VE7SCK Update 8

There’s a lot going on with VE7SCK at the moment and we’ll use this post to keep you up-to-date. First of all, recall that:

• Over a year ago, we installed the VE7SCK at the Fire Hall in Roberts Creek. The antenna was very low so the coverage was very minimal. But it helped us get a foot in the door for when the new tower is installed.

• A few weeks later, we changed to tone to match VE7RXZ and updated the coordination information.

• Here are some pictures of the current install.

Update from June 24, 2021:

• Today Don from Island Communications was over to switch the firehall equipment over to the new tower and he terminated our coax and added a polyphaser.

• I also brought LMR-400 cable and N-connectors and Don made patchcords for us to replace the old repeater patch cords.

• The repeater is now fully operational and we encourage people to try it so we can get a sense of its coverage (specially if you’re mobile on the highway).

• The next step is to link it to the VE7RXZ in Nanaimo.

Update from April 18, 2021:

• Our antennas are up and the coax is run to the radio room, but not terminated. Don from Island Communications will come over in a month or so to do the connection. We can’t do it ourselves because it’s LMR600.

Update from Mar 25, 2021:

• Looks like they started installing Firehall antennas. There’s two VHF antennas and one 800MHz Yagi.

• Ours are not up yet.

Update from Mar 05, 2021:

• Tower is up!

Update from Feb 09, 2021:

• Looks like the Telus radio room is on the foundation.

Update from Jan 31, 2021:

• Looks like they’ve poured the concrete foundation for the new tower.

Update from Jan 3, 2021:

• I haven’t heard any official news but it looks like they’re starting to clear up the area around the existing tower.

Update from Nov 27, 2020:

• Good news! TELUS has approved the antennas on the tower. The plan changed a little bit (for the better) and it’s to have the UHF repeater antenna at 35m (115ft) and VHF yagi at 25m (82ft).

• No news yet on when this will all happen.

• In the meantime, Robert and Patrick will start working on linking VE7SCK to VE7RXZ (which we can do with the existing setup).

Update from Nov 21, 2020:

• Recently, the new TELUS tower was approved, and

• We started working with the engineer to submit a proposal to TELUS to have our antenna moved to the up-coming tower.

• Today, our club approved the purchase of a Comprod 4-bay colinear folded dipole antenna (contingent on TELUS approval), and the immediate purchase of equipment to link VE7SCK to VE7RXZ.

• Members can look at the full details in the minutes.