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Napa Area Repeaters |
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The W6CO system
The W6CO repeater system is made up of 5 repeaters located in two sites in the Napa Valley. All the repeaters in the system are open for use by any licensed operators. Their primary purpose is to support Emergency Communications.
Mount St Helena
147.180 (STH) This repeater is located on the South Peak of Mt St Helena at 4,143 feet (asl) and uses a PL tone of 151.4. The primary coverage area is the Napa Valley and Lake County. Secondary coverage includes Eastern Sonoma County from Santa Rosa North to Cloverdale.
441.900 This repeater is also located on the South Peak of Mt St Helena and uses a PL tone of 151.4. Stand-alone coverage is the Northern part of the Napa Valley and Lake County.
Mount Veeder
147.180 (VDR) This repeater is located on the
Eastern flank of Mt Veeder near the Napa/Sonoma County line
and uses a PL tone of 91.5 Hz.
The primary coverage area is the central and southern portions of the Napa Valley.
441.800 The transmitter and one receiver is located on the Eastern flank of Mt Veeder near the Napa/Sonoma County line and uses a PL tone of 151.4. Additional receivers in a voter configuration are located on the Valley floor to enhance use by mobiles and handheld radios. This system is also equipped with a remote base to permit access into several nearby repeaters which are not part of our system. See below for details. The primary coverage area (unlinked) is the Central and Southern part of the Napa Valley with secondary coverage into parts of the Sacramento Valley (Fairfield/Rio Vista), and Southern Solano County (Vallejo). This repeater is also equipped with an Echolink node. See below for additional details
440.050 This is a digital system, (D-Star module-B) also located on Mt. Veeder. This repeater can only be accessed by using D-Star compatible equipment. See Icom America's website for more information.
If you currently have D-Star equipment, or are contemplating buying it, you will need to register before you can use the gateway feature of this or any other D-Star repeater. You should register with the gateway nearest your home address. Registration is free, quick and easy and once you are registered you can use any D-Star gateway. To register send an email to the repeater trustee, W6BIS . Be sure to include your full name, address, current amateur callsign, and email address. Please note: D-Star users can register on most systems but once registered must not register a second time with any other gateway. A complete repeater directory can be found http://www.dstarusers.org
The Remote Base
The Remote Base is located on the Valley floor at the 441.800 control point. Users can operate the RB to link to several nearby VHF repeaters. All functions use DTMF via the 441.800 repeater. Contact the system trustee or any control operator for assistance.
Echolink node 70359 is part of the 441.800 repeater system. This node is open to all licensed operators anywhere in the world. This node operates 24/7 but some features are restricted during nighttime hours (11PM until 7AM)
During the day, Conferencing is enabled permitting multiple stations to connect at any time. This permits several operators from other cities to talk to a visitor here in Napa. For example, Joe WB0XYZ is visiting us from Des Moines. He can talk to his friends back home using nothing but a handheld radio or his mobile. If he knows of an Echolink node near Des Moines he can dial it himself by keying in (DTMF) #nnnnn where # tells the repeater to pass the following tones and nnnnn is the actual node number he wants to enable. A list of active node numbers can be found at
http://www.echolink.org/el/logins.asp
If Joe doesn't know of a node back home, his friends can bring up our system by enabling node 70359 from their home system, link or keyboard. During daytime hours, DTMF is also enabled so remote users can use the links shown above. When Joe is finished with his conversation he can disconnect the link by keying ## or he can ask his remote contact to do it for him.
Local repeater users can talk to anyone they hear on the Echolink system in exactly the same way they talk to other repeater users. You may notice that when Echolink is enabled, the local courtesy tone disappears. It is not necessary to wait for the carrier to drop to respond. The repeater will reset when either party unkeys. Timers are set for 7 minutes so if you time it out it had better be a great story!
During Nighttime hours conferencing and DTMF features are disabled and all connected activity is recorded.
Some additional control codes. Use DTMF on 441.800/446.800
precede all commands with the # sign
| DTMF Code | What it Does |
| # | Disconnects current station |
| ## | Disconnects all stations |
| 86 | Disables the node |
| 68 | Restores the node |
| * | Plays system information |
| 06 | Announces node number of connected station |
| 07 | Announces callsign of connected station |
| 08 | Announces status of node |
| 09 | Reconnects last station heard |
RACES responders: Feel free to disable the node at any time.
Keyboard users: How's your audio? When you drop in via Echolink will you sound good or bad? If you use the .99 cent mike that came with your computer it will probably sound like it. Would you settle for that kind of audio on your expensive dual band radio? A perfectly acceptable microphone can be purchased for under $20 at a store near you.
Please address comments or questions mailto:The Sysop
73 and enjoy our system.