SEMARA owns and operates three analog voice repeaters, plus an APRS digipeater station. These four systems are situated at the rear of club property below a 180 foot multiple tenant communications tower. SEMARA, which has exclusive rights to the top of the tower, has dedicated 1-5/8″ Andrews Heliax feedlines for its systems.
The tower also hosts numerous wireless providers through Blue Sky via a lease agreement, including AT&T Mobility, DISH Wireless, T-Mobile US and Verizon Wireless. Several public safety and commercial systems including repeaters for the Dartmouth Fire Department (District 1) and Tremblay’s Bus Company, plus a voted receiver for the Dartmouth Police Department‘s digital P25 repeater are also located on this tower.
For more information on one of SEMARA’s systems, simply click on its link to jump to a full description:
- 147.000 Repeater – 2 Meters (VHF)
- 224.800 Repeater – 1.25 Meters (VHF)
- 927.8375 Repeater – 33 Centimeters (UHF)
- 144.390 APRS Digipeater – 2 Meters (VHF)
147.000 Dartmouth Repeater
SEMARA proudly owns and operates the 147.000 Dartmouth Repeater. It carries the club call sign of W1AEC. It is open to all radio amateurs without requiring membership. This is a wide-area coverage full service 100 watt repeater with an antenna height of about 150 feet above average terrain (HAAT). Fixed and mobile station coverage includes most areas south of Boston, the western half (Upper Cape) of Cape Cod and the islands, plus Providence and most of eastern Rhode Island.
In times of real emergencies, all normal communications must cease to allow for priority traffic. This repeater is affiliated with Massachusetts RACES (Region 2, Sector A). Our sector’s on-air RACES drill is held on this repeater the first Monday of each month at 7:30pm. It also serves as a backup for Eastern Massachusetts ARES/SKYWARN (primary is the 145.490 Dartmouth repeater sponsored by SMARG). The repeater has auxiliary power, with the ability to stay on the air for days at a time without commercial power. If the site’s primary 120 VAC commercial power is lost, the 100 watt amplifier is automatically bypassed via a relay and the repeater runs at 20 watts output to conserve battery power.
Extending coverage beyond the limits of RF, this repeater system supports the the VoIP networks of IRLP and EchoLink for inbound and outbound connections. These two networks allow any amateur using the repeater to link to other amateurs across the country or around the world. The internet connection is provided by Comcast Business and is supplied to the repeater site building from the clubhouse via a Point-to-Point (PtP) 5 GHz wireless bridge. Like the repeater itself, all amateurs are welcome to use these links without requiring membership. The DTMF access codes for IRLP and EchoLink are standard. Simply enter the node number for IRLP or star (*) plus the node number for EchoLink and “73” disconnects either connection. Please note that after 20 minutes of local inactivity, the connection will timeout and any active link will be automatically terminated.
Repeater Details
| Location: | Blue Sky Communications Tower 54 Donald Street Dartmouth, Massachusetts |
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| Established: | 1974 | |
| Call Sign: | W1AEC Formerly WR1ADR |
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| Band: | 2 Meters (VHF) | |
| Output Frequency: | 147.000 MHz | |
| Input Frequency: | 147.600 MHz (+600 kHz) | |
| CTCSS (PL) In/Out: | 67.0 Hz | |
| Output Power: | 100 Watts (20 Watts Auxiliary) | |
| IRLP Node: | 4210 | |
| EchoLink Node: | 4210 (W1AEC-R) | |
| Default Link Status: | Unlinked |
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Equipment Used
| Repeater: | KENWOOD TKR-750 Version 1 1974 – Homebrew Equipment 1984 – Kendecom KRP 5000 1/2001 – Motorola Micor 7/2004 – Hi Pro R4V/EV1 12/2005 – KENWOOD TKR-750 |
| Controller: | S-COM 7330 |
| Antenna: | Tram 1481 |
| Duplexer: | Bird Technologies/TX RX Systems |
| Battery Backup: | Yes |
224.800 Dartmouth Repeater
Repeater Details
| Location: | Blue Sky Communications Tower 54 Donald Street Dartmouth, Massachusetts |
|
| Established: | 2011 | |
| Call Sign: | W1AEC | |
| Band: | 1.25 Meters (VHF) | |
| Output Frequency: | 224.800 MHz | |
| Input Frequency: | 223.200 MHz (-1.6 MHz) | |
| Input Frequency (Aux): | 438.800 MHz (+214 MHz) | |
| CTCSS (PL) In/Out: | 67.0 Hz | |
| Output Power: | 30 Watts | |
| IRLP Node: | 4215 | |
| EchoLink Node: | 4215 (W1AEC-L) | |
| Remote Base: | 16 Channel UHF Motorola GM300 |
|
| Default Link Status: | Unlinked |
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Equipment Used
| Repeater: | BridgeCom Systems ComLink™ BCR-220 4/13/2011 – Hi Pro R1 7/16/2015 – BridgeCom BCR-220 |
| Controller: | S-COM 7330 |
| Antenna: | NRG Comet CX-333 |
| Duplexer: | Bird Technologies/TX RX Systems |
| Battery Backup: | No |
927.8375 Dartmouth Repeater
Repeater Details
| Location: | Blue Sky Communications Tower 54 Donald Street Dartmouth, Massachusetts |
|
| Established: | 9/19/2009 – Motorola MSF5000 | |
| Call Sign: | W1AEC | |
| Band: | 33 Centimeters (UHF) | |
| Output Frequency: | 927.8375 MHz | |
| Input Frequency: | 902.0625 MHz (-25.775 MHz) | |
| CTCSS (PL) Input: | 77.0 Hz | |
| CTCSS (PL) Output: | 67.0 Hz | |
| Output Power: | 150 Watts | |
| IRLP Node: | 4617 | |
| EchoLink Node: | none | |
| Default Link Status: |
NEAR-900 Network (Click here and scroll to 9125 to see who’s linked) |
144.390 Dartmouth APRS Digipeater
The SEMARA APRS station is running on a Kantronics TNC and Motorola GM300 loaned by Jeff, AJ1L. It’s antenna is located at the top of our 180 foot tower along with the repeaters. At one time, we had iGate functionality and this might be restored at some point in the future with new hardware.