The ARROW operates 3 voice repeaters in Washtenaw County, MIchigan. These repeaters are located atop the Wolverine Tower building on the South side of Ann Arbor near the State Street exit off I-94:

  • 2 Meter Repeater: 146.96 MHz with a -0.6 MHz offset and a PL of 100 Hz (only when needed)
  • 220 MHz Repeater: 224.38 MHz with a -1.6 MHz offset (no PL required).
  • 440 MHz Repeater: 443.50 MHz with a +5 MHz offset. This is now a DMR repeater with a local talk group (TG 312654) and the Michigan talk group (TG 3126) on Timeslot 1 and some national channels on Timeslot 2. Instructions on how to set up your radio are here.

The 2 Meter and 220 MHz repeaters can be crosslinked on demand by user code 221 on your DTMF pad.  To unlink, simply enter 220.  The repeaters will automatically crosslink on Mondays at 7:45pm and remain linked until 9:15pm, so Check-Ins to the ARROW Monday Night Net can check in through either repeater system.

All of the Repeaters are now packaged into a single 19″ Rack-Mount cabinet.  Most of the Duplexer (Cavities) are housed in a separate cabinet.

  • Power Strip
  • PDU – Power Distribution Unit (individually switchable outlets)
  • AREDN Ethernet/POE shelf (equipment not shown)
  • Internet, Firewall, WIN-10 PC shelf (equipment not shown)
  • Arcom RC-210 Repeater Controller (up to 3 repeaters)
  • Bridgecom BCR-50V 2-Meter Repeater
  • Bridgecom BCR-220 220 MHz Repeater
  • Motorola UHF DMR Repeater

   The ARROW also supports portions of the AREDN (Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network) high-speed microwave data network being developed around Washtenaw County.  This network is a self-forming MESH network using off-the-shelf WiFi routers from MicroTik and Ubiquiti.  On average, nodes cost around $100 each. 

We have secured sites atop St.Joseph Hospital, Wolverine Tower, a privately owned tower West of Ann Arbor, and a high site in Chelsea, all linked using the 5.8 GHz band.  These nodes form the backbone of the network.  From each site we also provide 2.4 GHz downlink nodes for user connections.  But be aware that microwave works on a clear LOS (Line-of-Sight) path and don’t bounce off buildings or go through trees very well.  So nodes need to be up in the air above the trees.  

The network carries TCP/IP packets in the Net-10 (10.x.y.z) address space, and can carry services such as Web pages, PTZ (Pan/Tilt/Zoom) cameras, VoIP (Voice over IP) telephones, Web-Chat, or any other IP-based services.   We also link area Repeaters that require Internet connectivity, such as Fusion and AllStar links.  Anything that runs over TCP/IP can be attached, BUT…as Amateurs we are NOT allowed SSL encryption, so SSH, HTTPS, SFTP, etc. are not allowed.  

This map shows our network with some links that are expected to be completed, soon: