VE3RSN Repeater

145.170-

VE3RSN is owned and operated by the Lake of the Woods Amateur Radio Society.

The original repeater was installed in the summer of 1992 which consisted of one GE Royal Imperial VHF 30 watt mobile radio for the local repeater, and three GE Royal Imperial UHF 30 watt mobile radios for the links. Link #1 went to Kenora, Link #2 to Black Hawk and Link #3 to Dryden. The UHF radio for the Dryden link also was equipped with a Advanced Receiver Research P432VDG pre-amp.  All UHF links had a 6 cavity Sinclair MR-356 duplexer .The system was run by a Palomar RBC-700 controller.

Since then, the system has gone through quite a lot of changes.

In 1999 it found a new home on a Bell Canada tower 2 miles southeast of Sioux Narrows. This increased the range of the VHF repeater and improved the link to Dryden. A new repeater shack was built to house the equipment.

Towards the top is the UHF link antenna to Dryden, consisting of a modified  Larsen YA-1-420, 8 element antenna with added directors to make the 22 element antenna for the link. This link covers a distance of 106 km, with the same 22 element antenna at that end.  The two other UHF antennas are Larsen YA-1-420, 8 element pointed towards Kenora and Black Hawk. All antennas are fed with 1/2" heliax. The VHF repeater antenna mounted at about 80', is a Bluewave BW144E 1/2, equivalent to a Sinclair 210-C4.

The south link to Black Hawk was taken out of service in 1997 due to radio problems there and no technical personal in the Fort Frances club to replace and service the equipment. We are hoping to have a remote-base link to Black Hawk from Sioux Narrows by 2006.

The VHF repeater was upgraded in 2001 with a Motorola MSR-2000 , 100 watt continuous duty radio. It is putting out 50 watts to the antenna through a  4 cavity Sinclair Q-202G VHF duplexer.

In March 2005 the UHF links were upgraded. The East link to Dryden now consist of a GE Mastr II UHF, 75 watt continuous duty radio. It is putting out 50 watts to the antenna trough a  4 cavity Sinclair Q3220 duplexer and the receiver is equipped with a GE UHS pre-amp. The North link to Kenora consists of a GE Exec II, 20 watt rack mount radio and a 6 cavity Sinclair MR-356 duplexer. 

In March 2009 a UHF radio was added to once again link VE3RBK to the Pine Tree Intertie System.

The South link to Black Hawk consists of a GE Exec II, 20 watt rack mount radio and a 4 cavity Phelps-Dodge duplexer.

This is what the racks look like inside the shack.

The UPS sitting on the floor, was installed in the summer of 2005. It has 2 extra battery packs which will give 1050 watts of continuous power to back up the repeater site under loss of hydro.

Here is the new shack.