The amateur radio community has a renamed 440 repeater to use, the frequency is *443.275 + 107.2 PL*. This OPEN repeater has wide area coverage from Crystal Peak. SARES now has 2 Meter and 70 cm capability. Background: On Saturday, Nov 3, I became aware that W6AMT/R (Associated Mountain Toppers) was up for sale. As the EC for SARES, I inquired about the selling price. The trustee provide us with a list of equipment (radio receiver needed tuning back on frequency) and said that they were willing to donate it to SARES. On Saturday, Nov. 10, the AECs had a meeting and decided to #1 accept the donation and #2 form the Sunnyvale Amateur Radio Emergency Service - Repeater Group (SARES-RG). The purpose of the group is to maintain, operate and oversee the repeater in the best interest of SARES and the ARES / RACES community of Santa Clara County. The SARES-RG has petitioned the ARRL to become an affiliated club, we have also applied for a Club Call-sign via the ARRL VEC, during the week before Thanksgiving. One of the benefits of affiliation is the ability to obtain the necessary liability insurance at a reasonable rate. Upon granting of a Club Call-sign we will apply for a vanity call-sign. We are thinking of K6SNY or W6SNY. Also upon affiliation SARES-RG will apply for a 501c-? status, which will allow persons to make donations as a tax deductible donation. SARES-RG have officers, which are required. for ARRL Affiliation; Bob Gundrum - President / Repeater Trustee, Rick Eversole - Vice President / Webmaster, Skip LaFetra - Secretary and Howard Krawetz - Treasurer. There was discussion about partnering with another ARES / RACES group in operating / maintaining the repeater. We met with the W6AMT/R trustee for transfer of equipment and documentation. The W6AMT trustee had requested a call-sign that could be entered into the controller, we gave him W6MOL for temporary usage until the Club Call-sign is assigned by the FCC. At that time the controller will be changed to the new call-sign. Member Ed Fong had responded to our request for technical assistance to align the receiver and transmitter, so Howard & I went to Crystal Peak and delivered the radio to Ed. Upon completion of the alignment, Howard & I put the radio back in the cabinet on Friday, Nov. 23 and the SARES 440 repeater was on the air. On Saturday, Nov 24, the AECs again met, primarily to discuss partnering with another ARES / RACES group. It was determined that the logistical problems of having two groups operate the repeater would make things more difficult. Therefore SARES-RG will operate the repeater as a SARES resource, which will be available to Santa Clara County ARES / RACES as needed. The AECs voted to provide $75 - $100 per year, per EC / AEC for operation & maintenance of the repeater. On going expenses are annual rental / power, & insurance. We will place left over funds into an account to provide funds that will be needed for repairs and upgrades. We have made the decision to install a battery backup to maintain the controller logic in cases of commercial power loss and generator kick-in (about 30 seconds). Also we will have a remotely controlled cut-off, to temporarily shutdown the repeater if there is an abusive person using the repeater. We discussed operating the repeaters (2 Meter & 70 cm) for the nets; 2 Meter one night and 70 cm the other night. That is the reason for the survey as to the ability of members to operate on 440. We already know that all have the 2 Meter ability, so we are trying to expand our horizons. We hope you have found the above information informative and are in agreement with the actions of your AECs. I will be monitoring both the K6GL and 440 repeater. '73' Bob ~W6MOL~ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SARES members mailing list: <sares-list@INTERNET. sunnyvaleares.org> For help with (un)subscription send e-mail to <majordomo@INTERNET. athm.net>Received on Sun Nov 25 2007 - 23:38:26 GMT
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