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C.A.R.E.N. Communications System
 The CAREN Club's tower and building, located on Shinall Mountain in Little Rock, Arkansas, houses the 146.940, 444.200, 147.300, and packet & APRS stations referred to below.
| 146.940 |
| | The flagship repeater in Central Arkansas is the 146.940 W5DI Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Net (C.A.R.E.N.) Club repeater. The repeater is located on Shinall Mountain, west of Little Rock on property owned by KARK-TV and leased to the C.A.R.E.N. Club. The repeater has a redundant standby transmitter and receiver, with remote control for immediate restoration of service in the event of an outage. The repeater is controlled by an RLC-3 eight port control system, manufactured by Link Communications. It is equipped with synthesized speech; 2 meter Kenwood 241/Hall Electronics RBI-1 remote base; telephone interconnect (autopatch); digital voice recorder; and input/output controls for sensing and controlling external devices, such as temperature and battery voltage. The repeater has backup battery power for at least 24 hours. The approximate range of the 146.940 repeater is 100 miles. This repeater hosts all nets, including the Skywarn storm spotter net. |
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| 444.200 |
| | The 444.200 W5DI repeater, located on Shinall Mountain, can be linked to the 146.940 repeater at will, and during any net activity. This allows stations to transmit on one band and listen on another thus providing full duplex operations, a real bonus during emergencies. Approximate range of the 444.200 is 75 miles. The 444.200 has the same features as the 146.940 machine, due to the fact that it interfaces to one of the eight shared ports of the RLC-3 control system. |
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| 147.300 |
| | Next, C.A.R.E.N. has the 147.300 W5DI repeater located also on Shinall Mountain. It does not have quite the range of the 146.940, but still about 75 miles. This is a repeater for Central Arkansas Hams to talk on (ragchew) necessitated by the volume on the original 146.940 repeater. Under normal conditions, this repeater is linked to the 147.285 C.A.R.E.N. Club repeater in Clarksville and the 147.315 C.A.R.E.N. Club repeater in Russell. This linking is accomplished by the user transmitting a subaudible tone (PL). If the appropriate PL is not sensed, then no linking occurs. However, when a C.A.R.E.N. Net, Skywarn Net, Emergency Net, or any other net is activated, the 147.300 unlinks from the other repeaters, and becomes a stand-alone machine for the duration of the net. This makes the 147.300 become a frequency for ragchewing, or a repeater for resource nets in the event of local emergencies, since the other repeaters may be tied up with the main net. The 147.300 repeater is also controlled by the RLC-3 controller, although some features are masked from it, for exclusive use on other repeaters. |
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| 147.315 |
| | The 147.315 WA5OOY repeater, owned by C.A.R.E.N and located in Russell Arkansas with a range of about 100 miles, covers areas such as Jonesboro, Forest City, roughly to Crowley's ridge east of Forest City. It is a local stand-alone repeater for the local hams, but with the insertion of a PL tone, it links to the 147.300 and 147.285 repeaters. |
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| 147.285 |
| | The 147.285 W5OI repeater, located in Clarksville, has an approximate range of 100 miles, which covers west to Fort Smith and beyond. This is the latest linked repeater by the CAREN Club. Here again, as in the case with 147.315 Russell, this is a stand-alone machine that can be linked by any amateur by inserting a PL tone into their transmitter. |
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| 147.135 |
| | The 147.135 N5NQW repeater is owned by the C.A.R.E.N. Club, and located on Shinall Mountain. It has a range of about 75 miles. This repeater is for talking (ragchew) to help relieve the usage on the other C.A.R.E.N. repeaters. |
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| 147.060 |
| | The 147.060 W5DI repeater is located in the Heights area of West Little Rock with a range of about 50 miles. This is C.A.R.E.N.'s third oldest repeater, and is equipped with a telephone interconnect (autopatch). This repeater was built and in use prior to 911 and cellular phones. The repeater is 911 equipped. The 50 mile coverage is designed basically for the Little Rock and North Little Rock area, so handi-talkies and mobiles can have access to a phone. |
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| 145.590 |
| | The 145.590 packet node is named LIT59. This digital mode station is located at Shinall Mountain in West Little Rock, and has a coverage radius of about 50 miles, and is connected to a 6 meter backbone, which routes traffic across the statewide "Arkansas Packet Network" (APN), administered by Kevin Manzer, AC5DK. |
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| 144.390 |
| | CAREN Sponsors an APRS Digipeater. The 144.390 APRS digi is named LTROCK. This digital mode station is located at Shinall Mountain in West Little Rock, and has a coverage radius of about 50 miles. |
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| Upcoming Events |
| September 4, 2008 |
| | Face-To-Face Club Meeting |
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| September 6-7, 2008 |
| | MS 150 Bike Tour |
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| September 13, 2008 |
| | Raid the Rock |
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| September 20, 2008 |
| | All Arkansas Hamfest |
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| September 27, 2008 |
| | Arkansas Marathon/20K |
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| September 27, 2008 |
| | Big Dam Bridge 100 |
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| October 2, 2008 |
| | Face-to-Face Club Meeting |
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| October 4-5, 2008 |
| | Arkansas Traveler 100 |
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| November 6, 2008 |
| | Face-To-Face Club Meeting |
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| December 4, 2008 |
| | Christmas Dinner |
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