NU5G's Fusion Repeater is on the air

NU5G's DR-1X Repater up an running

Thanks to a general discount program by Yaesu, Jon (NU5G) recently installed a new Fusion Repeater replace his previous system on 442.30 MHz. Jon said the best thing about the new equipment is, "how ridiculously easy the setup is. It was almost plug and play."

According to Jon, the Fusion repeater is running at the 50-watt setting with a 131.8 Hz tone used for access control. Jon notes that is running in FM fixed mode, "until we have some folks win the lottery and buy some of the digital radios."

He added the 131.8 tone on the transmit side of the repeater to help reduce interference at the operator end. If users want to take advantage of the transmit tone, simply turn on the "TSQ" feature on their radio which enables the tone on both the transmit and receive sides. (While the transmit tone is required by operators want to use the repeater, it will not effect reception if users do not use the TSQ function.)

Fusion DR-1X Touch Screen

The repeater's antenna is a 16-bay DB-420b fed by Andrews half-inch Heliax. However, it is only up at 55 feet. The duplexers are two-cavity, 100-watt Motorola units with notch filters at opposing frequencies.

Jon said there are pros and cons to the unit.

"I have to say that the receive and transmit of this repeater is spectacular without performing any adjustments. If we get some height, it could be a beast. On the down side, I had an initial problem with the touch screen not working because the black faceplate was putting pressure on the edge of the screen. But it is working fine now."

Users may notice there is no courtesy tone with the new controller, just a short squelch tail. Jon says that is simply a feature of the Fusion DR-1X system. As Jon notes, "it is simply something to get used to."