September Meeting of the South Dakota State Linked Repeater System

September 22, 2ØØ7

• After Lunch at the Pizza Ranch®, the group traveled to the new Mickelson Law Enforcement Training Center for a tour given by Kristi Turman, Director South Dakota Office of Emergency Management. This was a great tour of the EOC and State Radio, many thanks to Kristi.
• The meeting held at the Fire Station Number 4 began with Introductions of those present.

GREG, NØNPO, HARRY, WAØMFZ, DON, AAØF, ED, WØSD, ELDON, WØRTD, JERRY, KGØGG, MARK, WBØHUY AND XYL, CORY, WØYMB, CHRIS, WØADZ, HOWARD, KGØR, GREG, WBØRJH, ROLLY, NØAHL, ROD, KCØZHF, DICK, WØSIR, TAM, AAØLY, JOHN, NØPIZ, RANDY, KBØGGM, AND JIM, KDØS A  total 19 with Marks wife.

• Time was allotted for reports on each repeater site, with members describing the condition and problems related to each site if any.

1.      Terry Peak-Is in need of a power supply, Ed WØSD said he would supply one.

2.      Rapid City UHF-Considerable work has been done; it is up and running well.

3.      Phillip-The battery has been cleaned and "watered", the UHF was off a little, and has been corrected, the entire station has been checked and is OK.

4.      Murdo has a noise problem occasionally.  This site doesn’t have a backup battery, but one will be located and installed soon.

5.      Garden City-A new antenna has been installed and looking for reports as to the coverage.

6.      Pierre-No problems, the generator has been exercised.  A noise problem has been corrected.

7.      Reliance-New antenna and feed line installed, a new UHF-PA also.  The controller as been replaced, batteries checked OK, and a new power supply has been installed.

8.      Wessington Springs-VHF antenna is bent and needs replacement, a 224E is planned.  Radio equipment checked out fine.  Howard, KGØR stopped there on the way to the meeting.

9.      Humboldt-Has been moved to a new and better site, provided by Vantec communications, Sioux Falls.  The antenna is 9Øft higher and  7/8" feed line has been installed.  Has had intermittent UHF problems, but the site is working great.  Coverage is vastly improved.

10.  Turkey Ridge-There was a case of vandalism during the past year with some serious damage to equipment and the building.  A new secure door has been installed, and the batteries are back on site. It is planned to replace a Micor receiver with an Icom 221 receiver.  Operation overall is very good.

• A report was given on the GLARA (Glacier Lakes Area Repeater Association) linked repeater system in Northern South Dakota.
• Someone in the Clear Lake area has proposed a Clear Lake repeater to be added to the SDlink System but no action was taken. Support for an additional SD Link repeater by amateurs in this area is minimal.

·         Someone from the New Underwood area has made a request to tie in a 146.97Ø MHz repeater into the state system, we felt this was probably not necessary because of easy access to Terry Peak from that area and no action was taken.

·         It was decided to continue to ask the state clubs to provide Net Control Stations for the Wednesday evening net at 8 PM MT, each club will volunteer to take the net for a month or two.

·         Many REA’s offer a grant program and we need to check with our local REA’s and inquire if we might qualify for a grant $5ØØ to $1ØØØ to help maintain the State Link, if they offer such a thing. A sample of this can be viewed at http://www.palelec.com/community/roundup.html .

·         The Memorandum of Agreement between the Amateur Radio operators and the State Department of Emergency Management has been signed. http://members.mato.com/kg0gg/MOA_DPS.pdf

·         In order to help this MOA come about a group called Dakota Amateur Radio Network was formed that will represent all hams in the state of South Dakota, more information will follow. http://members.mato.com/kg0gg/MOA_ANNOUNCEMENT.pdf

• More funds are still needed to help maintain the system, so ask your local clubs and its membership for donations. Some clubs will match funds donated by the membership. There is a particularly urgent need for individual donations of $5Ø and $1ØØ.

Jerry Hawley KGØGG

Garden City Repeater Update

I checked the .67 Garden City with the Motorola Spectrum Analyzer this morning, September 27, 2007, and everything looks perfect,  a good clean signal.  The new
antenna shows 40 watts forward and none reflected.  Apparently the 
problem with Clear Lake on 147.270 is likely the 600 khz product of a
mix with our output as that frequency is exacty 600 khz from 146.67.
They are moving frequencies and hopefully that will cure their problem.

I picked up the old antenna from  Garden City while I was there.

Ed W0SD