the city. Back some 25 years ago we had a commercial repeater site on a small high rise condo. Along comes Nextel and offers the condo association big bucks. Shortly they looked into what other sites charged and figured they could raise the price four times the cost we were paying with a written signed contract. This was a violation of contract law. There were also several Ham repeaters on the site that were allowed on the site gratis however the association tried asking full retail price for the space, something the two small clubs could not afford and unfortunately they vacated the site. After a few months Nextel accused our operation was causing interference with their equipment. We did our own survey and brought in an offsite company to do an additional survey but no interference issue was found. Eventually we found another site that would suit our needs so we moved. We did bill the condo association for the move and they did pay since we had a valid lease and Nextel continued to harass us. Anyone ever pay a bill to move a 5 channel trunking system with transmitter combiners and receiver multicouplers, total of 3 6 foot cabinets, new heliax for 400 feet to the antenna now on a tower. You should see what they charge for pro tower workers with full insurance coverage. Many Ham repeaters lost their sites as Nextel started causing issues. 73, Keep safe.

[@geoffpriestley7001]

@@Subgunman we are in a "hilly location " so a repeater 1000ft would transit coast to coast ( not far we are a small country) but the bottom of the valleys where people lived was not covered . Im about 900 ft asl but back on to a hill side . South I get about 80 miles. north about 3 miles . If i drive 100 yards up the road i can see over the roof of my house and have a range of 60 miles north

[@gearheadgregwi]

I remember growing up northern Wisconsin next to Lake Michigan. There was a repeater shack out in the country that I'm sure is long abandoned. I'm just getting into GMRS, I'm amazed at how little traffic there is. Cellphone technology, I guess. (I'm old enough to remember using LORAN to get across the Lake)

[@kishascape]

Most are just rarely visited unless there's a problem. Just sneak in and put your GMRS repeater, someone in my ham radio club works for one of these companies and did that. No one ever bothers checking.

[@GREGGRCO]

Great video. As a two-way radio repairman, Many ! sites look like this. You need to think 50 years ahead when you're putting in a site. Liked the GE cabinet and sad to see the Motorola cabinet later ! LOL !

[@aswantek]

All I can say is WOW!! What a DEDICATED group of people to accomplish this.... Regards... KF9WH

[@donaldshields2483]

You guys did an excellent job tomorrow she’ll be proud of it lotta work looks like a very nice facility so keep up the good work and I’ll keep watching god bless

[@allanming9932]

Awesome job done by all of you. Allan (9M8MA) from Borneo Island

[@n5wsu]

Great project you all did. It fun when you can get club members to help. In San Antonio TX, The AARO Alamo Area Repeater Org that I am in. I help in setting up a Fusion System some year ago. Thanks for the video.

[@justDIY]

What a rewarding project to work on, great documentary!

[@BurtonChristmasLites]

This is a great video on the workings (both pains and pleasures) of owning a repeater. Robert Burton KD4YDC

[@graymatrrocks]

Very fun club... hope to be a part of something like this someday!

[@jimedwards9310]

Wow. What a club ❤❤.

[@Rickm505]

Wow -Amazing project. Good luck with it

[@Francois_Dupont]

i wish i could have helped. i love everything about this project!

[@N9IWJ]

Fantastic video beautiful work you guys are just the ways north of me I'm in Sparta Tennessee N9IWJ

[@czmg22]

Thanks for this video series and all of videos you and your club create. This project looks great, nice job! :)

[@LCARAHAMRadio]

Thanks for watching!

[@TonyYork-KB9RAO]

I remember hauling hardline up my tower (merely 52' ), I hurt just watchin you guys doing that up that high

[@RandomTechWZ]

Love these videos! From a future ham up in Michigan.

[@czmg22]

I'm in Michigan too. Love watching this clubs activities.

[@LCARAHAMRadio]

Glad you like them!

[@scotterdog1036]

Thank you for sharing your awesome successes. This video could be a template for others. It’s great that you included our GMRS brethren that we share DNA with.

[@joewiehr1931]

Awesome Job Guys. From K8JCW ...73s.

[@KO4L_Lloyd]

Great project...congratulations. Did you install a grounding panel for the hardline with polyphasers(or equivalent)??

[@cdoublejj]

some pretty cool old cars and trucks

[@ps4789W]

What a great story … nice job guys

[@LCARAHAMRadio]

Thanks so much!

[@Knarf14]

Just curious how those icom mobiles handled the work load as a repeater ?

[@charlierumsfeld6626]

What is the run from the solar panel to whatever you have for a battery?

[@cdoublejj]

they allow towers that close to power poles? that might open up some new opportunities to me

[@blackgoldestates172]

fantastic

[@Defcon1776]

I'm sad I haven't been able to get to this or the 88 site lately.

[@rohnkd4hct260]

Good Job

[@charlierumsfeld6626]

Who built the new guy anchor posts?

[@monty2020-i5d]

nice job fellas

[@AliReza-zx8km]

Nice................

[@ibtm]

Great!!!

[@Subgunman]

Interesting, a CAT controller, our club had one of the more advanced models. It was hit by lightning two years ago, I went to their web site only to find out that the guys who built these nice controllers were retired and they did do some repairs. It probably would have cost the club too much to ship it back and if it was repairable, customs charges would have been stupid high. Lived in the Buckeye State most of my life but I had to move to SV9 land in 2006 to care for my in laws. The clubs repeater is up on a small mountain site adjacent to some FM radio station transmitters. Most of the transmitters are not equipped with circulators or band pass filters so you can imagine what intermod occurs on that mountain top. I do miss working on equipment and transmitter sites but I try to keep up with the times. The club is getting ready to instal a DMR repeater but my "digital" footprint is P25. Guess I will need to obtain several new digital ID's and gear to work the new stuff. I hear that Kenwood's newer digital radios are capable of analog, DMR, P25, NEXDEN. Hate to see the price of a used one and the full blown version of the programming software.

[@ingenfestbrems]

Don’t se any sealant material between the pipes and the holes 😢

[@lucase6407]

For the Packet TNC, what made you go with a hardware TNC compared to something digital like Direwolf or Soundmodem which decode so much more accurately? Is it better compatibility or just what you already had?

[@LCARAHAMRadio]

It's what we had and several members have experience with. Thanks for watching!

[@lucase6407]

@@LCARAHAMRadio Makes sense, thanks!

[@armedmikel9672]

Very nice. I live in Bardstown KY and travel through Ky for my job. I would like to help any time possible while in the area. Is there a radio club near Bardstown to get involved with like this type of expansions? Thanks in advance KY4OKH.

[@petermoto409]

You had two electricians do this work and they ran indoor NM cable in the outdoor underground conduit??? And your inspector passed it?? Holy shit!

[@richpayton7162]

Indoor or outdoor (doesn't matter which) NM ("romex" etc.) not allowed in conduit other than in a 24" maximum length nipple. Or does the code jurisdiction actually allow it? I rather doubt it. Otherwise, great project, great video.

[@petermoto409]

@@richpayton7162 I do not do this, but there is NO section of the NEC that prohibits NM cable in conduit. If you disagree, show the code section.

[@petermoto409]

@@richpayton7162 The NEC does not prohibit it.

[@Francois_Dupont]

what kind of "packet" system are you using? APRS?

[@adlucem9845]

Can I have your old antennas?

[@DiyintheGhetto]

How tall was that tower?

[@LCARAHAMRadio]

130ft ish - thanks for watching!

[@MountainMan7.62x39]

Great video. What kind of internet are you using at that site?

[@LCARAHAMRadio]

It is a microwave connection to our primary site that is also microwave to a provider.

[@The2Time4792]

Good job guys

[@BryanTorok]

Why do you have the guy wires attaching several feet up the guy posts? It seems counter intuitive to me in that the higher up you attach the guy wires, the more leverage they have to pull the post over sideways. I would want the attachment points to be as close to the ground and is practical.

[@swashington942]

All guy anchors are several feet off the ground. It’s to keep everything ground level out of the wires.

[@robertheintz8017]

This site looks like the yard of a typical ham radio operator. LOL

[@TH-1207]

That one and perhaps others as well anchor post doesn't look like it's installed as deep as its designed to be installed. I'm sure your tower guys know what they're doing but it just appears it should be about s goot deeper in the ground.

[@northwoodsyankee3528]

Kewl!

[@joewoodchuck3824]

It's very fortunate vandals hadn't been there.

[@B.Murphy]

I think you're being a little harsh on the old green shack...

[@WX4CB]

nice... with the mind of todays buttheads. I wonder how long it's taken before it got vandalized and/or broken into.. that's a great project and i wish y'all well. i'm glad they let you get rid of a lot of that kindling for bush fires..... I did notice though, your panel should be facing south.. it appears the panel is on the wrong side of the tower :D

[@beekeeper8474]

My club sucks

[@VTX-Live]

Lol

[@SteelWolf13]

Bridgecom. Hmm I have one of their DMR radios. What Talkgroup # is your repeater? Or is it being used for a different use since they make different branded repeater types. 73. Edit. AH HAH! later on in the video he says 2m bridgecom repeater. Awesome setup and vid.

[@waxer12g87]

Great video guys! Keep it up. KN4WCI