Our Repeaters
The club repeater offerings have grown and improved over the years to our current collection of 3 repeaters with multiple bands and modes available.
The heart of repeaters is the 2 meter FM repeater on a frequency of 145.370 MHz with a CTCSS tone of 136.5 for access. The hardware behind this repeater is a Bridgecom BCR-50V system with a Kendecom PA-100 amplifier. We get a little extra boost from the external PA-100 amplifier only running at 50 watts. All of this feeds into a set of Wacom duplexers and out to our beefy 22 foot Shakespeare 2 meter antenna about 15 feet above the ground. This repeater as well as the UHF below are controlled by the very capable Scom 7330 controller. This repeater has IRLP access and is normally connected to the W1GZ repeater (145.450 Mhz, 74.4 CTCSS tone) in Fitchburg for extended coverage to the east.
Next is our UHF repeater which is a Yaesu System Fusion repeater currently operating on 70 cm at 442.100 MHz with a CTCSS tone of 88.5. It transmits at 50 watts into a set of duplexers and continuing to a Hustler G6-440 UHF antenna at about 15 feet above the ground. This repeater is almost always linked to the VHF repeater. The coverage area is limited to the greater Gardner area and portions of the surrounding towns.
Also on the 2 meter band is our DMR repeater on a frequency of 145.340 MHz and Color Code of 3. This repeater is a Motorola SLR-5000 series repeater transmitting at 50 watts into a set of duplexers eventually out to a Hustler G7 VHF antenna at about 40 feet above ground and modified for long term use and exposure. All of this is networked via the internet with the NEDECN DMR network through a cellular modem. This extensive network of nearly 100 repeaters covers most of New England via multiple talk groups for either New England area wide, state wide and even local groups. Additionally there are options for North America and World Wide communications. This repeater and network is a great option when you travel outside of the local area and still want to keep in touch.
Our coverage area for the VHF repeaters is generally north central Worcester county in MA and southern Cheshire county in NH. To the south we reach to about Holden and Oakham areas. As you round up to the west that area moves over into Barre, Petersham, Athol and Orange. Moving more to the north coverage reaches into Fitzwilliam, Troy, Jaffrey and Rindge NH. Finally to the east we cover select areas of Ashby, Fitchburg and Princeton. There is further coverage in select areas to the east along Rt 2 and the top half of Rt 190. On UHF our coverage is somewhat limited due to the hilly terrain and generally covers Gardner and the five surrounding towns.
All repeaters are operated from the top of Reservoir Hill in Gardner, MA under the authority and assistance of the City of Gardner Emergency Management department with Director Paul Topolski who thankfully is a ham.