Cape Meares
John Schneidecker, KA7AHV
Memorial Repeater and
APRS Weather/Digi
On-line

04/12/06 - Lt. John Schneidecker of the Tillamook County Sheriff's office was respected and appreciated county wide. As a regular at the Tillamook Emergency Amateur Radio Services club meeting, John was always supportive and helpful. His background in computer engineering provided substantial assistance to his employer and his interest in Amateur Radio was no secret to anyone who knew John.

John's life was taken in a motorcycle accident just south of Tillamook in 2005. Losing John put a big dent in the Amateur Radio community. It is taking time for those who knew John to come to terms with the loss. Several ideas were considered to memorialize John and the work he had done for Tillamook. The suggestion was made to put his call-sign on one of the repeaters.

The project started with the opportunity for a VHF repeater on Cape Meares. The Oregon Coast Repeater Group took on the challenge of gaining another VHF repeater for Tillamook County. The OCRG is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. Because the OCRG is funding and overseeing the project, donations made for the project can be marked as such and the donor will receive a receipt for tax purposes.

The application for a VHF repeater pair in Oregon is complicated. To receive coordination, one must apply to the repeater council and get the other repeater owners in the state that are on the same frequency to agree that you will not cause them interference. We started with an application for one pair, and had to change to a second pair due to complications. We tested and tried for months to get cooperation on the second pair, but finally had to try a third pair. All of the other owners have now signed off with co-channel letters of approval. At the ORRC meeting in April we will submit the final paperwork to be granted coordination on 147.160 for Cape Meares.

The John Schneidecker Memorial Repeater Club was formed with the task of managing the repeater and obtaining John's call-sign for it. The club consists of John's sister, Heidi Schneidecker McCraw KB5SRL, Gordon McCraw KA5YDJ, Carl Somdahl W7LI, Roger Lincoln W7HH and Daron Wilson N7HQR.

Roger Lincoln provided a GE Master II repeater and cabinet, the cabinet was refurbished by Daron Wilson and lettered with John's call-sign. Two different sets of expensive crystals were funded by Roger and Carl. The system is operating with a temporary controller and will be upgraded to a digital controller capable of having a suitable voice identification. We want to put a full featured controller on the system that will allow recorded voice announcements such as "this is the John Schneidecker Memorial repeater, KA7AHV". All of the equipment installation and tower work have been completed. To round out the installation, an APRS weather station is going to be added to provide live weather data from Cape Meares. It will also appear on the OCRG weather synopsis web page. To keep users informed of weather emergencies, an automatic WX-200 weather receiver will be installed. This receiver listens to the NOAA weather station and automatically rebroadcasts any weather warnings over the repeater.

To meet FCC requirements a UHF control radio will be added on the OCRG linking frequency. This will allow control operators to maintain the repeater, as well as selectively linking the repeater to other services (HEARTnet, IRLP, etc.) if requested. The repeater will operate as a stand alone open repeater and will be linkable if needed for emergency communications. The John Schneidecker Memorial Repeater Club will be administering the operations of the repeater.

So now we need your help. In order to purchase the rest of the equipment outright (Repeater Controller, Weather Station, APRS equipment, NOAA receiver, etc.) the total at this time adds up to about $2,000.00. The OCRG is committed to this project and we have ordered some of the components hoping to raise the funds for the rest of our expenses. Any persons or organizations within the community are invited to participate.

You may support this worthwhile project by sending a contribution to OCRG, PO Box 212, Neotsu, Oregon 97364 and mark it KA7AHV. You will receive a receipt for your taxes.

Questions about the project can be directed to Carl, W7LI at carl@oregoncoast,com or he will forward your comments to the appropriate person in the repeater club for a response.

Carl is the Secretary of the John Schneidecker Memorial Repeater Club. Gordon McCraw is the repeater license trustee.

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FCC grants Oregon Coast Repeater Group
the callsign
W7GC

07/15/05 - On July 15, 2005 the Federal Communications Commission granted to the Oregon Coast Repeater Group the callsign W7GC. The trustee of the Oregon Coast Repeater Group's new callsign is Roger, W7HH. Commenting on this momentous event, OCRG Founding Member, Carl, W7LI, said, "Roger has put in a lot of behind the scenes effort to make this happen." Everyone associated with the OCRG organization thanks Roger, W7HH, for his diligent work in securing the callsign.

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Rose Lodge Weather Station
and
APRS Digipeater On-line

03/11/05 - On March 4, 2005, another OCRG weather station and APRS digipeater was brought on-line. This latest weather station is located near Rose Lodge, OR. It provides real time weather data and APRS coverage for the area near the western entrance to the Henry B. VanDuzer Corridor; which, is located near mile post 9 along Oregon State Highway 18. The station consists of PEET Brothers Weather Station instruments, WxTrak, KPC-3+, Midland VHF radio, VHF antenna, and OCRG Telemetry and Status Monitor.

Weather data from this weather station and the other weather stations operated by OCRG is also being utilized by the Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP). The CWOP is a private/public co-operative effort with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Additional information about the usage of this type of weather data is available at the CWOP web site.

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Weather Alert Feature added to N7HQR 444.750(+) Repeater

12/29/04 - On December 28, 2004, a WX-200 Digital Weather Receiver was connected to the N7HQR 444.750 repeater on Otter Crest. This capability enables both local and visiting amateur radio operators, whether fixed, mobile, or portable, to be instantly alerted to potentially life threatening situations.

The WX-200 monitors the NOAA Weather Radio Network which broadcasts continuous National Weather Service information, warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information 24 hours a day. Along with the routine weather, hazard, and other information the NOAA Weather Radio Network also includes specialized signals designed to alert residents in specific areas about special warnings. By broadcasting these signals, known as SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding), residents can tune in and learn of problems in their own geographical area. The N7HQR weather receiver monitors the co-located NOAA Otter Crest weather transmitter broadcasting on 162.55 MHz and is programmed to decode only SAME warnings coded for Lincoln County.

NOAA Portland transmits a test message scheduled every Wednesday between 11:00 a.m. and noon local time, unless there is a possibility of severe weather. This test will be received by the WX-200 receiver and retransmitted on the Otter Crest repeater. Listen to a NOAA Weekly Test broadcast as transmitted by the N7HQR repeater on December 29, 2004 at 11:00AM PST. W7KKE

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New UHF Repeater on Mt. Hebo

12/12/04 - A new repeater, on 441.250 MHz, is up and running at the OCRG site on Mt. Hebo, courtesy of W7LI. Access requires a + offset and a 118.8 Hz tone. The repeater is open and offers auto-patch to 911 in Tillamook County. Power output is 100 watts. Future plans include access to the Echolink or IRLP networks. Contact W7LI@ocrg.org for further information. N7HQR

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Broadband Connectivity Established on Mt. Hebo

10/02/04 - The equipment is a linksys WET-11 wireless bridge, amplifier, and on the Hebo end a bandpass filter and lightning arrestor. A shielded and gel filled piece of Cat5e data cable was routed up the tower and connected with this industrial watertight fitting and grounded. The watertight Hoffman box has 120volt power coming in through a 16gauge shielded 'tray' cable, which is rated for outdoor direct bury use, a grounding lug is provided as well as the ethernet connector and an antenna connector. Wedged inside the tower mounted box are the electronics, with the power supplies and the 'heater element' on the inside of the door. Initial tests showed a usable signal with a temporary antenna in Bay City feeding up the signal. Very soon we will have real time video from the hilltop to our web page! N7HQR

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New Controller for Otter Crest 444.750 and Tone Change

09/12/04 - The new RC-210 controller was programmed and installed today on the 444.750 machine on Otter Crest. Some initial settings were done to get the levels usable, but more adjustments will be required to finish. The CTCSS tone required for access was changed to 118.8 to match the other OCRG machines. N7HQR

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New Weather Station Installed on Mt. Hebo

08/20/04 - The new weather station arrived and was carefully unboxed and installed on Mt. Hebo. This new Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100 was needed to replace some used gear that was proving to be unreliable. Over the next couple weeks we'll get the heaters finished to keep the gear warm for the winter. N7HQR

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Where to Mail Donations:

Checks can be made out to Oregon Coast Repeater Group, Inc.Cash donations are also accepted. Mail your donation to:

OCRG c/o Daron Wilson (N7HQR),
PO Box 212
Neotsu, Oregon 97364
(Telephone 541-270-5886).

The OCRG maintains a special bank account for repeater systems construction, maintenance, and operation at the Oregon Coast Bank in Newport and Pacific City.

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