VO2WL Allstar UHF repeater and the new web server was installed at the club building yesterday by VO2NS (Naz) and myself, VO2GO. After a few minor bumps it went well & WL is now live on the air along with our new web server.
VO2WL repeater was upgraded from Motorola Maxtrac Radios to two Motorola CM200 UHF radios with frequencies remaining at 449.25-, but now with tones of 88.5 enabled on the Tx side. The receive tone has not yet been enabled to allow time for members to reprogram their radios. On the RF side, we’re still using the Sinclair filter bank & the 4-bay di-pole on the main tower, so coverage should be about the same the previous repeater. Nothing has changed from the analog repeater Echolink station which is now an integral part of the Allstarlink node system on VO2WL with the same registered address of VO2WL-R on Echolink. The desktop Dell PC, who’s only purpose was to run Echolink, has been replaced by the Raspberry Pi 4 which takes care everything. The desktop PC was revitalized with a copy of Debian 11 (Bullseye) and is now the vo2wl.ca web server which is serving up this very page to you.
Iaxrpt has also been enabled for members & ex-pats who wish to use it, but a login account is required. Check with VO2GO to have an account created. Iaxrpt is essentially a “Soft Phone” installed on your PC or laptop that allows you to connect directly to VO2WL repeater from anywhere in the world & converse with anyone else using VO2WL. Iaxrpt is very similar to Echolink, but also allows limited control of the repeater and, from testing with VO1ACZ (formerly VO2CZ) and VO2ET portable in N.S., the audio is much cleaner sounding after initial tests.
Physical improvements:
The heatsink on the CM200 transmitting radio was was enlarged by attaching a larger heatsink to the existing heatsink on bottom of the radio. A fan on the side of the larger heatsink is controlled by the Raspberry Pi and operates based on a differential between ambient temperature and Tx’er temperature. After much bench testing, this is a signifigant improvement over the previous Maxtrac radio which had heat dissipation issues after only 10-15 minutes of continuous use, especially in summer.
The two CM200’s were mounted in a vertical configuration which consumes about 5U of rack space (Exact space taken up by the Desktop PC and the Scom 7330 controller which were removed from the rack). VO2LB will be built in the same configuration & fit alongside VO2WL in the same 5U of rack space.
VO2WL Tower work
