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Completed Work on 147.150

For now.

We completed work on the “15” repeater, for now. We’ve repaired the power supply and the RF amplifier. The repeater is now putting out about 70 watts of power. Please note: this is no longer a Fusion/WIRES-x repeater. We are in the process of moving the Fusion repeater to the UW site. We’ll let you know when we complete that work.

Repeater status

We continue to work through upgrades and reconfiguration of repeaters.

Status – 8/20/25

  • Due to changes at UW the “76” repeater will be offline for a while.
    • We have corrected some issues that were reported a while ago during a fire department inspection and roof work under the antenna has been completed and a new air conditioned room and racks are ready for installation
    • A new lightning arrestor has been purchased and needs to be installed
    • When this repeater comes back online we plan to have Wires-X working here rather than on the “15”
  • The “15” repeater is reconfigured and responding well.
    • The power supply needs repair (or replacement) and we are working on that. Currently a loaner power supply appears to working well. The repeater is reporting the correct time now.
    • Wires-X will no longer be available at this repeater. We hope to replace it with a different digital capability (such as AllStar) which is not as intrusive as Wires-x.

“76” Repeater will be off-line temporarily

A new Air-conditioned room has been built and antennas have been relocated at the UW site where the 76 repeater is sited. We have ordered a new lightening arrestor and are re-racking and cleaning the equipment. We expect to have this repeater back in service later this month. Most of this work is in response to a fire department audit some time ago that required relocating communications equipment in that hospital location. When all is said and done it will provide a much better and secure environment for our equipment.

MARA Hamfest 2025 Reservations and Discount Tickets are now available!

The MARA Hamfest is coming up and preparations are underway. The doors will open at the Mandt Center in Stoughton from 8:00am until noon on April 26.

This year we are planning to take advantage of the connectivity we have at our repeater site to demonstrate D-Star and Fusion and we are reserving Vendor space now.

While we will have a number of door prizes as we do each year the Grand prize will be an ICOM IC-2730A Dual Band VHF/UHF Mobile Radio.

For a flyer with additional information and to reserve vendor space or purchase discount tickets please go to our 2025 Hamfest page here: https://w9hsy.org/2025-madison-hamfest/

Time to Renew for 2025

A new year is almost upon us and you can renew your membership anytime now for 2025.

A new year is almost upon us and you can renew your membership anytime now for 2025. We’ve not changed our yearly dues for 2025. It is still $24 for the first (or primary) member in a household and $12 for each additional member.

This year you can pay by check, by credit card or through your bank using Zelle. For more information and details go to our membership renewal page.

It’s been a good year. We are recovering from the hit we took during the COVID disruption where we were unable to hold our hamfest and we expect to surpass where we were before 2020 which will give us the opportunity to provide more services.

During 2024 our paid membership rose to 83, a number higher than I’ve seen since I became treasurer 9 years ago.

We’ve added internet at the WMTV repeater site which has allowed us to connect through WIRES-X to Americas-Link and other nodes on the digital side of our Fusion repeater and check in to the D-Star Wisconsin net as well as connect to some of the other reflectors available on D-Star. We’ve added a new section under “Nets” on our web site where we are starting to catalog interesting nets that you can check into through these two repeaters.

We continue to improve the functionality of these repeaters. We found that now that they are used more sometimes there is cross talk between them and we are working on correcting this. It is a good problem to have. If they weren’t being used there would be no problem! We expect to add some new filtering between the repeaters soon so we can have them both on full power and working independently.

In addition to the regular Dane/Iowa County ARES/RACES Net Meeting every Wednesday at 8 PM on the “15” and the Monthly (I hope we can make it more frequent) MARA Net on the First Wednesday at 7:15 (also on the “15“) we’ve been able to be the primary repeater for the Badger Challenge for a couple years now. And since we have space where we host our website we’ve given space for the Dane/Iowa County ARES/RACES group to host there site on our server as well.

Your membership ( as well as your help and participation at our hamfest) enables us to support amateur radio in our area and to maintain and improve the support we provide for the future. Please also note that when we elect officers for 2025 at our January meeting you must be paid in full to participate in voting.

Renew or Join today. Details on how to do so can be found on our membership renewal page.

Jeff, KC9UNZ, Treasurer, MARA

September 2024 MARA Membership Meeting

It’s time for us to meet again! Monday, September 9, 2024 @ 7:30 PM.

You have two choices either virtually or in person. As usual we meet in person at UW Space Place at 2300 S. Park Street, Madison. If you are unable to be there in person you can join us virtually. For information on joining the virtual meeting please send an email to president@w9hsy.org and he’ll send you the virtual connection information. If you are a member of MARA you should have already received an email with this information. If not, send the president an email and we’ll get the connection info to you.