This is a reminder that a transmitted (PL) tone of 110.9Hz is now required to activate the VA6CTV repeater.

The repeater also transmits a tone, so you may set up your receiver for 110.9Hz CTCSS so your receiver only ‘opens’ when this tone is present.

The combination of these tones will greatly reduce the likelihood of unwanted signals being heard.

The Longview repeater link has been restored as a full two-way link.
The quality of the voice link to the hub was greatly improved today, and is workable in both directions.

More work is required as we work to return this and others to their former state.

We thank our members for their patience and support in dealing with the situation.

We have successfully replaced the NANTON digipeater, restoring the coverage footprint of APRS between Calgary and Highway 3 to the south. This digipeater is located near the site of the original system.

Coverage may be somewhat different, but will generally mirror the original digipeater. 

Thanks to the technical crew made up of Dale VA6DD, Gerry VE6QLT, Vince VE6LK, and myself who attended and set this up today.

The repeater VA6CTV in Calgary has had an upgrade done today and it is running on an upgraded set of hardware.  The controller is also new, and to make this apparent, the go-ahead tone, previously a ‘boop’ has been changed to a happier melody.

The frequency remains unchanged, as well as the coverage area around Calgary.

This repeater is one of the last VHF repeaters in our fleet that did not use CTCSS and PL tones. At the present time, it is still using carrier squelch. With this upgrade, we will now be adding tones on both transmit and receive in a short while. 

So be aware, tones are coming. Beginning February 2 2025, a PL tone of 110.9Hz will be required to activate the repeater. And to prevent other signals entering your receiver, the repeater will transmit the same tone frequency, so you can add CTCSS to your receiver settings. 

This is just an advance notice. Watch for posts on FARS.ca announcing this, as well as emails and voice announcements on the linked repeaters when the change takes place.
Modern radios support CTCSS and PL tones, sometimes called tone squelch (TSQ), so crack open your manual and add tones to your radio.
There is no harm is doing this before the repeater requires it, and you won’t even notice when the change takes effect.

 

The FARS Executive and Technical Committee have been working hard to bring the network back up, one link at a time wherever possible.

A new hub repeater has been implemented at Calgary, but this is not without some limitations.
Most notably, for the time being, VE6HRA at Aldersyde is the only repeater that is fully linked.

Other repeaters will require site visits to fine tune their links. For example, VE6HRL at Longview and VE6HRC at Millarville need their link antenna relocated to provide a better path to Calgary.

Other repeaters such as VE6HRK at Burton Creek and VE6UP near Lethbridge are simply too far or behind hills, making their RF links impossible.

VE6HRD in Diamond Valley is in a valley and may not be linked for the time being. 

VA6HRH in High River also needs link antenna rework.

All this work is necessary because the original link design and placements were geared to operate with a Nanton hub site. The current hub location pushes the network backbone beyond its original design capabilities.

Jan 18 2025 Update

An update to members will be provided at the January Monthly General meeting on January 21

Jan 7 2025 Update

Members of the FARS Executive Team attended the VE6HRB hub repeater site at Nanton today and assessed that a serious failure has occurred which has taken both the VHF and UHF repeaters off the air. This event has also affected the ‘NANTON’ APRS digipeater.

Fortunately (except for VE6HRB) each of the other FARS repeaters remain operational for local communications, in stand-alone mode only. This will continue for an indeterminate period of time.

The FARS Technical Team is presently investigating an interim solution to return our radio network to at least a semi-operational state, thus allowing us to re-link some of the repeaters.

We will post further updates as they develop.

We thank our members for their patience during the network interruption.

Please be advised that the FARS VE6HRB Hub Site has suffered an outage, resulting in both the VHF and UHF repeaters being off the air. The cause of the outage is currently unknown.

As a result, all other FARS repeaters remain fully operational, however they are all stand-alone and no longer linked together.

With the current state of the snow pack locally as an example, it is expected to be worse at the hilltop site, therefore access via conventional road vehicle is expected to be impaired, or even impossible.
Now if only someone had a Nodwell. Or a dog sled… 

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.

As previously mentioned, the frequency of the Aldersyde repeater VE6HRA has been changed on Sunday Sept 22.

The frequency is now 145.190- 110.9Hz PL and CTCSS

Please update your radio memories to reflect this change and to make it easier to remember the frequency.

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.