Tim G4VXE gives us a mention in his PW World of VHF article

Article by Tim Kirby G4VXE in December 2018 issue of Practical Wireless magazine

Our Zello Gateway gets a mention in Radio User magazine

Article on Network Radio by Chris Rolinson G7DDN from the November 2018 issue of Radio User magazine

Zello

Zello which was added to our VoIP gateway two years ago to allow our repeater keepers monitor the network remotely has now been make available to licensed Radio Amateurs. Until recently access to Zello was restricted to a small group of our members but with the rise in popularity of network radio we began getting requests for access from other Radio Amateurs who spotted our presence on Zello. This has seen a notable increase in activity on the network.
Information regarding access to our Zello channel can be found on the Internet Gateway page.

EI2MLP APRS Digipeater

Our APRS digi EI2MLP located at Mt. Leinster Co. Carlow which had been off air recently is now back up and running.
Any reports/queries can be emailed to sirnrepeaters@gmail.com.

EI7WCD Digital Repeater

EI7WCD is now back online. Signal reports gratefully received, though it is expected that its coverage will be reduced from what is was before.

Mt. Leinster 4m Port

The 4m port of the EI7MLR repeater at Mt. Leinster (70.400MHz) is no longer operational due to interference problems. It is hoped to get it back on air as soon as an alternate location can be found.

EI7WCD Digital Repeater

The EI7WCD MMDVM digital repeater located in Tramore Co. Waterford is temporarily off air awaiting relocation. We hope to have it back on air shortly.
Updates will be posted here.

EI2TTP APRS Digipeater

Some maintenance work was carried out on our APRS digipeater EI2TTP located at Templetown on the Hook Peninsula Co. Wexford on Saturday May 12th. The antenna hardware was replaced and the config files were updated.
Excellent weather on the day made the task on the antenna a little easier and special thanks to Francis EI5GOB for carrying out the work.
This digi is in operation since 2005 and covers South Wexford, Waterford Harbour and the low lying areas of the Waterford coast.

Site View showing Hook Head Lighthouse in the background

EI2FHP-2 APRS Digi relocated to Helvick Head

Our APRS digipeater EI2FHP-2 which covers the West Waterford and East Cork areas has been relocated from the QTH of Francis EI5GOB to the nearby site of the 2m voice repeater EI2HHR at Helvick Head. This has been made possible following recent experiments by Neil EI3JE involving the modification of bandpass cavities to BpBr filters allowing both the repeater and APRS digi operate from the same site without interfering with each other . The APRS digi is now using a folded dipole antenna at 70 feet on the tower which is our standby antenna for the repeater. The relocation work was carried out today by Neil EI3JE and John EI8JA. The group wishes to thank Francis EI5GOB for hosting the APRS digi at his QTH since it was put on air in 2005.

The equipment rack at Helvick Head showing the APRS equipment in the centre and the filters on top

Analog to DMR gateway

Our analog repeater network can now be accessed from the Brandmeister DMR network using talkgroup 27240. The gateway was built by Neil EI3JE and links to the system from Waterford City.
It appears to be working well and some DMR users have tried it already.

Reports to: sirnrepeaters@gmail.com

EI VHF Activity Nights

 

In order to support the EI VHF Activity Nights initiative, we would like to encourage all radio amateurs to make an effort to use the Southern Ireland Repeater Network on the first two Tuesdays of each month. 

Just access the network via your local repeater and give a call. Also remember that the fourth Tuesday of each month is digital night and you can access the Brandmeister network via our two digital repeaters in Waterford.

For more information on the EI VHF Activity Nights, go to  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aEuvzFQ3eIv3kXeDPCf5dP_hPfTJJki7pwaEmQdlBMk/edit?usp=sharing

EI7CDD Digital Repeater

The digital side of our EI7CDD repeater has now been restored to normal operation. We have also updated it to the latest firmware and changed the image on the Raspberry Pi to the latest version of Pi-Star.

Reports or comments to: sirnrepeaters@gmail.com

New MMDVM digital repeater for the Waterford City area

A new MMDVM digital repeater has just been put into service to cover East Waterford/Waterford City area. It's located at the QTH of John EI7IG in Tramore Co. Waterford. Callsign EI7WCD, Frequency 439.675, Shift -9MHz (DVU54), DMR colour code 1. Output power is 30 watts into a folded dipole favouring North. It is currently running DMR, Fusion and Analog modes and it is hoped to have DStar running on it soon.

Enquiries can be emailed to: sirnrepeaters@gmail.com

EI7CDD Digital Repeater

The digital side of our MMDVM repeater EI7CDD in West Waterford is currently offline, We will post status updates here.

EI7MLR Update

On visiting the repeater site today we discovered that one of the antenna support poles had broken off in the storm. This has been sorted and the repeater is back on air.

EI7MLR Repeater Off Air

EI7MLR on Mt. Leinster (430.950) is down in signal since the storm last night so it's been shut down to preserve the PA. We'll post updates on here.

Thanks to Michael EI4HMB for the report.

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Access to EI2DBR Repeater changed to CTCSS

Our 2 meter repeater EI2DBR on 145.650 located at Devil's Bit Co. Tipperary has been suffering from interference on and off for the past while due to intermod. The interference is very intermittent and out of our control so we decided to change the access to CTCSS to prevent the false triggering of the repeater causing an annoyance to users.
A site visit was made today 12/01/2018 to made the necessary changes and the tone 103.5Hz was decided on and programmed in the unit.

Any users with queries regarding the changes can email them to: sirnrepeaters@gmail.com

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Bweeng Repeater Relocation

It recently became necessary to relocate our 70cm repeater EI7BWR on 430.875 to an alternative site due to change of site owners who were not as accommodating to amateur radio. The new site is Mullaghanish Mountain which is located on the Cork/Kerry border. The coverage from the new site should be similar to the previous site but with improved coverage in a Westerly direction. Because of the relocation and to keep with the licencing format the callsign has been changed to EI7MHR.

Reports and enquiries can be emailed to sirnrepeaters@gmail.com
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Our 2 meter repeater EI2DBR on 145.650 located at Devil's Bit Co. Tipperary has been suffering from interference on and off for the past while due to intermod. The interference is very intermittent and out of our control so we are thinking of making the repeater tone access to stop the interference triggering it. We have decided to put it online for comment before making the change so we'd appreciate any input from users.