n7od

Located to the South and slightly East of the Hemet hospital by perhaps 3 miles or so, is Simpson Park. It is approximately 1000 feet higher than the hospital location, so with Hemet at about 1525 feet above sea level, this puts Simpson Park at about 2525 ft.

(see additional information below)

The left photo shows the vertical antennas being used. On the left is the 220 antenna, and on the right is the 2 meter antenna, which is a dual band. (145 / 440). The building on the right has rest rooms in the front, and the back is used by the county for storage and the repeater units. In the right photo, you see the repeater rack as it was being installed and final testing was being conducted. When finished, it will slide back into the right

On the left the cabinet is open to reveal the different components. The cabinet shares equipment being used by N7OD at the very top. The next unit down, the long white "bar", is the "REP 200" 220 MHz repeater by "Hamtronics" with the S-Com 5K controller directly under it (and difficult to see in these photos). Next in line is the 440 MHz receiver used for equipment control. It is receive only. Below that is the S-Com 7K controlled used with the 2 meter unit, and under that is the Kenwood 2 meter repeater itself. On the bottom shelf is the Astron 35M power supply, and not shown in these photos is a "Big" 12 volt gel cell battery that resides on the base. It is about double the size of the standard car battery. On the right side of the cabinet you see the 220 repeater cavities (called "cans") at the top (white) and the 2 meter cavities at the bottom. The photo on the right shows some of the wiring behind the units interconnecting power, audio lines, control lines, coax antenna inputs and outputs, AC power wiring, and the fans. (In the summer, it gets HOT in there.)

The photos above were taken while the cabinet was in Ed Kingman's garage for final tests.

You will see the dummy load / wattmeter, oscilloscope and other equipment needed to make sure the right signals get to the right places and that all is operating properly.

Many thanks to Ed Kingman (KM6AY) who not only put this together and made it "right" but for taking the photographs as well. Many thanks to Bart Doering, N7OD, who donated the fine 2 meter vertical dual bander for the repeater use, and for his support as the repeater trustee along with technical support. And thanks to ALL of those who helped in any way to make this happen. It was a "team" effort lead by Ed. Many thanks everyone!

Incidently, Simpson Park has some interesting "background".

It's actually old BLM land, and the City has it under the stipulations that it's to be kept as a natural wild land park. (Hence the reason there isn't any playground equipment nor green grass like you'd see at a normal city park.)

So it is a City park...maintained by the City of Hemet Public Works department, in cooperation with the on-site care takers (who are contract city employees.)

Where it gets interesting is with fire protection & law enforcement. While it is a City park, fire protection and EMS calls are handled by Riverside County Fire / CDF and law enforcement is handled by Riverside County Sheriff.

(Thanks Scott Underwood, KB6JAG for the information about Simpson Park.)

UPDATE NOTE:

We have since vacated Simpson Park and returned to the top floor of the Hemet Valley Medical Center, also known as the "Hemet Hospital". The power is set to 10 watts, into a Diamond dual band (2/440) gain vertical, relocated to the edge of the top roof.