amdx wrote:
http://gizmodo.com/the-purpose-behin...tow-1539151187

We have a much nicer tower here :-)

It is 365m high in a flat country, or 1200ft in your language.

It was built over 50 years ago, as part of the analog TV network
covering our (small and flat) country. Today it is still used for
high-power FM transmitters, and there are DVB-T transmitters for TV
with of course a lot less power than the old analog transmitters.

There are several amateur radio repeaters located the

- a 2 meter FM repeater, PI3UTR, http://pi3utr.nl/ (nice picture)
- an ATV repeater transmitting on 3cm in FM and DVB-S with inputs
on several UHF bands, PI6ATV, http://pi6atv.com/
- 70cm D-STAR and DMR repeaters, PI1UTR, http://pi1utr.nl/

We consider ourselves lucky to be able to locate repeaters at such
an elevated site, with a large coverage area. Most of the equipment
is located in the "crow's nest" at about 220m, with antennas on
top of that and higher up in the tower. Fortunately the tower is
a metal tube mast with elevator.

On 4/22/2014 10:20 AM, Rob wrote:
amdx wrote:
http://gizmodo.com/the-purpose-behin...tow-1539151187

We have a much nicer tower here :-)

It is 365m high in a flat country, or 1200ft in your language.

It was built over 50 years ago, as part of the analog TV network
covering our (small and flat) country. Today it is still used for
high-power FM transmitters, and there are DVB-T transmitters for TV
with of course a lot less power than the old analog transmitters.

There are several amateur radio repeaters located the

- a 2 meter FM repeater, PI3UTR, http://pi3utr.nl/ (nice picture)
- an ATV repeater transmitting on 3cm in FM and DVB-S with inputs
on several UHF bands, PI6ATV, http://pi6atv.com/
- 70cm D-STAR and DMR repeaters, PI1UTR, http://pi1utr.nl/

We consider ourselves lucky to be able to locate repeaters at such
an elevated site, with a large coverage area. Most of the equipment
is located in the "crow's nest" at about 220m, with antennas on
top of that and higher up in the tower. Fortunately the tower is
a metal tube mast with elevator.


Rob,

Yes, you're lucky to have a repeater that high in such a flat and
beautiful country (we loved visiting there!). Where is it located, and
is it able to cover the entire country from there?


--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry, AI0K

==================

Jerry Stuckle wrote:
On 4/22/2014 10:20 AM, Rob wrote:
amdx wrote:
http://gizmodo.com/the-purpose-behin...tow-1539151187

We have a much nicer tower here :-)

It is 365m high in a flat country, or 1200ft in your language.

It was built over 50 years ago, as part of the analog TV network
covering our (small and flat) country. Today it is still used for
high-power FM transmitters, and there are DVB-T transmitters for TV
with of course a lot less power than the old analog transmitters.

There are several amateur radio repeaters located the

- a 2 meter FM repeater, PI3UTR, http://pi3utr.nl/ (nice picture)
- an ATV repeater transmitting on 3cm in FM and DVB-S with inputs
on several UHF bands, PI6ATV, http://pi6atv.com/
- 70cm D-STAR and DMR repeaters, PI1UTR, http://pi1utr.nl/

We consider ourselves lucky to be able to locate repeaters at such
an elevated site, with a large coverage area. Most of the equipment
is located in the "crow's nest" at about 220m, with antennas on
top of that and higher up in the tower. Fortunately the tower is
a metal tube mast with elevator.


Rob,

Yes, you're lucky to have a repeater that high in such a flat and
beautiful country (we loved visiting there!). Where is it located, and
is it able to cover the entire country from there?

It is located in IJsselstein, in the center of the country. You will
have seen the tower when you have driven on the highways near Utrecht
(A2, A12, A27), it is hard to miss...

During christmas time, lights are mounted to make it look like a
giant christmas tree. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerbrandy_Tower

It doesn't quite cover the entire country. The optical horizon is
about 60km, so on 2 meters it can be worked by fixed stations within
about 80-100km. While the country is small, that isn't enough to
cover all of it.

There is a similar tower in Smilde, in the northern part of the
country. Or rather I should say "was", as it collapsed in 2011
after fire broke out. It was rebuilt, but now it is a lattice
mast rather than a tube mast. Not fun to put antennas in there.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zendstation_Smilde

Other smaller towers are in Goes (southwest), Roermond (southeast)
Arnhem (east) and Wieringermeer (northwest). All those combined would
provide full coverage of the country.

And in fact that is what the next project is. The repeater will be
extended into a co-channel diversity system, with all receivers and
transmitters on the same repeater channel (145.575 -.6) all interconnected.

A similar system has already been built by another group operating on
70cm, but with lower antenna positions covering the northeast part of
the country using 18 interconnected repeaters all on 430.275 MHz
See http://www.coversity.nl/images/stand.jpg