repeater

W8VPV Repeater Systems

Both repeaters normally require a CTCSS tone of 110.9 Hz for access. During nets the tone is usually turned off for the VHF repeater. The VHF repeater always transmits the 110.9 Hz tone so you can use your radio's CTCSS decode function to make sure you only hear our repeater. This capability is not functional on the UHF repeater at this time but is planned for the future.

During nets, including Skywarn nets, both repeaters are linked and operate as a single system.

The effective radiated power of the VHF system is 290 watts with coverage for the greater Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, and surrounding areas. The UHF system has a similar output and coverage. Both repeater systems are owned and operated by the Cuyahoga Falls Amateur Radio Club, Inc.

General Guidelines

The club does not allow business communications which are prohibited by FCC rules.

As is customary for most repeaters in our area, we require that you identify your station at the beginning of your transmission in addition to the usual FCC requirements.

Operating Tips

Our repeaters have a "kerchunk" filter programmed into the controller. This keeps short keyups from triggering the repeater. This also means that the repeater will not pass on anything you say during this delay. You should wait a couple of seconds after keying up before you start talking.

The timeout timer, which lasts 2 minutes, keeps the repeaters from being keyed up for too long at one time. When the timer expires, the repeater transmitter is turned off. When the input is unkeyed the repeater announces "You timed it out".

When you unkey the controller transmits a courtesy tone before dropping the carrier and resetting the timeout timer. If you don't allow the carrier to drop then the timeout timer doesn't reset and you can sometimes get a seeming false "timeout".

Besides avoiding an unexpected "timeout" it is good practice, and general courtesy, to leave a brief time after your transmission so that another station may break in if needed. This can be just to try to join your conversation or for some emergency purpose.

Courtesy Tones

The two repeaters use somewhat different courtesy tones that help you identify which one you are using. They also can indicate which 'side' of the system someone was transmitting to when the two repeaters are linked. Here are the possibilities:

Skywarn Operations

Our repeater is used for Summit County Skywarn operations and they will have priority over any non-emergency communications. Courtesy tones will vary with the of severity the local weather conditions.

Other Interesting Facts

If you key up over a 'regular' announcement item that announcement is stopped. Do not be concerned about talking over one of these announcements.

Important announcements are NOT interruptable. An example is the repeater automatic ID. If you key up over the ID it will switch to a CW ID and will be lowered in volume but will still continue.

When the repeaters are linked, if someone is on the VHF side and someone else keys up on the UHF side the two inputs are 'mixed' and both will be repeated on both repeaters.