CARLA - Technical 5

C.A.R.L.A. System 5 Technical Notes and Tidbits

Because it is centrally located among all of the CARLA repeaters, the CARLA 5 repeater is considered to be the hub of the CARLA system. All of our central valley repeaters link to the Bay Area repeaters through this system. The controller for this repeater periodically sends maintenance commands to most of the other repeaters in our group. Such commands as updating all the clocks for daylight savings and verifying that the other systems are up and functional are handled automatically by this system.

The CARLA 5 system now has the dual PL scheme. See "How the Local PL Works" elsewhere on this page.

Technical Data for System 5

Repeater Type: Motorola Micor

Controller: S-COM

TX Power: 45W

Main Ant Type: DB-408 Dual 4-Bay

Main Ant Gain: 7.8dB E/W

Link Ant Type: Diamond X50N

Link Ant Gain: 7.2dB

Local PL: Yes

How the Local PL Works

This particular repeater in the CARLA system has a dual PL. If you use the 'link' PL, your audio is carried over the entire CARLA system of repeaters and you will be able to hear the audio from any and all other repeaters in the CARLA system. If you wish to have a local QSO on the repeater just use the 'local' PL. Your audio will come out only on the local system and you will not hear link audio coming from other repeaters in the system. When you finish your 'local' QSO, the link will re-establish itself several seconds later. A couple of things to keep in mind:

1) If you pause for an extended time during your local QSO the link audio may come back. Just key the local PL to mute incoming link traffic and continue your local QSO.

2) Remember, if there is a QSO in progress elsewhere on the CARLA system you will not interfere with it if you hold a QSO on the repeater while using the 'local' PL.

3) If you want link audio to come back right away just kerchunk the 'link' PL.

4) There is a different courtesy tone for local traffic and incoming link traffic so you'll be able to distinguish from which direction the audio traffic is originating.

CARLA 5 Coverage Map

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