The K4CEB voice repeater operates on an output frequency of 146.655 MHz with an input frequency of 146.055 MHz and is located in Concord, North Carolina.  It is owned, operated and maintained by the members of the Cabarrus Amateur Radio Society.  The repeater has a closed auto-patch for use by C.A.R.S members but is available for use by anyone with the assistance of an active member.

C.A.R.S. Repeater Facts

• Motorola MSR 2000 commercial unit
• 110 watt transmitter output - continuous duty rated
• High stability TCXO option (Tx and Rx)
• Battery back up option
• GaAs FET Receiver pre-amp

• Wacom Bp-Br (band pass- band reject) 4 cavity
• 6 inch cavities with additional band pass filter cavity on Tx and Rx sections
• Duplexer losses (measured) 3.0 db

• Antenna- Phelps Dodge Super Station Master, 5.25 db gain
• Feed line- CelWave 7/8" Heliax type cable approximately 220 feet
• Cable losses approximately 2.5 db
• Lightning protection on all systems
• Grounding- 4 eight foot rods bonded to all grounds used in system
• System E.R.P. (approx.) 70+ watts

• Computer Automation Technology - CAT 1000

• Kholer 10kva auto start generator (thanks to the City of Concord for allowing C.A.R.S. to share)
• 650 watt UPS to keep power during generator switch over

     The original CARS repeater went on line in late 1976.  This military surplus unit was built by Motorola about 1952. Much blood, sweat and many fuses and tears went into the “Old green Machine.”  This unit found a home buried under tons of guano in the old Cabarrus County Court house clock tower.  With a G-6 Hustler antenna, Wacom 4 cavity duplexer and about 50 watts output, we covered Cabarrus county to some extent.  After many a trip up the tiny stairs day and night it was decided to purchase a new spectrum SCR-1000 repeater.  This was a considerable improvement and we now could go for over a day without retuning the receiver or replacing a fuse in the transmitter power supply.

     Problems were on the horizon almost as soon as we got this new hot receiver in place.  With all the receiver gain, we had intermod and other squawks and squeals at times too frequent.  The addition of two more bandpass cavities from Wacom seemed to help.

     The technical committee was aware that if the County was to be served to the standards desired, a new home was going to be necessary.  With help from the county emergency office and the kind consideration of the Royal Oaks Sanitary District our next home was found and the repeater moved atop the Royal Oaks water tank.  Our new 4 bay “J” pole antenna fed with ½ inch Heliax did much better at covering the county.  Our antenna system lasted about a year until water started running out the bottom of the cable.  This did wonders for the SWR and various measures (some drastic) were tried to solve the problem.  Replacement of the antenna with a Phelps Dodge super Station Master stopped this problem and once again we were back in business.

     We experimented with home-brew autopatches through several models and much hair-pulling by the technical committee.  Before we all went bald the club decided in mid 1985 to purchase a controller-autopatch from ACC.  The RC-850 Controller with all its bells and whistles was a very welcome addition to our system.  Now we could have the auto patch and other functions we desired. About this same time we replace the Spectrum machine with a new $4,000,00 Johnson repeater.

     Searching for funds to purchase a new repeater became a club project. Letters and phone calls were directed to various large companies, county officials and others who might help.  We were rescued by a large gift from a local business giant.  Some additional funds from various club members with the clubs general fund started our new Johnson 1100 series machine on the way.  In October 1985 our dream machine was place on line.  From the old machines 20 watts ERP to about 80+ watts ERP made quite a difference in the fringe areas.  A new 7/8 inch hard-line added in May 1986 made further improvements in coverage.  Also in May the addition of version 3.41 software in the controller brings us one step closer to the service we planned some 20 years ago.

     The new site also had its problems.  One cold winter night the water pipe that ran over head in the sign shop froze.  The next day the pipe thawed out and guess what, the repeater went swimming without water wings.  A short time later, mother nature struck the water tower with a bolt of fury and the big station master antenna was found lying on the ground.  This was replaced with the existing 4 pole described earlier.  The city of Kannapolis extended it’s city water line and took in the Water district that gave us all the freebies at this site and informed us that the tower was going to be dismantled.

     Another move, this time back to Concord to a water tower owned by the city of Concord.  We built our own building, installed the antenna, hard-line and other stuff and got the system on line with just a day or so outage.  Our autopatch covers Cabarrus county well.  With Concord, Kannapolis, Mt. Pleasant, Locust and Harrisburg as toll free calls and just maybe Landis/China Grove in the very near future.  But this site had it’s own problems.  A big winter storm blew part of the roof off just above the repeater.  It snowed inside the building and about 1 ft of snow settled on top of the Duplexers.  Eventually the snow melted and ran down inside the duplexers and detuned them.  That had an easy fix, we just turned the duplexers upside down and let the water drain out.

     In 1998, we were told that the water tank that we were on was to be removed, however the City of Concord would allow us to utilize there city communications tower located at another water tank site 1 mile to the north behind Ben Mynatt Chevrolet.  The tech comm. made arrangements to have our antenna/line removed and the building moved.  We were back on the air in a short time after the move.

     In 1999, the club also authorized replacement of the ACC controller with a CAT 1000 and a Motorola MSR 2000 repeater was donated by Wireless Communications, a local Motorola service shop.  Jeff, WA1WXL and Gary, W1WBT interfaced the controller to the repeater and completed conversion of the MSR 2000 to the amateur band.  The new repeater and controller were put into service in September 2000.

     A new roof was added to the repeater building in 2001 as well as new lighting a exhaust fan.

     If you are new to 2 meter remember this, when you key that mic button.  A large group of amateurs have spent a lot of time and money to establish and maintain the repeater systems.  Each time you key up you are representing us to a large number of listeners.  Be polite, courteous, and above all keep the family repeater a family repeater.

     The K4CEB Packet Repeater operates on a frequency of 145.67 MHz at 1200 baud.  The digipeater can be accessed via callsign K4CEB-1 or CON when on the air.