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KAF9830 GMRS Repeaters! |
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Welcome to KAF9830.com
KAF9830 is the FCC assigned call sign of two General Mobile Radio Service radio repeater stations. One is located on the Chesapeake Bay at Plum Point (Neeld Estate) in Southern Maryland. The second is on a tower at the north side of Calvert County, MD. The General Mobile Radio Service is a radio service for personal licensees (families) to use for family activities. Situated just 800 feet from the Bay, the radio system at Plum Point has great potential for GMRS users vacationing or living in this area. The north end repeater provides mobile and portable coverage in this general area. A radio repeater used with appropriate base, portable, and mobile radio equipment greatly increases effective radio range. By making personal arrangements with the owner of KAF9830 you can share these unique Southern Maryland communication resources. Repeater Status: As of 2/08/2008 the 462.650 repeater is on the air from Sunderland at the north end of Calvert County. As of 6/5/08 the 462.550 is back on the air on the Chesapeake Bay at Plum Point, MD.
In July of 2007 I added a second repeater on 462.550 MHz. This is a Bridgecom repeater currently on a DB-408 serving the Bay from Plum Point, MD. The KAF9830 462.550 repeater is located at Plum Point, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay at an altitude of about 60 feet. The site is a residential area adjacent to Breezy Point Marina and Breezy Point Park, in Neeld Estate, directly across the Chesapeake Bay from the mouth of the Choptank River, Tighlman Island, and the Sharp's Point Lighthouse. The group CTCSS tone is the GMRS Travel Tone of 141.3 Hz. The 462.550 repeater also uses 156.7. There is a 462.550 repeater somewhere else in the Maryland D.C., Virginia area that is not used with many CTCSS tones enabled. I am as of 6/5/07 trying to determine what tones can be used at Plum Point without interference from this apparently abandoned and very high level repeater. The 650 repeater identifies with the GMRS call sign KAF9830 in Morse code only during periods of active use. The 462.550 repeater has no CW ID. During power outages the 650 repeater can operate unattended for about thirty minutes. This part of Southern Maryland is well known for its outdoor recreation. There are B&B's on the both shores, campgrounds on the western shore. Lots of canoeing, sailing, and jet ski activity during the Summer. The repeaters would be an excellent tool for vacationers or area residents needing family communication during the Summer season. It would be very easy, for instance, for a family to have a base station that could communicate with other family on the Bay. It is illegal to use a marine VHF radio for that purpose but not so GMRS! (If you are caught using a marine radio on land you can receive a very heavy fine.) These are open GMRS community repeaters but you need to apply for permission to use either before commencing regular operation. Please call KAF9830 on the air if you are using one of the repeaters for the first time. If no answer go ahead and use the repeater. Send me an email (editor@popularwireless.com) to let me know you used the repeater and how well it worked for you. I will include this information in my station records. Individuals must have a valid GMRS license or qualify to operate under a family member's license. You should have read and understood the FCC Part 95 GMRS Rules and Regulations. Use your personal GMRS call signs and not the call signs of a grandfathered system. Use of grandfathered system GMRS call signs is against FCC Rules.
Family and personal communication have priority on the repeaters unless local SAR and Leonardtown REACT teams need the repeaters for an actual emergency. (Which is rare.) Larry Norris, of Leonardtown REACT is the local REACT contact person. He is KAE4617 on 462.575/467.575 462.675/467.675. Do not expect to call up emergency assistance on the repeater. If you are on the Bay always carry a marine radio so you can call the Coast Guard for boating related emergencies on Channel 16, or have a cellular phone handy. Marine radios can be purchased at local West Marine, and Boater's World stores in Solomons, Annapolis, and Deale. (Also on the Internet.) Remember, it is illegal to operate a marine radio on land unless you are a business licensed as a coast station OR you are an active Coast Guard Auxiliary Volunteer that maintains a radio watch from your home. Coastal Station licenses are not issued to families. The maritime rules are indeed enforced so don't take the chance. The FCC has issued very expensive fines to persons using marine radios for entertainment, hunting, etc. while on land You MAY conduct your personal business on these GMRS repeaters; however, there are specific rules you must observe. You and your FAMILY members may conduct business but you MAY NOT allow your unrelated employees to use your license. The employee must have his/her own GMRS license and use the FCC call sign associated with that license. As an example, a husband and wife team that run a boat charter or own a fishing vessel may talk to each other regarding their business on the repeater but if that same couple has an employee that is not related to them that employee cannot use their GMRS license to conduct that same business. That employee would have to have their own FCC license. The repeater's output audio may at times be recorded to help me monitor how and when the repeater is used. Where to get radios! Do you need repeater capable two-way GMRS radios? I suggest contacting PopularWireless advertisers , RadiosOnline or NSI Radio Unfortunately there is no local radio retailer selling repeater capable GMRS radios. The only radios available are the bubble-pack 22 channel GMRS radios at RadioShack or other stores. There is MUCH MORE to GMRS than bubble-pack radios. Most bubble-pack GMRS radios are barely more than toys. When you need reliable communication always select a good-quality commercial radio for your family system. You will never regret the decision. Ritron and ICOM make great hand-held and mobile radios. The Ritron Patriot repeater on 462.650, and Telewave Duplexer was purchased from PopularWireless Magazine advertiser RadiosOnline.com. Contact Scott at the Advantage Communications link below for more information. He did a dynamite job getting me set up. I can't say enough about Scott's quality of work, his dedication to his customer, honesty, and integrity. When you need GMRS systems, including repeaters, Scott is your man! Tell him "Clip Leader" sent you. Why use GMRS and not cellular? When you use cellular you pay someone else for the right to communicate via their telephone system. When their system goes down your cellular phone stops working. When you travel to a place where they don't have service your phone stops working. You pay for minutes used. When you use a cellular phone you have to dial a number and wait for the phone on the other end to ring. The phones do not always ring as you probably know and the caller goes to voice mail. You may or may not get the voice mail on a timely basis. Using GMRS gives you control over your communications system. You buy and charge the batteries. You make a call to another radio that gets answered much more quickly than a telephone call. In a very local situation, when you know your family members are also using and listening to their radios your family communication is faster, more frequent, and whole lot more fun! When the cellular system goes down and you need communication around the home your two-way radios give your family a way to stay in touch. When you encourage your neighbors to also buy, license, and use GMRS radios you can stay in touch with them during or after a neighborhood emergency. Communication systems that used to just be available to big business, and public safety is now available to the American family through the GMRS. Ducting During tropospheric ducting events users of the 462.650 repeater are likely to hear another GMRS repeater located in Cape May, New Jersey (KAF9629) about one-hundred miles to the East. During these atmospheric events radio waves travel farther than expected so this repeater may come in loud and clear. Please wait for their conversations to end before initiating one of your own. They probably can hear us as well. You should always listen on the frequency before transmitting to avoid interfering with others. No Fees There is no fee to use the repeaters. You may of course contribute to its operation. FCC rules do not allow me (the repeater owner) to make a profit from others that use the repeater. I can only recover typical operating costs. Users help a repeater owner with maintenance costs without expecting any continued guarantee of service. (It is not a requirement on my system.) Your contributions do not buy a share of the repeater system or give you any service guarantee. You contribute because you want to and because you are getting something out of using the repeater. The repeaters can be shut down at any time with no prior notice to you. Other Local Systems Other radio repeaters in Southern Maryland
include KAE4617 462.575 and KAE4617 462.675 CTCSS 141.3.
Prince George's County REACT
operates a 462.625 repeater near Upper Marlboro, MD, KAE7136. Contact the
repeater owner on the air for permission to use these repeaters. Note that all
of the GMRS repeaters I know of in this area discourage repeater DX'ing and
hobby-type calling. Virtually all of the repeaters are family-oriented
day-to-day communication systems. DX on these repeaters and we chase you away
;) CERT? Local CERT volunteers may wish to use the Calvert
repeaters in their communities. To use the repeater you need a GMRS license and
a repeater capable radio and of course an FCC GMRS license. Doug Smith P.S. Be polite and responsible when using the radio repeater. Abusive language and profanity is prohibited. Please monitor the activities of your children. It is illegal to broadcast annoyances including the excessive use of call tones, singing, or rebroadcast other radio services. As the owner, I can restrict access to those that use the repeater in a cooperative responsible way. >Weather Forecasts | Weather Maps | Weather Radar
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