Panoramic view of Ann Arbor from WoTo

A small contingent of worker bees swarmed in on the Wolverine Tower penthouse and performed a number of tasks, the main task being to remove the 443.5 NBFM repeater and replace it with a Motorola DMR repeater on the same frequency.

Since no Internet connection is active to the site at the moment, it is not linked with any other DMR repeaters. So use Timeslot-2, TalkGroup-2, for LOCAL access. Dinesh reconfigured the DMR repeater to attach to our “future” network connection. Please refer to this guide for programming your DMR radio: https://w8rp.org/how-to-guides/dmr-repeater/

I also took some time to reseat the exciter and receiver cards in the Motorola MSR2000 146.96 repeater (’cause it doesn’t hurt to scrape those 30-year-old connectors from time to time). I also gave the guys a tour of the penthouse and the rooftop so they have a better idea of the “future” Heliax replacement project, and WHY it is delicate to work above the boilers and HVAC that support the building. NOT to place to drop a tool or a bundle of Heliax onto 🙁

The process of gaining access and the support we got from building maintenance was EXCELLENT !!!

The following fine folk showed up onsite to perform the work: WB8TKL Jay, AB3DC Dinesh, AC8TO Don, and K8UCH Mitch. Ulysses N4IYL was on his HT a few miles away to give us signal reports.

– Jay WB8TKL

  • Don AC8TO, Dinesh AB3DC and Jay WB8TKL. Missing is Mitch K8UCH.
  • The repeater cabinets
  • ARROW 440 DMR repeater on the top and the 220 repeater on the bottom.
  • ARROW 146.96 repeater
  • The 2m cans. Hidden are the 440 MHz cans.
  • The folded dipoles for 2m, 220 MHz and 440 MHz.
  • Looking North towards Downtown A2.
  • Looking North East.