[OZAPRS] Sydney NW repeater

[Gerard Hill]

The north-west part of Sydney is currently poorly served by APRS 
digipeaters on 2m. This is the area known as The Hills District and the 
area north towards Windsor and Richmond. You can imagine the terrain as 
its not called the Hills for nothing.

When driving along the ridges, its possible to make it into the 
Illawarra repeater 100km to the south or the Sydney CBD repeater 30km to 
the south east. Sometimes its possible to get into the Asquith local 
digi 12km east or even the one on the northern beaches 25km east, though 
terrain does not favour these as there is a ridge in between that runs 
north-south.

Dropping down towards the valleys, coverage deteriorates quickly and it 
doesn't take long to fall out of range of all repeaters. A local digi is 
sorely needed to help APRS coverage in Sydney's north-west.

Recently there was a WICEN exercise and a temporary repeater (VK2RWK-1) 
was set up off the national frequency at Kurrajong Heights, 50km NW of 
the area. This definitely improved coverage, especially on the western 
edge, but it is too far away to be considered "local". And 
unfortunately, its not permanent or even on the right frequency.

There may be a possibility of siting a fill-in repeater at Dural which 
is likely to be one of the best spots to cover the difficult terrain in 
the area. This would obviously require clearance from the WIA. The 
equipment is available as we saw earlier in the week though it seems 
some tweaking of timing and other parameters would be needed.

Another thing that's needed is some assistance and encouragement. I 
think those willing to put in the effort to set up a fill-in digi for 
Sydney north-west should be applauded for their initiative.

Cheers ... Gerard, VK2IO
-------------- next part --------------

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com 
Version: 8.5.425 / Virus Database: 270.14.60/2496 - Release Date: 11/11/09 07:40:00