Dahlonega N4KHQ Repeaters

It is time for an update to the Dahlonega Repeater sites; I'm already having trouble remembering the calls of all the people that helped with the repeater work. The video I took in 1999 used QuickTime plugins which no longer work in a modern web browser. Putting video on a website 17 years ago was very different from today. This is a complete rebuild of the pages, but my interest in repeaters is not what it was when I was young. At one time, phone patches, frequency agile remote bases, and linked repeaters allowing 2 meter mobile communication from Atlanta to Memphis, TN, was really cool. Cell phones and the internet changed everything. ECHO link on the 2 meter repeater allows me to use my iPhone and talk all over the world. If I go out of town, I text Brian Henderson (K1XY) to monitor 146.835 so I can test ECHO link. I have never done a good job documenting the repeaters with photos; click here for more photos mostly taken by Andrew and Brian.

With the help of Art Bohrman (N4FBH silent key), I got my first repeater (146.835) coordinated on Black Mountain on 7/4/1989. Hugh Pearson (KB4IZF) loaned me a Motorola Micor mobile until Art had time to convert a Micor I bought at a hamfest. Hugh taught me to do the Micor conversion, and I converted 12 mobiles to repeaters for backup repeaters but never used but one. Conversion was not an easy process; check my 220 conversion page. Dave Ackley (W4UWH) taught and helped me to convert and build 8 GE Mastr II repeaters. At one time, I had four 220 repeaters, two 440 repeaters, and the 146.835 2 meter repeater. As of 2015, I have a total of 4 repeaters, the146.835, 442.100, 224.98, and 224.48. I gave the Cove Mountain repeater near Pigeon Forge, TN, to John Kimbrough (WR3S) and the Oglethorpe Mountain repeater to Randy Powell (KC4AQS).

Coil Modification

In 1994 the Forest Service made me remove the 2 meter repeater from Black Mountain, and Roger Wiley (KC4JNN) got me in touch with Dean Bisky (W4BCS). Dean allowed me to place the repeater on his site, the current location. Dean has been paying the power bill for 22 years as a service to hams. Bill O'Leksy (KF4IE) was able to get the Forest Service to allow us back on the Black Mountain site after a year of negoiation with the help of Don Seabolt. I left the 2 meter on Bisky Mountain and put the 443.100 on Black Mountain.

Black Mountain viewed from Sky Country

As if June 2015