May 20, 2015
Photos
About a year ago the Santa Fe Amateur Radio Club took over maintenance of the repeater on Pajarito Mountain at the top of the Los Alamos ski area. This is also known as the 145.19 machine. This repeater has been located there for about 30 years with several hams maintaining it during that time. It is solar powered since there is no commercial electricity at the site. The solar panels charge batteries to provide the voltage for the radio. There is no linking to other repeaters since that uses more current. A few years ago, the former ham that maintained the repeater installed a commercial KenwoodTKR-750 repeater. This is the equipment presently used. There has been interference at the site for several years and the decision was made to protect the receiver with CTCSS tone access. Since it is maintained by the SFARC, it was decided to use 162.2 Hz, the same as the other SFARC VHF repeaters.
The 145.19 repeater now requires a CTCSS tone of 162.2 Hz to operate. It also transmits the same tone. You can set your radio to include tones on both your transmitter and receiver. The tone enabled on your receiver is not necessary but the tone on your transmitter is. If you enable the tone on your receiver, your radio will be less prone to hear interference in high RF areas. The offset is still minus 600 KHz. Several months ago, Bob Skaggs, KB5RX, removed the 220MHz repeater on the tower next to the 145.19 tower. It was getting very little use so he moved it to his home. This winter, the Rocky Mountain Ham Radio group took over the tower abandoned by the 220repeater. This group is in the process of linking New Mexico with the 5 GHz ham frequency backbone running from Cheyenne, WY to the NM-CO border. It links sites with a large bandwidth system on ham frequencies. It can be used as a backup for emergencies.
The future plan of this group is to connect Colorado with El Paso to the south and Farmington to the west with this bandwidth. Pajarito is in the path as the first site north of Sandia Crest. From there it is planned to connect with Picuris near Taos then to San Antonio Mountain and next into Colorado. This is expected to take place during the summer of 2015. Next paths will be to Eureka Mesa near Cuba and go west toward Farmington. The first photo, immediately below, shows the two towers. The tower on the right is the 145.19 antenna and solar panel. The one on the left is the RMHR tower. The second photo shows the battery power and the solar controller. The other two photos show the repeater being dropped into the barrel with the duplexers and the site buttoned up for the winter snows.
Alan N5BGC
Some
photos of the Pajarito repeater by Alan Hill
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Some
photos of the new
Rowe Mesa repeater by Alan Hill
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A
few other
repeater photos
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Photos of Elk Mountain by Jimm
White
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