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The Network Local Radio Amateurs are blessed and cursed by having so many high mountain ranges in and around the Cape Peninsula. The curse is the relative difficulty with simplex VHF/UHF operation, but the blessing is the availability of many high sites where repeaters can be accommodated. A further blessing is that Amateur Radio in the Western Cape has access to some of the prime repeater sites by courtesy of official and commercial site owners and operators. Repeater Network Documentation
We are fortunate to have a large network of interlinked repeaters that stretches from Cape Town to the Eastern Cape and Transkei. The repeaters are linked by UHF relays and the links between different repeaters can be turned on and off using DTMF tones.
Herman ZS1HZ has
produced a diagram of the Western and Eastern Cape repeater
systems, which provides most of the information required by
repeater users. The diagram is in PDF format and requires Adobe
Acrobat to read the file. Most Popular Cape Town Repeaters
The most popular repeaters in the Cape Town area are the 145.750 MHz repeater on Kanonkop, which provides good coverage of most areas excluding the Atlantic Seaboard and is used for general chat purposes; and the 145.700 MHz repeater on Constantiaberg which is mostly used for scheduled nets like
Hamnet which has a bulletin every Wednesday at 8:00 pm. An 88.5 Hz CTCSS tone is required to activate the 145.700 MHz repeater but not for the 145.750 MHz repeater. In both cases the repeaters operate with a transmit offset of -600 KHz. Visitors to the Cape are welcome to use both of these repeaters. Please observe normal repeater etiquette and ensure that you leave a 2 second pause between transmissions for breakers or emergency traffic.
Western Cape
Repeater Working Group Repeaters
in the Western Cape are owned and operated by the Amateur Radio
clubs in the Peninsula. The Western Cape Repeater Working Group
(WCRWG) was formed to co-ordinate the activities around the
management of operating a repeater network of this magnitude and
calibre. Each of the radio clubs have one or more representatives
serving on the working group where technical service, operational
issues, licensing and network upgrading and expansion is
discussed. The working group draws on the technical and
management skills of club members to execute its task as
custodian of the network. WCRWG
Postal Address Western Cape
Repeater Fund The
Repeater Working Group also manages the Western Cape Repeater
Fund which funds the expenses of repeater operations, regular
maintenance and network improvement and expansion. The Repeater Working Group encourages individual
repeater users to make contributions for their use of the system.
These contributions may be made monthly or annually and should be
forwarded to the postal address. Direct bank transfers are
possible too. Users can also
contribute to the repeater fund by joining one of the Amateur
Radio clubs in the Cape Peninsula. These radio clubs provide most
of the income by contributing to the repeater fund from their
club fees.
WCRF
Bank Account Join your local
radio club and support the repeater network. |
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