Renfrew County Map

HISTORY

December 2, 1980, the Club was formed and incorporated under the name "Renfrew County Amateur Radio Club." For reasons unknown, the club became inactive in the early part of 1983. It stayed inactive until June 24, 1991, when VE3BV Ed Dobenko organized a meeting at the National Trust Building in Pembroke. The purpose of this meeting was to re-establish the amateur radio club and to develop a usable linking network system for Renfrew County. The number of amateurs who attended that meeting in 1991 was approximately forty. With many thanks to all those amateurs who were present, the club was re-formed as we know it today, and the decision was made to continue with the original club name RCARC.

REPEATER HISTORY

In 1973 there was only VE3STP serving the upper Ottawa Valley. Jack VE3YX from Deep River had been involved in the development of STP. Mobile operation with STP was marginal in Deep River and the only reliable place to get into the repeater was at the waterfront. Base station operation with a YAGI was quite good. I had a 7 element homebrew YAGI mounted on a pole made from a fir tree that gave me a good signal into STP with 10 Watts from my Pye Cambridge.

Cliff Brown VE3AGN wanted to put up a repeater that gave better coverage to the Upper Valley. The Saint Lawrence Valley Repeater Association was in operation by then and Cliff and I went to a meeting in North Bay sometime in 1973. Cliff applied for and got permission to use 146.760 for a new repeater in Deep River and he got the call sign VE3NRR (North Renfrew Repeater). Somewhere, Cliff acquired a Motorola repeater that took up a 6 foot rack and must have weighed 200 lbs. We had quite the struggle getting it into his basement on Highland Cr.

Fortunately, before getting any further with the Motorola, he got a GE progress line repeater which we installed on the mezzanine in the Steam Plant in Deep River. The steam plant was where the Santa Fe restaurant is now. A crew consisting of Cliff, Norm Gentner VE3UE, Jack and myself and others, maybe Ed Dobenko VE3BV put up 7 sections of Golden Nugget tower on the Steam Plant roof. I don't recall what antenna we used. Cliff, with help, built a 6 cavity duplexer from copper sewer pipe and brass stock. Cliff had access to an HP network analyzer and tuned the duplexer to 100 dB of isolation. The Motorola repeater was disassembled and disappeared. The rack cabinet now holds the cavities at the RBW site for the Laurentian Hills Fire Department repeater.

Eventually, the steam plant was destined to be torn down and we needed to find a new home for NRR. Sometime before the move, the club bought a Hamtronics solid state repeater kit. It was assembled by Jack and Ed. Norm sent a letter to the head of the Petawawa Forestry to ask if we could locate the repeater on a tower of theirs and got permission.

Forestry Site Location

The Forestry site location for VE3NRR

Ed built a copper pipe 4 dipole array mounted on a 32 ft aluminum mast which was mounted on the side of the tower. The repeater never worked very well there. Whenever the tower was shaken by wind, there was a lot of noise on the input. Once, in winter, the repeater quit. I went to the site and was surprised to see no snow on the roof of the shack. When I opened the door, it was like an oven inside. The thermostat had failed and left the heat on full. The receiver was OK, but the transmitter needed work which it got from Cliff and I.

We got the opportunity to move the repeater to the CHRO site. Doug Westacott VE6SI installed Ed's antenna well up the tower, maybe 375 ft ? The repeater was installed in a cubby hole in the basement of the CHRO building.

1973

Only VE3STP served the upper Ottawa Valley. Mobile operation was marginal in Deep River, with reliable access only at the waterfront. Base station operation with a YAGI provided good connectivity.

1973

Cliff Brown VE3AGN obtained permission to use 146.760 for a new repeater in Deep River, receiving the callsign VE3NRR (North Renfrew Repeater).

Initial Installation

The first major milestone was the installation at the Steam Plant (current location of the Santa Fe restaurant). A dedicated team including:

  • Cliff Brown VE3AGN
  • Norm Gentner VE3UE
  • Jack VE3YX
  • Ed Dobenko VE3BV

The team installed 7 sections of Golden Nugget tower on the Steam Plant roof. Cliff, with assistance, constructed a 6 cavity duplexer from copper sewer pipe and brass stock, achieving 100 dB of isolation using an HP network analyzer.

Relocations

Steam Plant Era

Initial installation with GE progress line repeater and custom duplexer.

Forestry Site

Relocated with a Hamtronics solid state repeater kit, assembled by Jack and Ed. Featured a copper pipe 4 dipole array on a 32 ft aluminum mast.

CHRO Site

Final relocation to CHRO building basement, with antenna mounted approximately 375 ft up the tower by Doug Westacott VE6SI.

When the Nuclear Emergency Plan for Deep River and Laurentian Hills was started, our ARES group was incorporated in the plan. To help with local comms, it was decided to install a local repeater. A JEPP grant provided funds to purchase a Hamtronics repeater, a Sinclair Reslok duplexer, a 68 ft DMX tower and a Til-Tek TA-150 4 bay antenna.

The repeater was installed at the Laurentian Hills fire hall with the antenna shared with the Fire Dept. for comms and paging. The site was not great as it is at the bottom of a shallow valley.

The OPP was using a 200 ft tower at a site on a high hill nearby off Bass Lake Rd. George Sansom VE3GWS, an OPP tech, was in charge of it. The OPP abandoned the site, moving to a new site further up Bass Lake Rd. George said we may as well use the site and gave us the key for the shack.

Original shack with Ham and FD equipment

The shack with both Ham and FD equipment just before starting to build the new shack.

Dennis VE3MSW and I walked up the 0.7 km rough trail to check out the shack. The roofing was a mess and the ceiling insulation was partially down. We got some various pieces of steel roofing from Beaver Lumber to seal the roof and managed to fix up the insulation.

There were no antennas on the tower, so Les VE3PL climbed the tower and put a homebrew double Zepp for 2 m at the top. We moved the Hamtronics 15 Watt repeater to the site and started to enjoy the new coverage.

Meanwhile, the Fire Dept. comms were poor with the radio at the fire hall and the paging couldn't reach many of the firefighters. I called Hugh Pembrun at the DoC and asked if they could couple a repeater at the RBW site. The answer was a definite yes so a repeater was purchased from Christie and Walther and installed at the site. A new Davicom 1535 antenna was purchased and replaced our double Zepp at the top of the tower and RBW and the fire dept. repeater were coupled to it with 2 C2037 filters. Now the firefighters could receive their pages from Pembroke and beyond. Eventually, the Town purchased the site from the Province.

In 1996, the Accelerator Physics department at AECL was shut down and Dennis and I acquired a 1500 W UPS from AECL. It used 4, 25 AH batteries which were in bad shape. The Town bought 4, 100 AH batteries and the UPS would run both repeaters for 24 hours, long enough to do something about a power outage. The UPS has a relay contact that closes when the UPS is providing power which is connected to the link board in the repeater to cause the ID to append 2 morse zeros to the call sign.

Around 2010, the Fire Dept. installed a Generac at the site. While it has covered most of the subsequent power outages, it has failed a couple of times and the UPS has filled in.

The shack was such a disgrace that in 2004, our ARES group got permission to build a new shack with Laurentian Hills buying the materials. We had a great crew with Ron Davis VE3ZRV, Tony Hinds VE3HWH, Robert Macfarlane VA3AGN, Yvonne Adam VE3RYA, George Dionne VE3GPD and me.

Shack build

New shack being built

New Shack

New shack done

In 2006, Rcomm, the tower company inspected the tower and declared it unsafe. In May of 2007, a new 250 ft. tower was installed.
New tower build

New Tower Going Up

In 2012, the remote fire dispatch from a tower West of Rolphton quit. I went to the site to check it out and found that a microburst had taken the tops off all the hydro poles up to the site. I found out who to call at the province and was told that the site would be decommissioned and to take anything I wanted. I took 2 MSR2000 VHF repeaters and 2 GE repeaters plus a bunch of C2037 cavity sets. One of the MSR2000s was set up to replace the Hamtronics at RBW.

The repeater is the "Canadian version" with a 30 Watt continuous power amp. We had 3 Motorola MaxTrac 100 UHF radios left over from a decommissioned alarm system for the nuclear emergency plan. All 3 were programmed to be used as link radios to link to NRR. They are now used for RBW, UCR and ZRR.

The pic below shows the repeater with the link radio on top and the link board in the white box in front.

Also in the pic is the APRS digi on the shelf above the repeater using a Radius radio donated by Spectrum in North Bay and a KPC3 TNC. Out of sight below the repeater is a VHF radio and KPC3+ TNC for packet. Also out of sight below the repeater is an Alinco DM-330MV power supply. To the right of the rack is the fire department repeater.

Current repeater setup

Current repeater setup with link radio and APRS equipment. What looks like a rubber duckie on the wall above the fire dept. repeater is a shorted stub to tune the APRS antenna.

1996
Installation of a 1500W UPS system from AECL's Accelerator Physics department
2004
Construction of a new shack by the ARES group
2007
Installation of a new 250 ft. tower after safety inspection
2012
Upgrade to MSR2000 VHF repeater system

VE3ZRR repeater history coming soon

Early History

The VE3UCR repeater system originated in the summer of 1988 when a group of amateur radio operators, including VE3ES, UE, MJG, OSD, JCH, and WQ, installed a temporary digipeater at Foymount under the call VE3NRR. Recognizing its potential, they secured the VE3UCR call sign in February 1989. Initially, the system used a Kenwood TR-7200 running 15 watts into a four-bay collinear antenna, linked via a NET/ROM-upgraded MFJ-1270 TNC. This setup quickly proved successful, prompting expansion plans.

By June 1991, the group, with assistance from VE3KXR and VE3BDJ, established a new repeater on 444.085 MHz, running 12 watts into a four-bay dipole. To enhance coverage, they secured a two-acre site at an elevation of 1,725 feet above sea level, reportedly one of the highest accessible locations in Ontario. Plans included erecting a 120-foot commercial tower, significantly improving reach. The site benefited from paved road access and hydro, ensuring reliable year-round operation.

The repeater system continued to expand, linking VE3NRR (146.760 MHz) and VE3RHI (146.910 MHz) into the network, with VE3MPC in Ottawa poised to join. Operators also aimed to install a 2-meter repeater for even wider coverage on 147.33 MHz. Work on the tower site progressed steadily, with ground anchors, cement bases, and underground conduit being installed throughout late 1991. Enthusiastic volunteers coordinated work parties, overcoming challenges such as trenching through rocky terrain.

The broad linking of UCR.

The linking and Hub that UCR was the centre of for Renfrew County.

By late October 1991, major infrastructure components were in place, including a new shack with hydro service. The site was now well-positioned for long-term growth. With the VE3UCR system linking key Ontario repeaters, it became a vital hub for regional amateur radio operations. The project's success was driven by dedicated operators who invested time, resources, and technical expertise, making VE3UCR a prominent and well-connected repeater system in Eastern Ontario.

Early Antenna Tower

Early antenna tower.