Repeaters
The Vienna Wireless Society operates two repeaters.
146.685(-) CTCSS – 110.9 Hz Located in Tysons, Virginia (Call sign K4HTA).
448.375(-) Located at Fair Oaks Hospital (Call sign K4XY).
K4HTA
The 2-meter repeater – K4HTA – is located on top of the 15th floor of a commercial building in Tysons, Virginia. Transmitting with an effective radiated power of 93 watts at a height of 240 feet above ground level.
The repeater provides coverage within a 40-50-mile radius for mobile rigs using 25 to 50 watts and unity-gain antennas, and a 5-10-mile radius for handy-talkie (HT) radios using 5 watts. The repeater transmits at 146.685 MHz, with a negative offset and requires a CTCSS tone of 110.9 Hz to access.
This repeater supports EchoLink. See here for details on using EchoLink. There is a remote receiver associated with the K4HTA repeater.
The receiver favors signals from the NW of the Town of Vienna.
It can be accessed by programming your HT to the same frequency pair and offset as the K4HTA repeater, and a CTCSS tone of 74.4 Hz.
K4XY
The 70-cm repeater –K4XY – is located at the Fair Oaks Hospital, roughly a mile north of the intersection of US 50 and Interstate 66. Transmitting with an effective radiated power of 100 watts at a height of about 75 feet above ground level, ground level being 400 feet above mean sea level. The repeater provides good coverage to the South, West, and North but, unfortunately, coverage to the East is compromised.
Mobile rigs can reach this repeater from western, high elevation portions of Vienna. To the Southwest, spotty coverage (hill tops with no intervening ridges) extends as far as Warrenton. The repeater transmits at 448.375 MHz with a negative offset. No CTCSS tone is needed to access the repeater; however, a 67 Hz tone is impressed on the transmitted signal so users who have equipment capable of decoding a CTCSS can avoid hearing other signals (other repeaters) on the repeater output frequency.
Both the 2m and 70 cm VWS repeaters are available for general Amateur Radio use. However, when an emergency is declared, either one or both of the repeaters may be dedicated for use by the Fairfax County ARES/RACES organization. Please listen before transmitting to determine if and how the repeaters are currently being used. It is always a good radio practice to begin by asking “is this repeater is in use?” On Monday evenings at 8pm, the 2m repeater is used for the VWS Monday Evening 2m net. Consider joining the net, and if you are new to Amateur Radio let us be your first contact! The net is open to all licensed Amateur Radio operators. Please consider becoming a member of VWS; a part of your annual dues sustains and enhances the Club’s repeater infrastructure. In fact, consider supporting any Amateur Radio club whose repeaters you often use.
You can test the quality of your audio signal by engaging the Echo-back command on the VWS 2 m repeater. You will need a DTMF enabled transceiver.
Steps:
- Press PTT key and input “*8888” on the DTMF keypad
- Continue holding the PTT and send a test message, such as “[Your call sign] testing 1 2 3 4”
- Release PTT
- The Controller will “echo” your test statement back so you can listen to your message.