#168 - Hawaii's First D-Star Repeater Gateway is Live.
The long awaited publicly accessible D-Star repeater is now live. Today the gateway was set up and is now functioning. For its first test I logged into the International D-Star Net this evening using my IC-705 to connect through the local repeater and out onto the gateway to connect to Reflector 91 Charlie.
The callsign for the repeater has changed. Instead of using my personal callsign, we applied for a club callsign which has been assigned by the FCC as WH6GRI. This callsign is now assigned to the D-Star Repeater.
The frequencies for the repeater have not changed. The repeaters transmit frequency is 444.7000 MHz, with its receiving frequency as 449.7000 MHz. As of this time there is no CTCSS or PL tone for the repeater. We do not plan to use one unless issues arise later.
Today I also changed out the coax for this repeater fro9m the RG8X that I have had on the antenna for the past two years, to LMR400. In the next few days I will also be changing out the antenna on this repeater with a better one. All of this was supposed to be completed today, yet the replacement antenna that I ordered arrived damaged so I have to wait for them to ship another one to me.
For the past two years I have been using a 5 foot tall Diamond X50A dual band base antenna which has a 7.2 dB gain on the roof of my house, this antenna is currently the repeater antenna. I have decided to upgrade to a TRAM 1481 antenna which has an 11.7 dB gain and stands 17 feet tall.
The additional antenna 12 feet of height as well as the additional 4.5 dB gain of the TRAM antenna should increase the footprint of the repeater quite well, allowing us to provide coverage to a wider area of Oahu from our location overlooking Pearl Harbor.
We have additional plans for this repeater, as well as adding additional analog and digital repeaters around the island in the future. This D-Star repeater is just the first addition to the HERO Repeater System.
