YRC Repeaters

There are several repeaters in the Billings area on 2 meters and 70 centimeters.   The local 2 meter repeater is on 147.300 and is located temporally  on the west end of Billings.  This repeater is linked to the  147.360 repeater located on Red Lodge Mountain. The 145.410 repeater is located  midway between Billings and Roundup and is linked to the 147.36 with 100hz tone.

  Please send your list of repeaters for the Billings area to wb7wvo@gmail.com

In the downtown area of Billings there is a 146.800 repeater which is located on the First Interstate Bank building.  This is a good local repeater for handhelds and so on and is not linked to any other repeaters.

All repeaters are open and everyone is welcome to use them.  Control codes for the repeaters and the remote base will be posted at a later time.

Report on the 147.360 Red Lodge Repeater

by Jim Fuller, N7VR

The full report can be read complete with pictures in the December SPLATTER

On Monday November 12, 2007 the State of Montana had a wind event. Nye Montana had wind of around 100 MPH with tree and building damage. The Stillwater Mine recorded winds of 102MPH. The Red Lodge area recorded winds of 108 MPH at 1:45 am.

On Tuesday, the repeater committee received reports that the 147.360 Repeater located on Red Lodge Mountain was weak to unusable. During the day Jim Fuller, (N7VR) confirmed that the repeater was hearing commands from Billings, but was not heard. Due to concerns that there was antenna damage from the high wind event, the repeater and links were commanded off.

Tower Down

The repeater antenna is broken. One of the link antennas is broken. The packet antenna is broken. Two of the commercial link antennas are in excellent shape. The hard line to the packet antenna is broken. The base for tower is twisted and bent.

Radios Disconnected

We checked the inside of the building to see what damage had occurred to the radios, etc. The only obvious damage is to a hard line cable and stress on the duplexer connector. We decided to protect the radios and controller by disconnecting the power from each radio and the controller. This would prevent any of the radios from transmitting and damaging the radios. We disconnected the cable from the duplexer to remove the strain. Majority of the damage was to the tower and antennas.

East Tree between building and propane tank

After inspection outside, we found two trees had come down and snapped the south and west guy lines, as well as the power line. Another tree came down between the building and the propane tank and landing on the east guy line pushing it to the north and pulling the tower north and east over the side of the hill into the tops of the trees from the ravine below.

A plan was presented to the club on November 19, to salvage the tower and good antennas, with the idea of getting us through the winter. This was designed to meet our obligations on recovering the tower and giving us usability through the winter. It will require the use of a lift unit. The club authorized 600 dollars for the project. Unfortunately, Montana weather had a different idea, as it snowed that Monday night. Putting the plan on hold.

After discussions with the folks at Red Lodge Mountain Ski Run, US District Forest Ranger and Jim Fuller (N7VR), on Wednesday November 20^th, it was decided the tower would need to stay put until spring. The Ski Run crew determined it would not effect operations or be a hazard to skiers.

Another plan was made to get the repeater operational. It required a new 2 meter repeater antenna, new link antennas, feed lines and supports. It, also, required a small crew who would be willing to put forth a good effort, as we would need to walk into the repeater with the equipment due to the snow level. This was to be a temporary installation to get the system up until spring.

Jim Fuller (N7VR) had a Diamond X510XA Dual Band Antenna, for the repeater, and two commercial 440 MHz Yagi antennas, for the links. Mike Hardtke (N7LEQ) donated three 25ft LMR 400 feed line cables with connectors. The club spent $86.41 for two 10 FT heavy duty masts, mounting hardware, and adapters.

Ron (WN7Y) and Tyler (KE7GGN) Glass, Dick Roach (K7NJC), and Jim Fuller (N7VR) agreed to take on the job. We planed for a small group to match the load and work required at the site.

It was decided, based on weather reports and available time that the group would go up on Saturday, November 24, 2007.

Tyler, Ron and Jim with the 'Sled'

We started from Billings at 8:00 AM and drove to the Red Lodge Mountain Ski Resort, arriving about at the turn out about 9:30 AM. The Red Lodge Mountain Ski Resort was very accommodating based on this being prior to opening of their season on December 1, 2007. They ran grooming machine up the road way to pack down the 24 inches of snow. This allowed the team to walk up the road on top of the snow and pull the 100 plus pounds of hardware, tools, and test equipment up the hill.

We placed the mounting masts under a ladder Dick had provided and the antennas, test equipment pack, etc on top to form a sled to get the equipment up the hill. Tyler and Ron proved to be the work horses for the sled while Dick and I carried minor water, food supplies. Dick was, also, the camera man for the trip.

The team took many breaks going up as it was 1000 ft change in elevation over a 1 mile walk. The views were wonderful. It was a balmy 32 degrees and no wind, the best we could have hoped for in weather. We even watched a few of the snow making crews walking around the mountain. We arrive two hours later at the repeater site. We were in good condition and had a bit of lunch, water and a rest.

 T The following is a repeater map that has been constructed by Harley KI7XF in Bozeman.   This map shows all the repeaters and their offsets for the State of Montana, Northern Wyo, a few in Idaho and Canada.  The map is in pdf format and can be read with the Acrobat Reader.  If you are using Windows 95 and want a copy just right click and save it as a file.  Harley would appreciate any additions or corrections to the map and you can email him at KI7XF@yahoo.com .

Montana Repeater Map

Updated October 3, 2007