The LARA repeater bears the club call sign,W2RUI,and is available to all appropriately licensed amateurs. One does not need to be a member of LARA to use the repeater, and LARA encourages individuals to make use of this facility to participate in LARA's nets, and other casual conversation.
It goes without saying that proper operating procedures and etiquette are always required. We look forward to hearing you on the air!
Current Specifications
| Input
Frequency:
|
146.220
MHz
|
| Output
Frequency:
|
146.820
MHz
|
| CTCSS
Tone Frequency:
|
107.2 Hz
(Required)
|
| RF unit:
|
100W
General Electric/Ericsson
|
| Controller:
|
S-Comm
7K
|
| Additional
features:
|
Autopatch,
Voice synthesis
|
History of the
LARA Repeater
The Pioneers:
In
1968, Floyd Ziehl, K2ECQ, installed a repeater at his
family's two-way radio shop, Ziehl Electronics.
In order
for this to become a community resource, it had to be
converted to operate on the 2 meter amateur band.
A group of amateur radio operators met regularly at the
shop to tackle this conversion project--a job that was
successfully completed. The team developed quite a rapport,
and formed the Lockport Amateur Radio Association which
went on to complete a number of other important projects,
including the next big task: converting mobile radios to
use the repeater.
Not many repeaters existed at the time. A group, now known
as BARRA,
was
being formed with a key objective being the installation of
a repeater.
Other early repeaters at the time included the VE3RPT unit
in Toronto.
Site
Changes:
Sites
have varied as well. For many years the repeater was housed
at the Ziehl family's business. Intentions were to move it
to the Farmers and Mechanics Bank Building once suitable
control measures were installed. But this move never
materialized.
The repeater ran for many years at the Niagara County Civil
Defense Building, currently the Emergency Management
Office. The site even had facilities for club meetings.
Furthermore, the site was suitable for emergency
communication since it had a backup generator. This made it
ideal for RACES operations as well. Unfortunately, it was
not the best site for coverage.
In the early '90s, both the LARA repeater and the RACES 450
MHz repeater were moved to a location just outside the City
of Lockport. radio site, operated by Niagara County, it
offered antenna locations on a 100 ft. tower overlooking
the Niagara Escarpment. This provides much better coverage
of the county and surrounding area. Generator backup power
is on site as well.
Equipment
Evolution:
The
early LARA repeater was built out of spare or scrounged
commercial General Electric equipment. A set of duplexers
was pieced together out of several incomplete sets. The
duplexers remained in service until 1998 and still serve as
a backup. The early form of access control was a tone
decoder that would start a timer circuit and allow COR
access when tripped. The specific frequency was unknown and
likely unstable. Nonetheless, the repeater could be
accessed by whistling into the microphone from a
low-to-high pitch (did we invent spread spectrum CTCSS?).
As the proper frequency was crossed, the timer was started
and access gained. This was the famous "Whistle-Up
Repeater."
As additional
equipment became available, from a variety of sources, the
repeater has been continually upgraded.
While the LARA repeater was at the Civil Defense Building,
RACES put a 450 MHz repeater on the air to complement
the 2-meter services of the club repeater.
LARA's repeater also underwent changes, getting its first
micro controller, an S-Comm MRC-500 and some fresh
transmitter and receiver strips from some units donated to
RACES by the FBI. This repeater operated, essentially
unchanged until the present repeater was installed in
1998.
During the Civil Defense Building days, LARA purchased the
repeater and took over full sponsorship of it. LARA members
had always been intimately involved in installing,
enhancing, maintaining and operating the repeater. But,
LARA's purchase of the repeater formalized the club's
commitment to its operation.
In 1998, an entirely solid-state repeater, a 100 watt
solid-state General Electric/Ericsson unit, was obtained
for the club. A new controller, an S-Comm 7K with
autopatch, voice synthesis and analog delay modules, was
purchased and installed in the new repeater. A new set
of TX-RX duplexers have been installed, making an entirely
new repeater in service.
The repeater it replaced remains operational as a back-up.
A run of 7/8" hardline feeds the commercial-grade collinear
antenna at about the 80 ft. level on the tower. The
hardline and antenna was replaced in 2004 with a new
equipment after the tower was struck by lightening.
Call
Signs:
The
original call sign was K2TRN, more recently it was WR2ACJ
and today it is W2RUI.
W2RUI/R
Today:
LARA
has had a long-term commitment to providing 2-meter
repeater coverage to the Lockport and Niagara Co. NY
area.
The repeater serves in public service events and in cases
of emergency to provide communications to benefit the
public.