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New D-Star Repeater Setup at Icom UK

Icom UK is pleased to announce that its D-Star repeaters are now operational from new premises in Herne Bay. The repeaters are now housed, along with the backup batteries and controlling PC in a 19 inch rack. The Altira Business Park is an excellent position for RF, being on high ground in the outskirts of Herne Bay, which means that the repeaters give much better coverage than ever before.

Don Turner G4TKR said, ‘We needed to re-evaluate repeater installation with the move. We set ourselves a challenge to operate all repeaters from a single tri-band antenna as follows:

GB7IC port C VHF
GB7IC port B UHF
GB7IC port A 1.2GHz (experimental)
GB7IC Data 1.2GHz (experimental)
GB3KI Dual-mode VHF

The VHF D-Star and Analogue repeaters now share the same frequency and we have designed dedicated logic boards to control the Aerial change-over. When a signal is received on the VHF frequency it is treated in the following way:

Analogue;
When the received carrier contains the CTCSS frequency 103.5Hz, the Analogue repeater is selected and the D-Star repeater is locked out for the length of the received transmission plus 5 seconds. This allows for a replying analogue signal to reply and keep the logic in Analogue mode.

Digital;
When decoded the logic board locks out the Analogue repeater as above. Interference;

The logic board monitors the received signal and ensures nether transmitter is on when interference is received. The logic board also provides the call sign and timeout requirement for the repeater.

Don said, ‘After much hard work and a lot of configuration, we now have repeaters that are serving D-Star and analogue users in North Kent.’

Icom UK Marketing - marketing@icomuk.co.uk