FWARC Repeaters - Federal Way Amateur Radio Club

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Federal Way Repeaters

The Federal Way Amateur Radio Club operates & maintains four analog FM repeaters and four D-STAR repeaters located in the greater Federal Way area. All of the club's repeaters are OPEN repeaters and are available to all licensed hams to operate. In addition to our D-STAR repeaters, the club maintains the Reflector 035 (REF035) D-STAR reflector, similar to a conference bridge.

Weekly Nets

Feel free to join us during our weekly net that takes place on Sunday evenings at 7:30pm on 147.040 MHz repeater.

WA7FW/R License Plate

Federal Way Amateur Radio Club
P.O. Box 23415
Federal Way, WA 98093-3415

STATUS of D-STAR Repeaters

OK

On 3/13/2026, the D-STAR Gateway for WA7DR went down, but restored on its own at 1400. We've been having issues with the router and internet service provider at this site, so check the dashboard if you think there may be an issue.

The best way to see if it is up is to go to the Dashboard found at WA7DR D-STAR Dashboard. If the page comes up, then we are good. If it does not come up, then the router is still down.

Any questions, contact WB7NIL@fwarc.org

FWARC Analog FM Repeaters

147.040 Mhz, plus offset, PL=103.5
146.760 Mhz, minus offset, PL=103.5
442.950 Mhz, plus offset, PL=103.5
442.925 Mhz, plus offset, DCS 036

FWARC D-STAR Repeaters

146.840 Mhz, minus offset, WA7FW-C
443.850 MHz, plus offset, WA7FW-B
1290.100 MHz, minus offset, WA7FW-A
442.925 Mhz, plus offset, WA7DR-B

More D-STAR Information

Central Federal Way Repeaters

A majority of the Federal Way ARC's analog FM repeaters are located approximately one mile northeast of The Commons Mall in Federal Way. This site includes our 147.040, 442.950, and 442.925 MHz repeaters. Our 147.040 & 442.950 repeaters have a PL tone of 103.5. Our 442.925 MHz repeater is a dual mode repeater that operates in analog FM mode and in D-STAR mode. The analog FM side of the repeater uses digital coded squelch of 036. The D-STAR side of the 442.925 repeater has a callsign of WA7DR-B.

Central Federal Way Repeater Site Details

Federal Way D-STAR Repeater System

The club's central Federal Way DSTAR repeater system has a full stack of Icom D-STAR repeater modules, and supporting routers. Repeater modules included are 2-meter, 70-centimeter, and 23-centimeter, and a 23-centimeter data module installed. Our D-STAR repeaters have a full-time gateway connection to the internet and to Reflector 035 (REF035). The internet gateway allows area hams to talk to other hams throughout the world on their handheld or mobile rigs, and the reflector serves as a conference bridge for D-STAR radios.

FWCC D-STAR Repeater Site Details

South King County Repeater

Our 146.760 Mhz repeater is located approximately one mile east of Wild Waves theme park. It has great coverage of the Kent-Auburn Valley. This repeater has a negative offset and PL tone of 103.5.

South King County Repeater Site Details

Signal Reporting Systems
The R-S-T system is used by amateur radio operators, shortwave listeners, and other radio hobbyists to exchange information about the quality of a radio signal being received. The code is a three-digit number, with one digit each for conveying an assessment of the signal's readability, strength, and tone. The code was developed in 1934 by Amateur radio operator Arthur W. Braaten, W2BSR, and was similar to that codified in the ITU Radio Regulations, Cairo, 1938. This signal reporting system can be used with ALL ham radio contacts and not limited to repeater use.

Readability

The R stands for "Readability". Readability is a qualitative assessment of how easy or difficult it is to correctly copy the information being sent during the transmission. In a Morse code telegraphy transmission, readability refers to how easy or difficult it is to distinguish each of the characters in the text of the message being sent; in a voice transmission, readability refers to how easy or difficult it is for each spoken word to be understood correctly. "Readability" is measured on a scale of 1 to 5.

Unreadable
Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable
Readable with considerable difficulty
Readable with practically no difficulty
Perfectly readable

Strength

The S stands for "Strength". Strength is an assessment of how powerful the received signal is at the receiving location. Although an accurate signal strength meter can determine a quantitative value for signal strength, in practice this portion of the RST code is a qualitative assessment, often made based on the S meter of the radio receiver at the location of signal reception. "Strength" is measured on a scale of 1 to 9.

Faint—signals barely perceptible
Very weak signals
Weak signals
Fair signals
Fairly good signals
Good signals
Moderately strong signals
Strong signals
Extremely strong signals

Tone

The T stands for "Tone" and is measured on a scale of 1 to 9. Tone only pertains to Morse code and is therefore omitted during voice operations. With modern technology, imperfections in the quality of transmitters’ digital modulation severe enough to be detected by human ears are rare. "Tone" is measured from 1 to 9.

60 Hz AC or less, very rough and broad
Very rough AC, very harsh and broad
Rough AC tone, rectified but not filtered
Rough tone, some trace of filtering
Filtered rectified AC but strongly ripple-modulated
Filtered tone, definite trace of ripple modulation
Near pure tone, trace of ripple modulation
Near perfect tone, slight trace of modulation
Perfect tone, no trace of ripple or modulation of any kind

Circuit Merit

Circuit Merit is a separate reporting system than the R-S-T system. The Circuit Merit system is a measurement process designed to assess the voice-to-noise ratio in wired and wireless telephone circuits and although its reporting scale is sometimes used as input for calculating mean opinion score, the rating system is officially defined relative to given ranges of voice-to-noise ratios. Search Circuit Merit in Wikipedia for more details.

CM1 Unsatisfactory. Unusable, presence of speech barely discernible.
CM2 Poor. Readable with difficulty, requires frequent repetition.
CM3 Fair. Readable with only occasional repetition.
CM4 Good. Perfectly readable but with noticeable noise.
CM5 Excellent. Perfectly readable, negligible noise.

RSQ Signal Reporting for Digital Modes
The traditional RST report was developed for CW communications to describe the quality of the code received by ear in terms of its Readability, Strength, and Tone. PC sound card technology has recently enabled easy low-cost access to a broad range of digital modes for the Amateur Radio operator. Many of the newer digital modes, such as PSK31 for example have become very popular, and as a result there is a significant increase in the activity of narrow band keyboard conversational modes on the HF bands. Unfortunately, the traditional RST (Readability, Strength, Tone) signal report is difficult to meaningfully apply to these digital modes, causing the majority of operators to give contest style 599 reports regardless of the true merit of the received communication. RSQ (Readability, Strength, Quality) has been adapted from RST to provide a more meaningful signal report for HF digital modes.

RSQ Readability.

The new descriptive table has a corresponding range of percent readable text. This is consistent with the common practice of providing a percentage figure during a QSO or when responding to the inevitable “HW CPY?” at the end of an over. Currently, a percent readable text figure is often provided to the other station to clarify its readability after the traditional RST report has been sent. "Readability" is measured on a scale of 1 to 5.

0% Undecipherable
20% Occasional words distinguishable
40% Considerable difficulty, many missed characters
80% Practically no difficulty, occasional missed characters
95%+ Perfectly readable

RSQ Strength.
Most HF digital mode programs provide a broad band waterfall or spectrum receive display. As a result, it is common practice for operators to monitor and even decode multiple signals when working a narrow band digital station. Under these conditions, a visible measure of signal trace relative to noise is more meaningful than an S meter reading that averages the strength of all signals in the pass band. "Strength" is measured on a scale of 1 to 9.

1. Barely perceptible trace

3. Weak trace

5. Moderate trace

7. Strong trace

9. Very Strong Trace

RSQ Quality.
The presence of additional unwanted trace modulation observed on the waterfall or spectrum indicates possible spurious emissions and provides a basis for assessing the quality of digital mode signals. The traditional RST Tone report being designed to evaluate CW signals for the presence of audible hum, key clicks, chirping, etc. is simply not relevant to digital modes. "Quality" is measured from 1 to 9.

1. Splatter over much of the spectrum

3. Multiple visible trace pairs

5. One easily visible trace pair

7. One barely visible trace pair
9. Clean signal - No visible or unwanted trace pairs

Inter Modulation Distortion (IMD).
When viewing the trace of very strong signals, well-suppressed additional sidebands may be seen above the noise floor. In this case, an IMD reading may assist in determining their status. If the IMD reading is about –25db or better, then any additional sidebands can be assumed as below the interference threshold, disregarded, and a Q9 report given. If the IMD reading is about –20db or worse, then the additional sideband modulation is undesirable, may cause interference to other stations, and an appropriate value from the quality table can be applied to the report.

It is suggested that IMD readings only be given to the other operator when requested, and then only as a supplementary report. This is because IMD is only valid for strong signals at idle, and after careful adjustment of receiver settings. However, an IMD measurement at the transmitter can be accurately undertaken, and is an excellent way to verify that the station setup is optimized.

https://fwarc.org/repeaters