Welcome to the Stark County Amateur Radio Emergency Service Website
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Welcome to the Stark County Amateur Radio Emergency Service Website |
| Stark County ARES Home Page |
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Click on the button for current Stark County Weather !
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Welcome to the WD8AYE Repeater System. This repeater is owned and operated by David Beltz, WD8AYE, ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Stark County, Terry Russ, N8ATZ, Assistant EC and John Sedlak, N8WHH. It is presently located at Mercy Medical Center adjacent to Interstate 77 in Canton and was designed and built to serve as the Amateur Radio Emergency Service Repeater for Stark County, Ohio. Thanks to a long standing commitment to public service and the Stark County Amateur Radio Emergency Service, the repeater has been located here for over 20 years. As of April 2001 the repeater has over 75,000 hours logged on the transmitter. The repeater is based on the General Electric Master II Hi-Band Mobile style transceiver converted to repeater operation. A base station style receiver is used as the primary receiver which also incorporates a 20 db gain preamp. The transmitter is set at 70 watts into a 6 cavity TX/RX duplexer. Power is provided by an Astron 50 amp supply with battery backup. The antenna is a commercial Station Master located at approximately 1300 feet elevation. The repeater is normally an "open" machine, that is available by carrier access, except during night time hours, propagation band openings or intentional interference, at which time the repeater is placed in "PL" mode requiring tone access. Access during these time is limited, contact a Control Operator for additional information regarding this mode of operation. Repeater control is performed by the Advanced Computer Controls RC - 850 controller, one of the most advanced repeater controllers ever created. An ACC Digital Voice Recorder completes the system and provides real time record able audio for ID's messages, etc. The system also incorporates links on 2 meters, 220, 440, 6 and 10 meters. When not being used for emergency communications, this is an open repeater and is available for all amateurs. It was made possible through the generous contributions of many local civic organizations and the many local amateurs who support the Stark County ARES as well as our friends at Mercy Medical Center. The WD8AYE Repeater System was designed with many features popular on systems existing today. Click on any topic below to learn about the many features of this system. As always we'll keep you posted on any changes...... In the mean time click on the link below to see some new pictures from the "Repeater Repair Trip" ! The 147.12 Repeater Technical Committee. CLICK HERE to be taken to the photo page.
Click on any of the
categories below to learn more about the repeaters many features.
PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT CERTAIN FEATURES ARE NOT ALWAYS AVAILABLE. The WD8AYE Repeater sits in the penthouse of the Mercy Medical Center. Our antenna is approximately 250 feet above the ground with a ground elevation of approximately 1175 feet above sea level making this one of the highest points in eastern Stark County. The hospital and the State of Ohio Department of Transportation operate a web cam from the top of the hospital tower in order to monitor ever present interstate construction. But it will give you a birds-eye view of the height of our antenna system and an appreciation of the coverage of our system. Click on the link below to view the webcams.
The WD8AYE repeater subscribes to the coordination and operating principles as presented by the Ohio Area Repeater Council, Inc. Since 1984 we have been dues paying members and we thank the council for their efforts to minimize repeater interference by coordinating the nearly 800 repeaters in Ohio. In 1984 the F.C.C. issued a rule change basically giving repeater councils the authority to sanction a repeater before it was put on the air to make an attempt to limit the interference to existing users of a frequency. "Coordination" is interpreted to mean a system approved for operation by a select organization of Hams knowledgeable in the various intricacies of repeaters and their operation. In order to follow this guideline, the Ohio Area Repeater Council was restructured and the Constitution was updated to better describe the function it had already been doing. Stark County falls under the direction of Cliff Bade - W8CJB. Click here to go to the OARC Website.
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| last reviewed/updated on 01/13/03 |
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