We are still experiencing interference on the 145.48MHz repeater. The interference comes and goes but seems to be the worst during band openings. We have been slowly raising the squelch level on the repeater’s receive frequency hoping that we can eliminate most of the interference without sacrificing the excellent coverage we enjoy with this new piece of equipment. Some of you have been enjoying making the repeater with your handi-talkies and we are trying not to up the squelch so far that we eliminate that coverage. We always have the option of putting PL tones on the repeater but I know that some of you still have radios that don’t handle PL tones. PL tones will be our last resort.

The interference has been persistent enough such that it times out the repeater after 3 minutes. Then the repeater is not usable until it automatically resets. This sort of interference can deny us use of the repeater during an emergency situation like the Skywarn Severe Weather net. We would not want this sort of thing to happen when we need the repeater the most.

We will continue to work with the repeater and see if we can wean out the interference by using increased squelch levels. If that does not work, then we well be forced to use PL tones in order to try and maintain repeater use during emergency situations. If we introduce a PL tone, we will use one of the recommended Indiana Repeater Council PL tones for this area of Indiana. The two recommended tones for this area are 88.5 and 151.4 Hz. When we have to invoke this option we will get the word out to you.

John Walker, K9SVL

Secretary BRVARS