As of October 24 2024, the repeater VE6HRC at Millarville has been returned to operation.

As announced earlier, and in conjunction with the frequency change of VE6HRA at Aldersyde, repeater VE6HRC is on the air with it’s new frequency 147.000 MHz with a plus offset and both PL and CTCSS tone of 110.9 Hz.

In addition to the voice repeater, we’ve added an APRS Digipeater at the site. The digipeater tactical name is QUIRK and will provide good fill-in coverage into the broad McLean Creek recreational area.

Many thanks to Dale VA6DD and Vince VE6LK for the on-site support and assistance with the installation. Here’s your happy crew after the work was done, and the outcome of the project.

As one more reminder now that this big network change is complete, now is a good time to reprogram your radio memories to reflect these new repeater frequencies.

In the mid-September timeframe, the repeater VE6HRA at Aldersyde will acquire a new frequency.

It will change from 147.000+ 100Hz to 145.190- with 110.9Hz tone.

You may recognize this frequency, as it was formerly used at VE6HRC.

 The Aldersyde repeater callsign VE6HRA remains the same, as it is associated with the repeater location, and not the frequency. The A means Aldersyde.

So you may wonder about the 147.000 frequency pair and the Millarville repeater…
The obvious assumption would be that 147.000 gets moved to VE6HRC, and that is correct.

Why are we doing this? 
To accommodate the addition of an APRS digipeater at VE6HRC, the frequency separation between 144.390 for APRS and the input to VE6HRC is simply too close for us to be able to multi-couple into our antenna. So the frequency swap becomes necessary.

What does this mean?

Quite simply, you’ll want to reprogram your radio memory channels to reflect these changes.

Get out your manuals and programming software, and change away.
It’s always good practice to do this once in a while. Sometimes it takes someone to give you a reason to do so. So here is that reason…

When is this change taking place?
VE6HRA at Aldersyde will be changed first, some time in September. The exact date will be posted on FARS.ca in advance of the change.
The replacement repeater VE6HRC in Millarville in the lab now, and will be installed some time in late September or into mid-October, but a date has not been set at this time.

Starting in the month of September, some exciting changes are coming to the FARS Repeater Network. 

These changes will extend into October, as they are a little complicated and require coordination of several activities affecting two repeaters at two different sites.

The first change is the addition of an APRS digipeater at the VE6HRC repeater site at Quirk Creek, west of Millarville. A digipeater at this location will greatly enhance APRS coverage in a highly popular recreational area where numerous FARS members play. SOTA activators will also gain benefit by being able to post activation spots over APRS.

The next change is the VE6HRC voice repeater, which is being replaced with new radios and a new controller due to the failure of the previous system.

But wait, there’s more…

Watch for our next update in the coming weeks.

On Sunday August 11 2024, the VE6HRA repeater at Aldersyde/Gladys Ridge remediation was completed and the repeater is back to normal operation.
The original repeater, which had failed some time ago, was repaired. During the repairs, it was discovered that the repeater controller also had developed a fault, so it was also replaced.

The VE6HRC repeater was running in a compromised state, and unlinked from the FARS network for a while. Vince VE6LK and I attended the repeater site this week to assess the situation. We found good news and bad news. Antennas and feedlines are ok, but not the radio components.

We retrieved the radio gear to allow us to develop a new repeater package for the site.

Further to this visit, the suggestion to add APRS at the site is closer to reality, in a physical sense. I still need to work out the frequency spacing, which will be challenging.