Welcome to the Blue Knob Repeater Association
| BLUE KNOB NEWS - October 1, 2008 Greetings to all who receive this message, we hope that you all are doing well. The new repeater hardware is in place on Brush Mountain as of yesterday. The new NU3T machine is comprised of a new repeater, new PA, and a new Controller. The output power for this machine will be at 100 watts, which was the same as the previous machine. There is a bit of tweaking - we will be ordering a receive pre-amp, and will be working with an external PL board to make the internet linking feature work as before. Dave will be ordering those in the near future. These items will be purchased from the association account. Our Echolink users will here some IDs on the machine until then. Since we don't link full time at the moment, the interference should be minimal. (Smile Rory! :) This installation will our second new system up in a 4 year period, and with no association funds spent! The MSF 2000 repeater that was removed on Brush will be refurbished, re-crystalled, and will eventually become the new WO3T repeater on Loop Mountain. With higher wattage on Loop, serving Eastern Blair County (sometimes known as the Mecca of Pecca) and the surrounding region, CARM CAN DO SOME HARM! (Just kidding Carm - its the best two rhymes I could think of) We still have a desensing issue on the 6 m machine and that fix is still on the table. The machine remains up and as long as you are vertically polarized and not too far out, it is completely usable. If there are any comments, suggestions, issues or input, please email us at bkra@hotmail.com Thanks and take care Jeff Blake |
The BKRA currently operates five FM amateur radio repeaters, one 6m, one 2m, and three 70cm in Blair, Bedford, and Huntingdon counties in South Central Pennsylvania.
6m - KB3KWD, "Brush Mtn" - 56.950 (-) PL® 167.9Hz
In November of 2007 a Mitrek Mobile Conversion repeater was installed. There have been some reported de-sense issues, but it should work in central Blair county.
2m - KB3KWD, "Blue Knob" - 147.150 (+) PL® 167.9Hz
In May of 2006 a new Tait repeater and Link Communications controller was installed. It features backup emergency power (battery) at reduced output with warning pip tones on the squelch tail. This high profile machine has been heard all the way into parts of Maryland, West Virginia, and a good portion of Pennsylvania, but it chiefly serves Blair, Bedford, Cambria, and Somerset counties.
In August of 2006 we enabled it with EchoLink®, N8PSU-R. and is connected fulltime to the OUTBACK repeater system covering the Western panhandle of Maryland and Southwestern PA. The repeater is situated at the Blue Knob Ski Hill area, elevation 3164'ASL. The EchoLink® control operator is Jeff Blake, N8PSU.
70cm - NU3T, "Brush" - 442.100 (+) PL® 167.9Hz
This is our primary 70cm repeater serving the Altoona area and Northern Blair County. It is situated at the Southern summit of Brush Mountain in Blair county between I99 and US22. The summit elevation is at 2548ft and HAAT is over 1200' The coverage area extends to the West to Ebensburg, South to about Cessna, East to Tussey Mountain, and North to about Tyrone.
In April of 2005 we enabled it with EchoLink®, KR3ORY-R , node# 3176, and in January of 2006 EchoTime TTS Plus features were added as well. The EchoLink® control operator is Rory Stenerson, KR3ORY.
70cm - WO3T, "Loop" - 442.600 (+) PL® 123.0Hz
This is a 70cm repeater serving the Northeast portion of Morrison's Cove valley in Blair County, and Warrior Ridge Valley in Huntingdon County. It is situated at the Northern summit of Loop Mountain in Huntingdon County overlooking US22 and the Tussey Mountain Gap at Alexandria, PA. This is a good repeater to use when you are traveling on US22 between Water Street and Huntingdon.
70cm - NU3T, "Dunning Mt." - 443.875 (+) PL® 123.0Hz
This is a 70cm repeater serving Claysburg, Roaring Spring, and Western portions of Morrison's Cove valley in Blair County. It is situated on the Dunning Mountain Ridge that runs parallel and just East of I99 between Roaring Spring and the Bedford Gap.
Please stop by any of the BKRA machines when you are in the area. We are always looking for support of our repeater systems, so read on and consider joining the BKRA.
Officers:
President: Jeff Blake (N8PSU)
Vice-President: Dave Love (NU3T)
Secretary: Jerry Cox (NR3T)
Treasurer: Travis Lunglhofer (KB3FMK)
Annual BKRA Memberships are only $25.00. Interested in making a contribution?
Donations and membership requests can be sent to: (please make checks payable to "BKRA")
BKRA
Email: bkra@hotmail.com
USPS: RR4 Box 509, Altoona, PA 16601
Stop by the machines anytime!!!!
For feedback about this site please e-mail the web-master, Rory Stenerson (KR3ORY) at kr3ory[Erase]@comcast.net