W7FEL CCARC Repeater 146.760 MHz

The Clallam County Amateur Radio Club owns, operates, and maintains a Yaesu DR1X System Fusion 2m VHF-FM repeater located at the State DNR’s Striped Peak communications site. The Club has maintained a repeater online at this location for over 20 years. The old GE Master II Repeater was replaced with the Yaesu in April, 2015. The new Yaesu is capable of FM and C4FM digital modes.

As of August 2015, we have installed a repeater in Forks, another Yaesu DR1X, also capable of FM as well as C4FM digital modes. It is located at the Forks Police Department and will eventually (in a few months) be connected to Striped Peak.

The purpose of this repeater is to enhance FM communications in Clallam County beyond the limits of simplex operation, allowing for wide-area coverage in and around Clallam County. Both the CCARC and CCARES/RACES organizations reserve the use of the repeater during nets, emergencies, and planned events. Unless otherwise pre-occupied, the repeater is open for general use by all licensed hams, both north and south of the border.

Striped Peak Communications Site (click on picture to visit the W7FEL photo gallery)




	Repeater Location and Coverage Area (click on picture to visit the ‘Location and Coverage Area’ section)

		See photos of our new W7FEL Yaesu hardware, as well as other historical photos.

	The Striped Peak site is located approximately 11 miles west of Port Angeles, WA, near the town of Joyce; 26 kilometers south of Sooke, BC and 39 kilometers southwest of Victoria, BC. Striped Peak’s geographic location and the repeater’s current technical configuration allows for the repeater to cover many other areas in the region, from Everett to Vancouver, west to Port Renfrew and Neah Bay, and most of the Olympic National Park high country. Please visit the Location and Coverage page for details and maps.


	Operation of the repeater requires a 2-meter FM transceiver capable of transmitting a CTCSS tone. For those unfamiliar with CTCSS (also known as ‘PL’ or ‘Channel Guard’) please click here for details.(Adobe Acrobat Reader required, use the link at left.)

In addition to the main 100Hz CTCSS tone, the repeater also incorporates two ‘remote receivers’ to improve repeater reception in fringe areas, covering many areas that were previously ‘dead spots’. Please visit the Technical Section to learn more about remote receivers and how they are used in this application.

W7FEL Repeater
Basic Information

(see the Technical Section for details)

Repeater Output Frequency	146.760 MHz
Repeater Input Frequency	146.160 MHz
TX Offset	-600 KHz (-0.6 MHz)
TX CTCSS ‘PL’ Tone (required for repeater access.) See Remote Receiver Project Status below.	Striped (Central) Receiver	100.0 Hz

	Carlsborg (East) Receiver	77.0 Hz
Forks (West)	145.210 MHz	100.0 Hz
RX CTCSS Tone (required for tone squelch operation.)	100.0 Hz



	Important Information & Bulletins

	April 2015 Repeater Replacement: Please read this document to learn about the DR1X System Fusion 2m VHF-FM repeater.

	Nets and Activities: There are two nets performed weekly by the CCARC and CCARES/RACES groups. Check out the ‘Local Activities’ page for details on these and other regularly scheduled nets.

	Remote Receiver Project Status: The remote receivers are a part of an ongoing receive coverage improvement experiment. Coordination will be sought when more permanent site and design choices are made. All repeater experiments are closely coordinated with the Federal Way ARC as per co-channel agreement requirements. This specific project HAS BEEN APPROVED by the Federal Way ARC. The Ellis Mountain ‘west’ remote receiver is no longer available for use. Ellis Mountain is located about 15 miles north of Forks at 2600 feet. This is a ‘high site’ that was intended to extend recieve coverage for the repeater’s west coverage area. It is reported that this remote receiver was a night and day difference better than the Striped receiver out in Forks, but was subject to intermittent interference from co-located transmitters at the site. The site is no longer operational. The Carlsborg ‘east’ remote receiver is open for use. It is a ‘low-site’ that is located near the Game Farm in Sequim. With the installation of the new Yaesu repeater in April, 2015, there are some additional requirements to use this remote receiver. Please read the project documentation. The remote receivers, along with the repeater itself, all have battery backup and have the ability to operate for long periods of time on emergency power..

	*The repeater can’t stay on the air without your support !* The repeater’s equipment, operating, and maintenance costs are funded entirely by the membership of the Clallam County Amateur Radio Club, and donations to the Club. Because some of these costs are recurring on a yearly basis and ultimately absorbed by the CCARC, it is urged that all regular users of the repeater support the CCARC by maintaining membership with the Club.

	Frequency Coordination Information The W7FEL repeater’s main non-experimental components are coordinated in accordance with the Western Washington Amateur Relay Association policies and by-laws. This repeater has a co-channel agreement with the Federal Way Amateur Radio Club, which also has a repeater on the frequency of 146.760, located in the Auburn area. The FWARC repeater can be heard marginally in the east end of Clallam County, but after extensive field tests it has been determined that there is not enough evidence to claim that the FWARC system causes any 'harmful interference' to the CCARC repeater in its intended coverage area. The CCARC repeater is not heard at all in the FWARC’s coverage area. According to FCC rules, simply 'hearing' the FWARC repeater when the CCARC repeater isn't transmitting is NOT interference; it's an annoyance. If you wish to block your receiver from hearing the FWARC repeater but still be able to hear the CCARC repeater, enable the CTCSS "tone squelch decode" feature on your radio. Please read the following PDF article “Decoding the Secrets of CTCSS”, an article from the December 1996 article of QST, for more information about this concept. If your radio is incapable of this feature, using a Yagi antenna or raising the squelch on your receiver may eliminate the unwanted signal.

	Repeater Contact Information:
	Please contact the W7FEL Repeater Trustee for additional technical information.
	Or you may contact the CCARC Club President for additional technical information.