The Sebring .675 Repeater remains online, but coverage has significantly decreased. Here’s a summary of what occurred and what we’re doing to resolve it.
Yesterday, Oct. 22, a group along with the new Sebring SAR Net Repeater Trustee visited the tower site to perform maintenance and update programming on the Sebring SAR Net Repeater. During that visit, we discovered that our repeater was using the SAR Net antenna (Commscope DB 420), and their repeater was connected to our old antenna(Commscope DB 410)
Both coax cables were correctly labeled so this isn’t a mix up, it was an arrangement that had originally been made by the late John KK4LI / WRUA546 (SK), the former Sebring SAR Net Trustee, to help improve our repeater’s performance temporarily until he could get the DB 410 antenna replaced.
However, the SAR Net antenna (DB420) was specifically installed and aimed toward Yeehaw Junction to optimize the link for the statewide SAR Net system, which connects over 115 active repeaters across Florida. The local team graciously offered to temporarily switch the antennas back for our scheduled nets, with the understanding that if severe weather approached, the configuration might need to be changed again.
After consideration, I’ve decided not to request a temporary switch. The local group has kindly offered to assist us in procuring a new antenna and arrange a climber for installation, ensuring a long term fix for our system.
At this time, the antenna currently in use (DB-410) by the Sebring .675 Repeater does have known issues.
• the fact I personally dislike that it is manufactured to be directional which does reduce local coverage as is.
• It was tilted over during a past thunderstorm, further limiting access, especially from handhelds, into the repeater from some areas we used to have exceptional coverage.
We expect this issue to be resolved within an estimated 2–3 weeks. During this period, please be patient as we work to restore full performance. In the meantime, we will still run our weekly Tuesday and Wednesday nets at 7:30 PM and we invite all Ham and GMRS operators to join our Zello based group, the Highlands County Radio Operators Channel. This channel was created to provide a reliable way for local operators to stay connected during repeater outages or just to have a reason for some of us to use our POC radios.
Join us on Zello:
Search for Highlands County Radio Operators in the Zello app, visit www.zello.com/HCRO, or use the link below:
https://zello.com/HCRO
For comments or questions, please use the Contact Trustee section to directly get in contact with one of the Trustees for HCGMRS Group ,Sebring .675 Repeater System.
Thank you all for your understanding, support, and continued participation in our local communications community.
Sean Norris
WRUB513 / WW4EOC
Primary Trustee, HCGMRS Group
Sebring .675 Repeater
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