The BCARES VHF Repeater

Important CHANGE Effective NOW

Even though I've tried to keep the repeater fully open as an emergency resource for everyone with a radio, the increasing amount of interference on the Mary's Peak site has forced me to add PL to the K7CVO repeater. Effective now, program in 156.7 Hz as the input PL for K7CVO.

Two important notes:

  1. The tone of 156.7 Hz will not be required while the repeater is in either NET or EMERGENCY mode. E.g, during the WOVEN net.
  2. The tone of 156.7 Hz is not required to use LiTZ (Long Tone Zero) to enter EMERGENCY mode. If you have a radio that has a DTMF pad but no PL encoder, and you have an emergency, PRESS AND HOLD ZERO for several seconds and the repeater will enter EMERGENCY mode.

What Happened to W7QH?

The W7QH repeater is now operating under the call K7CVO -- Benton County ARES. Why?

With the recent dissolution of the Linn-Benton-Lincoln Emergency Repeater Association, the repeater located on Mary's Peak in Benton County has been donated to the Benton County Sheriff, and is being operated by Benton County ARES. David is fine, he's just stepped down as the legal trustee.

The are no planned changes to policy or practices. The ownership and callsign are the only changes. If you are running a net or otherwise using the repeater, carry on! The codes are the same, the purpose is the same. In fact, most of the people are the same.

K7CVO operates on 146.78MHz, minus input, PL 156.7 Hz. It hosts the WOVEN net at 7:30PM local time every evening.

K7CVO is a designated emergency repeater, and users are requested to change frequency for long contacts. In the event of an area-wide emergency, K7CVO will be used in the ARES District 4 network for communication around the seven county District 4 area.

Question: Why is the timeout so short/can it be lengthened?

K7CVO is intended to be friendly for emergency uses. A short timeout, long reset (time before courtesy beep) helps remind people to take frequent breaks in QSOs to allow emergency traffic to break in.

Question: Move frequency?

The voice is limited to the words the controller knows. "Please move frequency for long conversations" is the only set that is close to conveying the idea that frequency pauses in QSOs are requested. Please do use the repeater for conversations, please do leave frequent pauses for break-ins, please do not take offence at the specific message.