LARC 2020 Meeting Dates
Unless shown otherwise, club meetings are the second Thursday of each month.
- April 9
- May 14
- June 11
- July 9
- August 13
- September 10
- October 8
- November 12
- December 10
RACES Net
Huntington
Monday nights - 7:00 PM / 1900 local on 147.210 MHz, 136.5 PL
Smithtown
Monday Nights - 7:30 PM / 1930 local on 145.430 MHz, 136.5 PL
Pat - WB2CMF and Bob - AC2AZ spent hours of hard work at the Hauppauge repeater site recently. They installed the new Icom® repeater, and with radio checks from Ed - KD2ADC and Scott - AC2FV, got it working with the old cans and circulator/isolator. Once the new repeater was up and running, the old repeater was dismanteled. This was a one-way trip, as there is no way the PL tone decoder would ever work again.
Pictures below show what was removed and what was left over. And yes, the ICOM is slightly crooked, there is a rail missing on the inside; a project for the next trip. Anything that was not necessary for operation was removed, although the old computer/controller is still on site. That will be removed on the next trip, and replaced with a newer computer; a new monitor was previously installed. Pat will use the computer to remotely access the repeater through the existing phone line.
The power panel powers very little now, with only the Arcom controller and the UPS running on 12V. The ICOM runs on 120V. There is a newly installed tractor trailer sized pod out back near the loading dock, and if that is a backup generator, then that would obsolete the batteries and UPS arrangement. Repeater specifics are: 145.430 MHZ, 136.5 PL.
What was kept:
- Circulator/Isolator
- UPS (attached to Astron PS & batteries)
- Power Panel
What was removed:
- Motorola Micor
- 100W VHF linear
- Tone Decoder
- 220 receiver
- Dummy load for 220
- Attenuator between Micor and linear
What was installed:
- ICOM repeater
- Arcom Controller
After almost a decade, Larkfield once again has a new 440 repeater. After installing the 2 meter repeater, a new Yaesu® System Fusion® 440 repeater was installed. This is probably the first Fusion machine for north Western Suffolk County. (GSBBARC has a Fusion repeater located in Babylon).
This repeater is working as a stand alone repeater and is not linked to the 2 meter repeater at this time.
The repeater specifics:
- Frequency pair: 448.675/443.675
- Analog FM mode PL: 114.8 Hz
The repeater is currently setup to operate in AMS mode for both input and output. For those unfamiliar with Fusion (Yaesu C4FM) AMS stands for automatic mode select. If you go in as FM analog, the repeater will output FM analog. If you go in as digital C4FM, the repeater will output C4FM.
Since LARC does not yet have an internet connection at the site, the repeater cannot operate in Wires-X mode. This may be phase two later on this year. For now, LARC is interested in seeing just how well this repeater operates... signal reports please!
Join the fun and try out the new 440 machine. Propigation seems better than the 2M machine. And if you have C4FM capabilities, beam up and use it!
For more information on Yaesu System Fusion, go here.
Here's a short cinematic masterpiece that will give you an idea of the audio quality of C4FM. The audio is crisp and clear!
APRIL 11 VE SESSION CANCELLED
We put the health and safety of our club members and amateur radio license candidates as the top priority. As such, we will cancel the VE session scheduled for April 11, 2020 due to concerns relating to COVID-19. Future VE sessions are currently scheduled as planned. Refer back to this website for any updates.
We thank you for your understanding.
