Southeastern Linked Repeater Net

Below are some commonly asked questions regarding the Southeastern Linked Repeater Net. Don't see your question? Submit it to Shawn, KG4OVQ at kg4ovq@pobox.com

QUESTION:

How can all the repeaters in the net be linked with RF?

ANSWER:

To my knowledge all the repeaters involved with the SLRN are linked via RF, not the Internet. At least one repeater can be heard over the Internet (WJ9J - 442.150+ at http://stoddard.homeip.net/wj9jrg.asx).

Many, but not all, of the repeaters involved with the SLRN have a feature called a "remote base". All repeaters have at least a receiver and transmitter. The receiver monitors the input frequency and the transmitter re-transmits any audio heard by the receiver on the output frequency. Adding a remote base allows the repeater to a receive audio on an additional input frequency and transmit audio on an additional output frequency, but not simultaneously like the repeater does. When the repeater hears audio on its input frequency it will re-transmit it on its transmitter and the remote base radio. The hams using the repeater will hear the audio as expected. As a side benefit the audio will show up on the input frequency of the other repeater. This means the hams using the other repeater will also hear the audio. A similiar type of linkage allows the audio received on the remote base radio to re-broadcast audio received from the second repeater on the first one. This effectively links the two repeaters together and anything received by one repeater will be heard on the other repeater.

So what about the long distances? Remember that good repeaters have awesome locations and can often be heard for miles and miles. A good beam antenna will extend the coverage even further. The whole SLRN is repeaters linked back-to-back to cover extended areas. For example, the repeater I use, WJ9J 442.150+, is linked to WJ9J 444.450+, which in turn is linked to KJ4SI 147.255-, which is also linked to by, KF4ZJT 146.180-. These four repeaters cover all the way from Chattanooga, TN to London, KY.

Last Updated: February 5, 2003
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