Original site test
- When the York Water Company built their large water tank adjacent to the SPCG repeater, it turned out to be an excellent RF shield for the south side of the repeater. In addition, GS Communications is not going to renew their lease on the repeater site. All that means is that the 146.7 repeater needs a new home.
- President Gary (N3YYC), and others, have been working on a presentation to the Shrewsbury Borough, which would allow us to mount an antenna on top of a 100 foot tall water tower on the north side of town. A site would be needed at the base of the tank to house the repeater equipment. This move would allow the SPCG repeater to serve as the backbone for emergency communications in the area.
- The Borough asked for a communications test. John (K3NXU) built a "simplex-repeater" for this test. He attached a Radio Shack simplex-repeater to a hand-held, put it in a plastic box with a battery and an external mag-mount. Don (N3QVJ) and Mike (N3YRR) climber the tower one Saturday in April and installed the package on the top.
- The radio operated on the 146.700 MHZ repeater frequency. It listened on 146.100 and recorded 30 seconds of transmission. It then transmitted that recording on 146.700. Anyone operating on the repeater frequencies without tones would not key up the repeater. However, this device would hear the transmission and then re-broadcast it. This allowed stations to talk and then hear themselves repeated. This allowed us to test the repeater coverage without coordinating activities with other people to listen while you transmitted.
- The "simplex-repeater" operated for almost an entire week on the two batteries. This allowed many club members the opportunity to drive around the country-side talking to themselves. <g-r-i-n> It also made for some rather bizarre situations for people who didn't know what was going on!
- The following weekend Mike (N3YRR) and Dawn (KB3CTE), under the watchful eye of President/Dad Gary (N3YYC) climbed the tower to retrieve the radio. Bill (WA3PQN) was on hand with a camera for Dawn to take pictures from the top. Gene (W6ORZ) took pictures of the operation from the ground (who's the smart one here!). Harry (KX3M) provided moral support from the cheering section.
- We didn't have someone taking pictures when the radio went up the tower; but, here's some pictures from the removal day.
Northwest
West 
Southwest
South 
Southeast
The tower off in the distance is next to the current repeater site. The repeater is on the right next to that tower. The new Wal-Mart Shopping Center is to the left.
East 
Mike, N3YRR, holding the 2m mag mount antenna. Yes it was cold and breezy both.
Mike, N3YRR, sets the mag mount in the operating position.
The breakfast crew before the trip to the tower. From left: Dawn (KB3CTE), Don (N3VQJ) and Colleen, President Gary (N3YYC), Rich (N3NSN), The First Lady (no call sign - YET!!), Jim (KA7E.
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