TECHNICAL INFORMATION PAGE

This page contains the story behind the construction of VK6RNC and also provides all the details of circuits for those who wish to build their own repeater.

The story so far:
This Amateur Radio repeater was constructed by the Northern Corridor Radio Group in 1996 and has been tested and refined over several years. The repeater started life as a Philips FM828 which was modified for direct-FM modulation and the transmit and receive sections split up to operate at the same time. In early 2002, a Unilab KL series radio (KL150B) has been modified and put in service to both improve the audio, the receiver and the transmit power. The cavity filters are a combination notch-bandpass-notch filter in each leg of the Transmit and Receive ports and an RF isolator (2x circulators) isolates the TX and RX ports. The feedline is RG213.

The power supply is a Unilab switchmode power supply generating 13.8 Volts at up to 20A and this float charges a couple of 38Ah gel cell batteries through a series diode.

The main controller is based on a VK5 design by the late Alan VK5AM. It is a discrete logic design and allows DTMF control of the FM828/KL radio, power and identification functions. Recent changes with the IRLP link have meant re-designing the controller to change the codes and also re-engineer it for the KL series radio and a new controller is currently being planned.

The identification board used to be a CW ID discrete logic unit, but has changed to an Altronics Kit (Kit 131 Solid State Voice Recorder by http://kitsrus.com) which has allowed a voice identification to be put in parallel with the existing CW ident.

Some of the following people contributed to the repeater hardware and construction:

Phil VK6ZPP, Tony VK6ZDJ, James VK6FJA, Gerald VK6KTN, Alek VK6APK, Darragh VK6ZDW, Greg VK6JGW, Trevor VK6HTW, Richard VK6HRC and the Northern Corridor Radio Group membership.