Ridge Amateur Radio Club
W4RRC | Batesburg-Leesville, SC | 147.255+ 123.0

About the Repeater


The W4RRC Repeater is located in the Heart of Batesburg-Leesville on the Town Municipal water tank located at Hendrix Street and Highway #1 (East Columbia Ave.) The base of the antenna is at a height of approximately 125 feet connected to the duplexer via 7/8 Hardline. Transmitter output power of 60 watts provides coverage into Columbia, Aiken, Prosperity, Orangeburg and Edgefield. The W4RRC Repeater is an open repeater but operates with a PL tone of 123 Hz to avoid interference. The PL tone may be deactivated simply by sending 123 on your DTMF keypad should you not have PL tone encode capabilities.


The Technical Specifications


147.255 MHz+ shift
PL Tone 123 Hz.
OPEN

Antenna: Decibel Products DB264, 4 Bay Folded Dipole.

Battery Backup: Exide EMF-240R, 268 Ah. - 12.0 VDC Gas Recombinant L.A. Battery Bank.

Battery Charging: GNB Monitor II, Temperature Compensated Automatic L.A. Battery Charger/Tester/Monitor

Controller: Computer Automation Technology, CAT-300DX with MF-1000 Serial Interface, DL-1000C Audio Delay Card, Ming DVM-58D Digital Voice Recorder Module, and custom built S-Meter interrogation and read-back board.

D.C. Standby Controller:Aerotron 1074 Automatic transfer from AC to DC Backup.

Duplexer: Wacom Products, Inc. WP-642, 6 Cavity Band Pass/Band Reject Duplexer

Receiver/Transmitter: Aerotron MPAC VHF High Band Base Station Repeater
Specifications: Freq. Range 132 to 174 MHz

Receiver
Channels Up to 4
Sensitivity .18uV 12 dB SINAD with optional preamp
Intermodulation -80 dB
Spurious and image rejection-100 dB
Freq. Stability +/- 0.0005%

Transmitter:
Freq. Range 132 to 174 MHz
Channels Up to 4
RF Power Output Adjustable 60 - 110 Watts 50Ohm
(Set for 60 watts output)
Freq. Stability +/- 0.0005%
Spurious and harmonic output 85 dB below rated output


Repeater History


Reaching out into the surrounding Midland counties of South Carolina is the W4RRC Repeater System located atop the Batesburg-Leesville Municipal Water Tower. Born of the idea by Bill Robison [W4GIV][SK] and Rodger Williamson [N4NRW] that the twin cities of Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina were in need of a private, non-profit, sophisticated and reliable form of communication to serve and protect the municipality and its surrounding areas in event of an emergency.

During construction, assembly, tuning, and testing, the Repeater went online first under the call sign of Bill Robison as [W4GIV][SK]. Later, having been installed at the municipal site, Dr. Alan Brewer was appointed Trustee and the machine call was changed to [N4HL]. Shortly thereafter, the RARC Club License was approved by the FCC and the Repeater was aligned with the new license under [KF4CMD]. It was during this time that the Vanity Call System was opened by the Federal Communications Commission and with research conducted by club member, Wayne Carroll [W4MPY], he applied for the Vanity call sign of [W4RRC] on behalf of the RARC under which the system now operates.

W4RRC would not have been a reality if it had not been for the gracious assistance of the Batesburg-Leesville community in its donations and skills. We would like to thank Union Switch and Signal, Columbia Farms, Avtec Corporation, J.B. Martin, Inc., B-L Seniors Club, Rileys Communications, Inc., Bobs ACE Hardware, B-L Concrete Finishing, Shealy's Bar B Que, and a special thanks to the Batesburg-Leesville Town Officials for allowing the installation on the town water tank.

Many thanks also to those individuals who were instrumental in breathing life into the RARC Repeater system and strive to keep it in top working condition. Recognition goes to former Repeater Trustee, club founder, and President Emeritus, Mr. Bill Robison [W4GIV] [SK] and his wife, Norma [KF4JDF], to present Repeater Trustee, Rodger Williamson [N4NRW], to Control Operator, C.W. Gantt [W4CWG][SK], Bob Penick [KE4BNJ], Bill Smyth [WA4ZZQ], Jim Rotan [KD4OK], Wayne Carroll [W4MPY], Dr. Alan Brewer [N4HL], and to all then members of the RARC who made this project happen!