Turkey Ridge 147.000 (T146.2) W0OJY SDARC contact W0SD
Humboldt 147.285 (T146.2) N0LCL SDARC contact Brian Kelly or W0SD
Wessington Springs 147.345 (T146.2) AA0F SDARC contact Don Schwemle or W0SD
Garden City 146.670 (T146.2) WD0FKC Garden City Repeater Corp contact Lake Area Radio club or W0SD
Reliance 146.940 (T146.2) N0NPO Pierre ARC contact W0RTD, KD0S, N0NPO
Pierre 146.730 (T146.2) KD0S Pierre ARC contact W0RTD, KD0S
Murdo 147.300 (T146.2) AA0CT Pierre ARC contact W0RTD, KD0S
Philip 147.375 (T146.2) N0OMP Northern Hills ARC Contact KG0GG
Terry Peak 147.030 (T146.2) WB0JEK Northern Hills ARC contact KG0GG
Black Hills Tie The Black Hills Repeaters can be tied to the SD-Link for short periods. If you need the TIE ask for help and someone will do it for you.
To prevent spam we require membership approval which will be taken care of very quickly when you apply
Link to Turkey Ridge Pictures
Link to Humboldt Pictures
Link to Wessington Springs Pictures
Link to Garden City Pictures
Link to Reliance Pictures
Link to Murdo Pictures
Link to Pierre Pictures
Link to Philip Pictures
Link to Terry Peak Pictures
Link to Rapid City Pictures
There is no question about it the founding fathers of the SD Link System are AA0F Don Schwemle and N0LCL Brian Kelly. The SDARC was incorporated as a non-profit corporation under South Dakota law on September 8, 1994. Officers were and are President AA0F-Don Schwemle, Vice President N0LCL-Brian Kelly and Secretary/Treasure W0SD-Ed Gray. The first sites were at Humboldt(N0LCL Brian Kelly and Wessington Springs(AA0F Don Schwemle.
Humboldt was on the air first, probably in 1990 (Darrel K0AWB secured agreement to get on the original site). Wessington Springs went on the air about 1 year later (either 1991 or 1992), and they were initially operated without linking. A short period later the two sites were linked using purchased controllers. We were not pleased with the performance or features of the linking features of the controllers, and by the time that we considered adding Turkey Ridge to the system which had been stand alone for quite some time. We realized that a better linking system would be needed. After reviewing commercially available linking controllers, we decided to design and construct our own. Dave Mattox, WB0JEK, provided extensive circuit design and printed circuit board layout for the Motorola (68HC05) microprocessor based system. Don, AA0F, wrote the majority of the firmware for the controllers, and Brian, N0LCL provided his expertise in integrating it into a working system. The first prototype SDLINK controller was initially installed at Turkey Ridge, and after some hardware and firmware revisions, controllers were constructed for the Humboldt and Wessington Springs sites. When the newly constructed Garden City repeater was added to the system, it was also configured with a similar controller, as was the Reliance repeater when it was adapted to the linked system (don't know what year this was done)..
Turkey Ridge was put on the air through ground work by Ed Gray W0SD in conjunction with the Mitchell ARC and Prairie Dog ARC. Permission for the site was given by WA0QLP on his land where a nearly 200 foot tower was installed. It was not long until the responsibility for this site was completely taken over by the PDARC which continues today. The PDARC with lots of building material donations from Del K0GDS (silent Key) built a repeater housing structure at the base of the tower The Garden City(Garden City Repeater Corporation) and Reliance(Medicine Butte ARC)which had been stand alone for a long time were soon added to the SD Link.
Work was then done by SDARC to secure a FEMA grant to expand the Link to Pierre, Murdo, Philip, Terry Peak and Rapid City. Don Herrick Davison County Civil Defense Director was the primary force in securing the $67,200 grant. The sponsor was the SD Division of Emergency Management in conjunction with the Division of Emergency Services. The goal of the proposal was to complete amateur repeater coverage along the interstate system and the major population centers in South Dakota.
When the expansion of the system was done to include Murdo, Pierre, Philip, and Terry Peak, the controllers were upgraded to use a new microprocessor (Motorola 68HC11 based), and the firmware was ported to the new hardware and a new C compiler.
A big thank you for countless help from many amateurs at the various sites who constructed and install repeater buildings, did site preparation, served as tower crews, did antenna mount fabrication and many other things.
In 2004 a group of interested amateurs met at Chamberlain SD with the goal of getting the total SD Link working again. In 2003 and 2004 some of the link was in disrepair. As a result of this meeting a good deal of work occurred to restore the link. In April 2005 a meeting was held in Sioux Falls to continue to facilitate the work to restore and develop plans for the long term continuation of the successful operation of the South Dakota Link. Links to the minutes of these meeting can be found immediately below. WB6GHA John(now silent key), KG0R, KD0S and W0SD were major players in this effort. The SDLink restoration was completed during the summer of 2005.
Link toMinutes of Chamberlain 2004 SD Link Reorganization
Link toMinutes of Sioux Falls April 2005 SD Link Committee
Link toMinutes of Pierre October 2005 SD Link Committee
Link toMinutes of Pierre September 2007 SD Link Committee
With the SDLink being operational again from end to end in 2005 some problems surfaced. One major one was a double courtesy beep. Through some hard work by KG0R, WB6GHA, AA0F and W0SD this problem was solved. During 2006, 2007 and 2008 the SDLink worked from end to end with some issues and down time at some locations from time to time. In 2008 KG0R, W0SD, WA1RJC and AA0F began a major update of the UHF link equipment. Unfortunately Howard KG0R moved to TN in September of 2008 with his job but before he left he made major contributions on building several new SDLink controllers and preparing new UHF link radios for Turkey Ridge and Pierre. Also during 2007 and 2008 KD0S and WA1RJC spent a lot of time and effort keeping things running at the western sites. KG0R, AA0F and W0SD with some help from Brian N0LCL kept things running in eastern part of the system. In September 2006 the Humboldt site had to be moved. A new free site was provided by Vantek owned by LeMar W0VH. This site definitely has better coverage than the old site. In late 2007 Al-N0OII became a silent key. Over the years Al provided a lot of equipment donations to the SDARC and will be missed.
During 2007 WB0RJH Greg of Pierre started the SDLink Wednesday night net. This net meets every Wednesday night at 9:00 pm Central or 8:00 pm Mountain time. We are always looking for Net Control Stations so please volunteer to do so. You may contact WB0RJH, KD0S or W0SD on the net and let us know you would like to be a NCS. Dale-WA1RJC has set up a link between the Black Hills Repeaters and the SDLink. This link is used each Wednesday evening during the SDLink net making check-ins possible from WY and NE and all over the Black Hills area. The SDLink net on the eastern end of the state also makes check-ins possible from MN, NE and IA so 5 states can be represented on the SDLink net.
During 2007 the Dakota Amateur Radio Network(DARN) signed an memorandum of agreement with the State of SD to work with the state agencies in providing emergency communications. The SDLink will be a major component of the SD Amatuers emergency communications services since the SDLink has battery back up at its sites and coveres such a large portion of the state. The Black Hills Area repeaters can also be linked in and on a demand basis the GLARA (Northern SD Link) should be able to be tied in.
During the late summer of 2008 major planning meetings were held by AA0F, WA1RJC and W0SD as to how to update the UHF link. During the fall of 2008 AA0F, WA1RJC and W0SD prepared new IC-F221S radio's and new Kenwood TKR-850's and MSF-5000's to replace all the UHF equipment in the SDLink. This equipment was then installed in September, October and November of 2008 by KD0S, WA1RJC, AA0F, WA1RJC, N0ARU and W0SD. The new equipment for Terry Peak is planned to be installed in the spring of 2009.
During the summer of 2009 it is planned to install solar power for the Reliance site and change out the Micor VHF mobile to a Kenwood TKR-750 VHF repeater. If this goes well solar power for the Murdo site is a possibility in 2009 or 2010. Some of the old double courtesy beep problem returned with the installations of new UHF equipment in November of 2008 so this will hopefully be resolved in 2009 when the weather will permit working at the sites.
Please send corrections needed on this web site to w0sd@triotel.net
Please send SD Link news items to:
JERRY A HAWLEY KG0GG
11050 Bluebell Lane
BELLE FOURCHE SD 57717-7251
hawleyj@live.com
Well it goes without saying that getting the SDLINK working again from end to end and updating equipment and paying for monthly electric bills, etc. costs money. As was discussed at the Sioux Falls Meeting while it is great that a number of SD ARC have committed to helping the project it is essential that individual amateurs INTERESTED in the project also lend financial support. Donations are tax deductible and should be made to the South Dakota Amateur Radio Council as they have IRS 501(C)(3) status and a tax ID number.