WACRS Repeaters

Wyangala Dam is a 1,217 gigalitre reservoir 54km² in size and the confluence of the Abercrombie and Lachlan Rivers. Its two holiday parks, Wyangala and Grabine, are only a fraction of the total area that visitors and Cowra locals approach and then engage in fishing and watersport. Traversing the entire spectacle from the shoreline on 2 or 4 wheels is impossible and sticking to the beaten track can be a bone jarring experience even if you know where you’re going. Over the summer holidays, entire cities of campers set up around Wyangala Dam, including Quartpot which is the wild free-for-all at the north end of the dam that VK2HEY’s Eagle Rock overlooks. This is conditional on the health of the dam which has been known to be completely empty. Check the level >>HERE<<

Mobile phone coverage is dismal with about five access points clustered around the Wyangala side of the dam, providing poor to zero coverage across the expanse. How emergency calls from Grabine are made I have no idea given the amount of times I’ve heard the air ambulance land there in the middle of the night. With a few thousand visitors annually, it’s surprising comms in and out of there is so paltry (although a >>PSN<< site has been set up at Blue Mantle Trig with another one at Pennsylvania Fire Tower).

The WACRS have been experimenting with UHF repeaters in the area – CB, commercial and amateur – since around 2012. The amateur repeater VK2RBT started life at Garland to aid an amateur’s access out of a hollow. But when Gary died, we had to pack up and find a new home. Since then, VK2RBT has become an experiment to link the sprawling low lying areas of Lake Wyangala with its outer approaches and nearby towns and villages. The village of Wyangala is a particular challenge given its deeply set location right at the base of the dam wall on the Lachlan River. We are nearing the absolute limit of what we can achieve with a 70cm repeater given the terrain and are preparing to compliment RBT with a 2 metre repeater. But amateurs who venture towards Wyangala have a mixed mode VKDMR and Echolink facility available.

• VK2RBT – Wyangala Dam mixed mode (VK-DMR/Analog) Woodstock NSW 12.5 kHz narrowband 70cm amateur radio repeater. 91.5Hz full CTCSS encode/decode highly recommended to blot out the DMR transmissions when you’re monitoring in analog. Please set your rigs for 12.5 kHz or it will drop out.
• Status: Currently transmitting at approx 20W. Nomadic since Gary’s death early 2023 but currently where we think will be its new permanent site. RFI COL8 antenna approximately 10 metres off the ground and has been moved between five different sites in the past couple of years.
• Please submit signal reports anytime.
  TX = 438.825 –> (repeater output)
  RX = 431.825 <– (repeater input -7MHz offset) 91.5Hz tone required for analogue.
• Height above sea level = 756 metres
• Echolink = 354054 / VK2RBT-R. Please note we DO NOT inject Echolink into the VKDMR side of the repeater. That would be a clear violation of the VKDMR guidelines. The analog side of this repeater is entirely separate.
  
• VK2RHO 2m repeater at HOV. Currently off while duplexer being checked.
  TX = 147.075
  RX = 147.675
  
• ROB08 dismantled and waiting to be moved out of Sydney.
  
  Glenn’s UHF CB Repeaters.
  
• BOR42 – Boorowa (UHF CB channel 42 DUPLEX) TX antenna repaired 29/12/2023
  TX = 476.4625
  RX = 477.2125
• GAR03 – Garland – intermittent issues – (UHF CB channel 3 DUPLEX)
  TX = 476.475
  RX = 477.225
  HASL = 980 metres. To be decommissioned.

Not WACRS but awesome…

VK2RDX: 2m Mt Bindo Analog 146.650 MHz, offset -600Hz VK2RDX: 70cm Mt Bindo VKDMR 438.150 MHz, offset -7MHz

VK2RKG: Kelso, Bathurst Analog 146.900 MHz, offset -600Hz VK2RKG: West Bathurst VKDMR 439.875 MHz, offset -5MHz VK2RCW: Gowan, Analog 147.200 MHz offset, PLUS 600Hz VK2RWM: Grenfell Analog 147.350 offset, +600Hz VK2RYG: 2m Young Analog 146.875 MHz, offset -600Hz

IARU Region 3 Emergency Frequencies
3.600 MHz.
7.110 MHz.
14.300 MHz.
18.160 MHz.
21.360 MHz.

Comments ex Blogger site:
Unknown said…
great work
March 28, 2020 at 12:13 PM
Tonez said…
Love this site
June 4, 2020 at 4:25 AM