OBRA Outer Banks Repeater Association Announcements & Club News

October 2007 Ruth Rigor KA3MWO SK I am sorry to report that OBRA's former Secretary Ruthie Rigor has passed away.  Ruthie died Friday afternoon (October 12) at her residence in Spring Arbor. She was 87.  A group of her friends had been keeping a vigil at her bedside for the past several weeks.  Ruthie had no family.  She was a good friend to us all and an enthusiastic member of the Outer Banks Repeater Association. The service for Ruthie will be held at St. Andrews By the Sea Episcopal church in Hags Head at 11am Wednesday, October 17. 73, Jack Meagher W2EHD

February 2007 The club purchased a new Vertex 7000 repeater (like the one on 145.110) to replace the old ICOM 145.940 machine that recently made the move from Bodie Island to Mamie NC which is just 8 miles north of Kitty Hawk in Currituck County. Both the 442.850 and the 145.940 easily cover from the NC/VA state line south to Oregon Inlet. The future purchase of a controller should be able to give us the long needed and long waited for ability to link the repeaters together and also link into Columbia's repeater network during emergencies. July 2006 ANOTHER new repeater site is on the air covering the Outer Banks. The old 146.940 machine, that use to be in Manteo then moved to Bodie Island, is now in its new home at Mamie, NC and on the air as of 7-4-06. The 442.850 (see below) was added to the 1000' tower, located 8 miles north of the Wright Bros Memorial Bridge, in Nov. Our antenna is at the 400' level and both machines easily cover the Outer Banks from Corolla to Oregon Inlet. Coverage is from Moyock (40 miles north of repeater) and south to Oregon Inlet is possible with a mobile. There is a pl of 131.8 needed on the input only (it does not xmit a tone). Nov 2005 New Repeater is on the air! OBRA is pleased to announce that there will be a new repeater in operation very soon. Our friends in Currituck County got us space on the FM104 1000' tower in Mamie, NC. That is the huge tower you see just 8 miles north of the bridge into Kitty Hawk. The antenna and coax (thanks k4hat) are up near the 400' level so it should be easily heard from Rodanthe to Corolla to Chesapeake. Here are the repeater frequencies with offsets and pl tone. The repeater should be working sometime in November, 2005. Update: in operation 11-21-05 - pictures   442.850 / 447.850 pl 131.8 May 2005 OBRA had their first diner meeting at Kelly's at mile post 10 in Nags Head. It was announced that OBRA is now associated with both RACES and ARES for emergency service communications. May 2004 The long awaited, full time, replacement repeater has been purchased and is now online in Kill Devil Hills on the 145.110 pair (pl 131.7). The Motorola, which was donated by W2IP, is now our backup and the new Vertex 7000 is in place as the full time 145.110 repeater. It does have a phone patch and we hope to soon be able to use a uhf radio to link this repeater with others in the area.

Oct 2003 A new Motorola solid state repeater was recently donated to OBRA by W2IP and it was installed at the 145.110 site to replace the old Ge Master. Plans are to use this repeater as a backup for the 145.110 and the 146.940. The new Vertex 7000 should be installed as the permanent 145.110 machine by November. Pictures Sept 2003 Great news for OBRA, we have obtained sufficient funds to be able to now purchase a new repeater to replace the circa 1960's era GE Master that has been serving us on the 145.110 pair from Kill Devil Hills. Our crack technical staff of professional radiomen (pictured here) are in process of determining what we should purchase. A special thanks to K4HAT and W4HAT for their expertise in this endeavor. Hopes are that it should up and running sometime in October 2003. Plan to attend the Sept 18 meeting for more details and to help decide what to purchase. There will be a vote of members at that time. OBRA has been working towards this goal for well over the past year and a special thanks needs to go to K4CDM for her efforts to obtain these funds. Expect more news, here, after the Sept meeting. At the Sept meeting it was decided that we will purchase a Vertex 7000 repeater and a CAT 300dxl controller. They have been received and are waiting installation. (10-9-03) Hurricane Isabel (9-17-03) hit our area hard and the area hams did a fantastic job keeping the radio network up and running thru the day and the next several days when the county lost ALL of their phones and radios and amateur radio was the only thing available. This is why we exist and why we worked when others failed! When they needed us, we were there and we were all they had for a while!! A special thanks to K4UOR, K4HAT, W4HAT, the Columbia repeater group and all the local OBRA hams that pitched in to help during some very bad days of weather.

June 11, 2003 Hurricane Disaster Drill OBRA will be part of the Dare county Hurricane Disaster Drill being held June 11, 2003. We will man the fire stations and activate the 2m radios located in 6 firestations and hopefully link up with the stations in Hatteras/Buxton. The 146.940 will be the repeater used. Contact a board member if you can help out - or just monitor the repeater and join us on the net. Firestations that need to be covered are: Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil, Nags Head, Collington, and Manteo. webmaster - K4JAR

It's official - OBRA is now a non-profit and tax deductible corporation. Dues, donations (both monetary and hardware) are fully tax deductible and it is retroactive back to January 2003.

Cape Hatteras, NC EchoLink is now available K4OBX-R is now available on EchoLink - node 98194 - and locally in the Buxton / Cape Hatteras area on 444.925+ (pl 131.5). April 2003

The OBRA monthly meeting was held at Slammin' Sammy's on Jan 16, 2003 at 5:30pm and there was a very nice crowd of about 28 members present. The only new business discussed was about the 145.110 repeater which is on life support and is near death. W2EHD has done a fine job of keeping it alive and working but it is not going to last much longer. KB4TOH, from Columbia, gave us some new output tubes for it (yes, it actually has tubes) and it is currently putting out 35 watts. That is the most it has done in more than 8 months and is why it was so hard to hear outside of a 5 mile radius before. Signal reports, now, are much better and coverage is more in the 20-25 miles range. The association is going to need to purchase a new repeater soon and this won't be cheap. It was voted on, at the meeting, to look into non-profit status so donations would be tax deductible and Jim, W4ACT, has agreed to head up that project. He has already made very good progress and we hope to have it completed by early spring or late winter. Donations are welcomed!

Happy Holidays! As the new year rolls in we would like to fill you in on some old and some new things happening with the Outer Banks Repeater Association. We have a new web site thanks to our new Webmaster, Tim Moore, K4JAR. If you have not checked in, the address is www.obra.aginet.com . If you have previously accessed the site, you might check in again as Tim is constantly coming up with something new. The club now meets the 3rd Thursday of each month January through May and in September and October. We usually meet at Slammin’ Sammy’s at 5:30PM and any ham in the area is invited. We encourage you to bring your spouse or other guest as many attend and enjoy our meetings. Many of our members gather informally at the Black Pelican Restaurant in Kitty Hawk every Monday at noon. If you are around and able to attend, let Bob Hannan, KU4KY, know by mid-morning Monday so he can save you a seat. Spouses also attend and enjoy the opportunity to get together. The club members participate in a number of public service projects. We provide communication for the VIP fishing tournament, the Tour de Cure, the Triathalon, Senior Games and other events as well as maintaining equipment in case of emergencies on the Outer Banks. If you are interested in participating in this type of activity, contact Bob Hannan, KU4KY, so he can put you on his list. The club now has 2 repeaters, 145.110 in Kill Devil Hills and 146.94 in South Nags Head. The 145.110 repeater features an autopatch open to all amateurs. If you have not paid your dues for 2003 or wish to join, single memberships are $20 and family memberships are $30. Checks may be mailed to the: Outer Banks Repeater Association PO Box 1085, Nags Head, NC 27959 Any donation to help maintain our repeaters is also appreciated. If we can answer any questions, contact me or one of the other officers listed on the OBRA website. 73,---Jim Bailey treasurer

NEW OBRA ADDRESS: There has been a change of address for OBRA. The 2003 dues can be mailed to : Outer Banks Repeater Association P. O. Box 1085 Nags Head, NC 27959 $20 for a single member or $30 for a family membership This address has also been changed on the main webpage in the lower left corner and your yearly dues can be sent there. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good year! May your batteries never run down and you antennas never fall down!

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