VU2BBB Location:- Matheran, Maharashtra, Near Mumbai

VU2BBB

Freq. 145.000Mhz +600 Khz Shift

LOCATION:- MATHERAN , MAHARASHTRA

HEIGHT 2467 Feet,

Cordinates N 19. 00.500 , E 73. 17.013.

CURRENT STATUS- ON AIR

This blog gives an idea of an initial experimentation done with PIC MCU based homebrew repeater interface to control  repeater in a very remote location.  After serving for a while interface and repeater were damaged by lightening.

At present repeater is fully functional without remote interface.

 

 DTMF Interactive(morse code) Interface-Telemetry.

DTMF # 1, returns outside temp.
DTMF # 2, returns battery voltage.
DTMF # 8, returns system status,'A' for AC & 'B' for bat
DTMF 6 digit code for remotely switching ON and OFF repeater.

VU2BBB repeater was started by Bombay Repeater Society in late 1980s. Licence to the repeater was issued on 1st November, 1988. It was in service for many years. But in recent years due to technical and locational problems it was not on air. We are happy to put it back on air, at a better location, Matheran, a small hill station near Mumbai. This repeater site is given to us by the Collector's office, Thane.

This repeater is regularly accessed by VU2HOC from Valsad (182km), from Pune by VU2UPQ (little noisy) and from Nasik by VU2CVD (little noisy). Some signals may be noisy due to topography of the region.

Repeater is accessible all over Mumbai with a good signal strength.

Known problems:- Repeater gets irregular power from main power line, which is more or less normal for that area and may become severe in monsoon, which may keep it off air for some time. Future plan includes installation of solar panel.