a late update:
Reports were heard this morning from folks driving north on I-4 in Deland (toward Daytona Beach) who have been patiently waiting for the Daytona D-Star machine to be operational. They were surprised to finally key the repeater this morning while mobile in Deland on 5-watts – and the repeater came back full-scale..!!
We were hoping for local Daytona Beach and “overlap” coverage into the footprint of the Sanford machine, but it appears that we have blown the doors off that expectation. I’m sure that some of us will be taking a “road trip” on the weekend to test coverage west and south. Coverage to the north is well into Palm Coast on a mobile, with full-scale from an external base antenna from US-1 and I-95 (N4FPS). So far, everybody in Palm Coast has been able to reach the repeater without issue while mobile.
Remember, the Daytona machine is intended to be part of the linked network, so transmit from Deland and have a crystal clear conversation with folks in Jacksonville (and all points in-between). The linked network will be on our new Reflector 034 (REF034A to be exact) which is already in operation, so if you’re traveling or in a place with no D-Star coverage, you can DV-Donlge or DVAP into REF034A and join the network.
Again, our thanks to DBARA, our hosts for the repeater site, as well as “The Team” of Doug, Robbie, Eddie, Rick, Steve and Charlie for a job well-done yesterday during the install..!!
Those of you with coverage reports on the Daytona repeater are encouraged to post them in the comments section of this post. Thanks..
