First some background relating to repeaters in the Garden Route Area. Circa 1980's there was only one repeater in the area and that was the 145.700 Mhz George Mountain Repeater. This repeater was a free standing repeater and the only repeater in the Garden Route Area. The repeater belonged to Eskom but through their kindness radio amateurs could use the repeater. The repeater worked great but the coverage area excluded large parts of the Mossel Bay district.
There was definitely a need for another repeater in the Garden Route Area. OM Stan Jones ZS1T took it upon himself to obtain and install the first ever 145.600 Mhz repeater in Mossel Bay. Stan a then member of the Boland Amateur Radio Club resided in George and was for many years the Head of the Radio Technical Division of the South African Police Force in George. In April 1996 he contacted the then repeater keeper of the Boland Amateur Radio Club and it was not long afterwards that he informed me that he picked up the then Groenberg Repeater on loan to him to install as the 145.600 Mhz repeater in Mossel Bay. Stan re-tuned the old Storno CQM 600/662 Mobile Radiophone/Professional land mobile tranceiver that was converted to a amateur radio repeater.
It originally was a 9-12 Channel Radiophone. By the early 1970's this was state of the art equipment, very well manufactured. In this time period there were only three authorized suppliers of equipment, Storno, Pye and Marconi. The installation typically consisted of a control head, handset and loudspeaker fitted in the front of the vehicle, connected to a transceiver unit usually mounted in the boot connected to a whip antenna. Storno also produced a transportable battery operated version for pedestrian use.The CQM600 with it's stylish remote control head and 'cornet' microphone won a design award in Denmark when introduced. The rugged, waterproof mobile unit was adaptable to a wide variety of applications and included marine and duplex versions.
Specifications of the Storno Radio courtesy RigPix:
| Type: | Professional land mobile transceiver |
| Frequency range depending on version: | 68-88 MHz 132-156 MHz 146-174 MHz 420-470 MHz |
| Mode: | FM |
| RF Power output: | 6-25 W |
| Receiver system: | N/A |
| Sensitivity: | N/A |
| Selectivity: | N/A |
| Image rejection: | N/A |
| Voltage: | 6, 12 or 24 VDC |
| Current drain: | RX: ? mA TX: Max ? A |
| Impedance: | 50 ohms |
| Dimensions (W*H*D): | ? mm |
| Weight: | ? Kg |
| Manufactured: | 1968-197x (Discontinued) |
| Other: | 9 -12 channels, XTAL |
The repeater was tested on the test bench by Stan ZS1T after adding a Low Loss Helical Band Pass Filter on the receive side and a Cavity Filter on the transmit side. After a few weeks of testing the 145.600 Mhz repeater was ready to be installed on site. The only problem was that there was no site available at short notice to install the repeater on. Yours truly offered to host the repeater for the interim up high in Heiderand, Mossel Bay at my QTH. My QTH was situated quite high up on the ridge in Heiderand and would have to suffice until a permanent site could be found. It was an ideal high interim site, situated in a quiet area (free of interference then but not today), line of sight to George and in a safe area.
Myself an Stan arranged for the installation of the repeater on a Saturday morning at my QTH. When Stan arrived I already installed the 5/8 vertical antenna for the receive side. Stan brought a folded dipole which was installed underneath the 5/8 vertical antenna with enough space between the two to prevent de-sensing. The Band Pass filter was installed on the RX side and a cavity filter was installed on the TX side. The power supply was installed and the repeater was switched on. The necessary final checks and tuning were done. It was not long before contact was made with Isak ZS2I (Now SK) in Klein Brak River which confirmed great signal strength and audio. The output of the repeater was tuned down to 10 watt as we did not have a full set of cavity filters for RX and TX. For the newer generation of radio amateurs this is how repeaters worked in years gone by as cavity filters were scarce as hen's teeth and very expensive if you can find one.
Now to find a suitable high site for the repeater. Thanks must go to Chris ZS1M who at the time was working for the Mossel Bay Municipality. He was able to obtain the current site on a water tower at the entrance to Danabay. This site gave great coverage and is today still used for the current 145.600 Mhz repeater.
The time arrived for the repeater to be moved from my QTH to the DanaBay water tower. In the mean time Stan ZS1T again came to the rescue with a full set of cavity filters on loan from the Boland Amateur Radio Club. This would solve the use of two antennas. We now only have to install one antenna. We still used the small band pass filter on RX as an extra filter. The repeater was installed in December 1996 inside the water tower pump room with the folded dipole high up on the top of the tower. Standing on top of this water tower revealed a clear 360 Deg take off with no obstacles in the way. To secure the repeater, filters, power supply etc. the repeater was housed in a old computer main frame cabinet that I donated. This cabinet was ideal as it came with great cooling fans to keep things cool. This useful cabinet was still used the last time I visited the 145.600 Mhz site.
This repeater function great for several years and I had the privilege of maintaining this repeater on behalf of Stan ZS1T who could not always visit the site. As these Storno Radios are build like tanks, it was not necessary to re-tune them at regular intervals. From time to time the cavity filters were re-tuned to ensure optimal functioning.
The repeater was enjoyed by many local and visiting radio amateurs from all over. This was the first 145.600 repeater installed on the Danabay Water Tower, A few years before the year 2000 the repeater and cavity filters was returned to the Boland Amateur Radio Club as Chris Scarr ZS2AAW and his late father Trevor ZS2AE installed a new 2m repeater, antennas and 70cm link on the Danabay Water Tower which was a great upgrade. This upgrade amongst others allowed for the 600 and 700 repeater to be linked via DTMF. This setup functioned well for many years and was maintained by Chris ZS2AAW and Trevor ZS2AE (SK).
I would like to thank every single radio amateur that was involved in making the first 145.600 Mhz Repeater in Mossel Bay a reality and bringing it to life. I do not like to mention names as indicated in many of my posts as I might leave somebody out in the cold but I must mention the following radio amateurs, clubs and organizations:
1. Stanley Jones ZS1T, George
2. Boland Amateur Radio Club (Members and Committee)
3. The then repeater keeper of the Boland Amateur Radio Club (???)
4. Chris ZS1M, Danabay
5. Mossel Bay Municipality
6. All those who assisted and not mentioned in the article
7. Garden Route Radio Club
Finally: I would like to plea to the younger and older generation radio amateurs. Please if you have any information, images and articles on local (SA) amateur radio history make it available for publication and preservation. You can forward the info to Johan ZS1I by clicking HERE.
Images: (Click on images for larger view.)
Satellite and Street Maps Courtesy - Satellites Pro / Apple Map
