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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



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

147-040.JPG



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

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.
  1. Unreadable
  2. Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable
  3. Readable with considerable difficulty
  4. Readable with practically no difficulty
  5. 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.
  1. Faint—signals barely perceptible
  2. Very weak signals
  3. Weak signals
  4. Fair signals
  5. Fairly good signals
  6. Good signals
  7. Moderately strong signals
  8. Strong signals
  9. 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 other digital transmission modes 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. 
  1. 60 Hz AC or less, very rough and broad
  2. Very rough AC, very harsh and broad
  3. Rough AC tone, rectified but not filtered
  4. Rough note, some trace of filtering
  5. Filtered rectified AC but strongly ripple-modulated
  6. Filtered tone, definite trace of ripple modulation
  7. Near pure tone, trace of ripple modulation
  8. Near perfect tone, slight trace of modulation
  9. 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.
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