The MMRA Marlborough West site holds the hub of the MMRA repeater network. Almost every
repeater in the system has a link directly to our repeater on 449.925 MHz. This site is also
home to the 53.81 receiver, the 147.27, 224.880,
and 449.925 repeaters, and the MMRA APRS node on 144.390.
Pictured from left to right in the photo
above is the 52.81 Receiver, 147.270 repeater, 449.925 repeater, APRS (just behind the two by four), and the 224.880 repeater.
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| 53.81 Receiver |
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The 53.81 repeater operates split site, with its transmitter at the MMRA Marlborough East
site, and the receiver here at Marlborough West. The receiver is actually two receivers. These
feed a receiver voting system. The receiver with the strongest incoming signal is feed to the link
transmitter for transmission to the transmit site about 3 miles away. Yes, we have two receivers at the
same site: Our antennas are side mounted on a large steel water tank, which creates a complete 180 degree
shadow. One antenna is on the North side of the tank, the other on the South, so the two patterns combine
to create 360 degree coverage.
For more information about the transmitter, see our page on Marlborough East.
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| 147.27 |
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The 147.270 repeater has been operated by MMRA since 2003. It was acquired from
another amateur radio group who had operated it for at least 20 years prior as a
tenant in MMRA's shelter. When acquired, this repeater was a Motorola base station
repeater controlled by an ACC RC-850 controller. This equipment was retired, and replaced
by a GE Mastr-II base station and SCOM 7K controller. The 7K controller also operates the
224.880 repeater and the link transceiver. Interestingly enough, the 147.270 repeater is
linked to the hub via RF, even though the hub repeater is in the same shelter about two
feet away. Although a hard-wired link is possible, it requires an additional port on
the hub's controller, and increases the overall complexity of the system. The link
transceiver is dual channel and can be set remotely to link to either HUB1 or HUB2.
By the way, the ACC RC-850 controller was sold on eBay and is now operating a repeater
in Southeast Australia!
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| 224.88 |
| The 224.880 repeater looks like a VHF Engineering repeater, but looks
can be deceiving. Although the transmitter is the original equipment, all other
components of the system have been replaced. The receiver is a Maggiore R4V, and
the repeater is controlled by an SCOM 7K controller (shared with the 147.27 machine).
This repeater is normally linked to the W1OJ 10m repeater in Bolton.
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| 449.925 |
 |
This is the center of MMRA's network. All
repeaters in our network link through here. The HUB is a Motorola Micor Compa-station
with an SCOM 7K controller. At the top in the photo is the backside of the duplexer.
Below this you can see the 7K, followed by the guts of the Micor (TX, card cage,
receiver, and power supply). |
| 144.39 APRS |
| MMRA hosts an APRS repeater at this location. It is a Kantronics KPC-3
and a Kenwood transceiver. |