The 145.270 repeater has been taken completely offline. Not only was it generating spurs on other 2m amateur frequencies, something in the receiver section was generating a wide-band noise in the 750-800 MHz range causing problems with the Verizon LTE cell site equipment.
A friend of mine gave us a Motorola Quantar, 100-Watt repeater and I intend on using it to replace our 1972 vintage Motorola Micor. If you are not famililar with the Quantar, was Motorola's top of the line repeater until they quit making it in 2016. These currently sell used on eBay for between $2500 - $4000! As far as the Micor, we have had it in service since 2001, so it has served our club well.
There are a few minor expenses with the new Quantar repeater - we need to replace the site controller module, I have located one for $103.00 shipped, and also need to upgrade the firmware on that site controller module, the wireline card and the exciter at a cost of $160.00.
This is a neat repeater because it will also be able to do the APCO P25 digital mode along with analog. We currently don't have any P25 digital repeaters in the Springfield area, the closest one is the 145.350 in Joplin.
Until we can get all the components together, I hope to get a backup repeater in place. We do have a 1980's vintage Motorola MSR-2000 that is already on site, but just needs to be wired up to the controller. As long as it works, I hope to have something operational by the end of the week.
When the new Motorola Quantar comes online, the frequency will continue to be 145.270 with a negative input, and PL of 162.2 Hz on TX and RX
If you have any P25 capable equipment, use a digital NAC code of 656 when programming your radio (NAC on TX and RX) and you will be able to use the repeater in digital mode.
73,
James Adkins, KB0NHX
