What is a Repeater?
Repeaters serve a special role in the Amateur Radio community during both normal and emergency operations. Typically operated by a club or experienced ham operators with access to a tower or other high location, a repeater retransmits a signal received at one frequency onto another. This allows any properly authorized and licensed operators to communicate across much farther distances than would otherwise be possible without using a more powerful transmitter.
Another useful feature of repeaters is that their frequencies are well known and rarely change. This allows operators to quickly establish communications and coordinate with each other. Under normal conditions, the repeater might just be used by 2 or 3 hams to shoot the breeze. In an emergency, though, most areas will have one or two designated repeaters that are used to pass important information back and forth to law enforcement and other agencies.
The Cleveland Amateur Radio Club owns and operates local repeaters on the following frequencies:
For specific information, click on the frequency or navigate to the specific repeater page.
- 146.925MHz – W4GZX 2-meter repeater. The antenna is located atop the tower behind our clubhouse. To access this machine, use a negative (-) offset and a PL tone of 114.8Hz. This is a local repeater covering Cleveland and much of Bradley County. This machine can also be found on Echolink as W4GZX-R.
- 444.275MHz – This is the W4GZX 440 repeater co-located with the 146.925MHz machine. To access this repeater, use a plus (+) offset and a PL tone of 114.8Hz.
In addition, there are also many other fine repeaters in our local area, including:
- 147.180 MHz – This is the WD4DES 2-meter repeater located on Bean Mountain in Polk County. To access this machine you must use a plus (+) offset and a PL tone of 118.8Hz. This is a wide-area coverage repeater.
- 442.250 MHz – This is the WD4DES 440 repeater co-located with the 147.180MHz machine. To access this machine you must use a plus (+) offset and PL tone of 118.8Hz. This is a wide-area coverage repeater.
- 147.375 MHz – This is the KA4ELN repeater, located near the 147.180MHz repeater. To access this machine you must use a plus (+) offset and PL tone of 123.0Hz. This is a wide-area coverage repeater.
- 147.105 MHz – This is the KD4NEC repeater, located at the clubhouse. To access the machine you must use a plus (+) offset. No PL tone is required. This is a local area coverage repeater.
- 442.925 MHz – This is the WD4OAR repeater, located on White Oak Mountain. To access this machine you must use a plus (+) offset and a PL tone of 100Hz.
- 145.480 MHz – This is the KK4BXE 2-Meter D-Star repeater located at the Clubhouse. To access this machine you must use a minus (-) offset and be a registered D-Star user.
- 440.525 MHz – This is the KK4BXE 440 D-Star repeater located at the Clubhouse. To access this machine you must use a plus (+) offset and be a registered D-Star user.
- 144.980 MHz – This is the KM4MCN 2-Meter D-Star repeater located on Bean Mountain in Polk County. To access this machine you must use a plus (+) 2.5 MHz offset and be a registered D-Star user.
If you know of any repeaters that should be listed here, or any corrections, let us know!