Picture of Main Meeting Room
The Sandusky Radio Experimental League was founded in 1932. The
main purpose
was to promote the hobby of Amateur Radio. In the
early years of amateur radio
there was no commercial manufactures
of radio equipment. Most radio equipment
was either converted
from military surplus or homebrew, hence the word
"experimental"
in our name. The organization was one of the first of its
kind
in the Northern Ohio Area. It is also one of the few amateur clubs
that
has it own meeting place. Due to the efforts of our founding
members, plus a
lot of hard work, the club members can enjoy the
convenience of a meeting place
they can call their own.
The Sandusky Radio Experimental League is located at 2909 W. Perkins
Ave in
Sandusky, Ohio. Easy access to the club house from RT 101
or RT 4 is ideal for
out of town guests to visit. The club house,
which is Club owned, was built in
1950 and later added onto, in
1954. The building was later remodeled in 1974.
All the club's
equipment is located in this building, with the exception of
the
440 MHZ repeater. Access to club members is available 24 hours
a day. There
are three main parts to the building. The meeting
room is the largest and
contains a small kitchen. The second largest
is a workshop area that includes a
electronic bench with test
equipment and a bench for mechanical construction.
The third and
last area is the operations room. This room is home to the
HF
gear, packet and computer equipment.
Picture from Outside of Club House
In the operations room we have a complete HF station available
to all the
members. The main component of the equipment roster
is a Kenwood TS-850 with
all the bells and whistles. When a little
extra power is needed the Ameritron
Amp can be placed on line.
To round out the list we have a complement of
antennas for the
major amateur bands. Our tri- bander beam is mounted on a
Rohn
45G at 80 feet and takes care of the 10,15,and 20 meter bands.
Mounted on
the repeater antenna pole we have dipoles for 40 meters
and 80 meters at 65
feet.
Picture of HF Operating Position
The 53.35 repeater is located at the club house in the workshop
area. Built by
club members in 1998 the repeater has been in continuous
duty ever since. The
transmitter and receiver are a Motorola Micor Compu Station, and the
controller
is a RC100. The output power is 50 watts at the
duplexer output. This 50
watts is then fed to the antenna via
3/4 cable TV hardline and eventually
arrives at a Diamond 6 Meter antenna at 85 feet.
The 146.655 repeater is located at the club house in the workshop
area. Built
by club members in 1976 the repeater has been in continuous
duty ever since.
Over the years, the repeater has had many changes
made to it. The original
repeater was a commercial tube type receiver
and transmitter, with the
controller built by club members. For
many years this served the Sandusky area
well. However technology
has changed and the repeater is now completely solid
state. The
transmitter and receiver are Spectrum Communications, and
the
controller is a S- Com 7K. The output power is 25 watts at the
duplexer
output. This 25 watts is then fed to the antenna via
7/8 hardline and
eventually arrives at a Hustler G7 at 85 feet.
The repeater is equipped for
emergency communication with a battery
backup.
The 444.375 repeater is located on a water tower at the intersection
of
Columbus Ave. and Strub roads in Sandusky. The repeater was
first placed in
operation in 1990 at the club house and later
moved to the water tower in the
same year. The repeater is a Motorola
commercial repeater with a S-Com 5K
controller. Power output is
40 watts and then fed, via 7/8 hardline, to an
antenna that is
located at approximately 180 feet.
The club sponsors a digipeater on 145.030. The alias for this
digi is "SKY".
The TNC is an Kantronics KPC-3 Plus and is equipped
with a personal packet
mailbox, W8LBZ-1. Third party mail, mail
addressed to anyone other than the
sponsor, may be left here for
other amateurs to retrieve. The radio is a
Motorola Micor with
an output of 25 watts and terminated with a Cushcraft Ringo
Ranger
at 65 feet.
Download User Manual for ECEMA (Text Version)
The Sandusky Radio Experimental League is also working on areas
of new
technology available to the amateurs community. For example,
many TNCs and
multi-mode interfaces receive weather fax transmissions.
With some basic
hardware, most amateurs are able to intercept
this vast information on our ever
changing weather. Each day satellites
download many million bytes of
information on every aspect of
our weather. Imagine, you can predict the
weather days in advance
just by the movements of the clouds. Many positive
aspects, not
to mention just the enjoyment of predicting the weather, are
available
to someone that receives this information. For example passing
this
information on to a school class room via Amateur Television,
or even the
general public. In recent months there has been many
construction articles
involving ATV. Articles that won't cost
you an arm and a leg to try ATV. A
simple ATV station can be realized
for around $150.00. If you have a cable
ready TV set you already
have half the station. Cable channel 60 is already at
the amateur
bands. With a transmitter set to 439.250 you can send a signal
to
any cable ready TV tuned to Channel 60. The only catch is the
TV must be
connect to a outside antenna, but configured as if
you were going to connect to
the cable system. ATV has many uses
in public service. Organizers of a parade
can see exactly what
is happening along the parade route. Emergency
coordinators can
see what a accident scene looks like and still be at the
command
post to organize a plan of action. ATV is not limited to just
public
service, it can be used to promote the hobby of Amateur
Radio. Special events
dealing with Amateur Radio could be televised
to non-amateurs via a cable ready
television.
You don't have to wait until we have a open house to visit. Our
meetings are
held every week and open to all. The time and day
of the meetings are Thursday
at 8:45 P.M. Yes it is true that
8:45 P.M. is an unusual time for a meeting,
however because of
the frequency of our meetings, the actual meeting is
relatively
short. It also allows many members to spend time with the
family
before the meeting time (usually members are there by 8 p.m.). If your visit proves to be enjoyable,
and you
would like to join our club the requirements are very
simple. You must attend
at least 4 meetings before applying for
membership. Due to refreshments offered
on the club grounds you
must be at least 21 years of age. You can be an amateur
or just
someone interested in amateur radio. Being a licensed amateur
is NOT a
requirement. We do have dues of $2.50 a week. Your dues
can be paid by the week
or in one lump sum for the year, which
ever is easiest. Our calendar starts
January 1st, and on the first
Thursday in January is the election of officers
at our annual
meeting. After becoming a member you will have full use of
all
the equipment and 24 hour access to the building. If you require
additional
information please leave a query on our packet station,
voice repeater or just
come to a meeting and we will be happy
to help. Also at [email protected]