MacPass Page

MacDonald Pass Repeaters and Site

MacDonald Pass is the primary repeater site for the group. It currently has a 70cm repeater and a 2-meter repeater. The site sits at an elevation of about 7,155 feet about 13 miles west of Helena. The tower sits within 30 feet of the Continental Divide and is 61 feet to the top platform, 93 feet to the top of the tower. The 70cm repeater is a Motorola MSF 5000 running 110 watts and has an ARR GaAsFET preamp on the receiver. The repeater operates on 2 seperate Celwave PD-1151 Stationmaster antennas. These antennas sit at about 95 feet. Photos of the repeater and the antennas can be found at the links below. This repeater will be linked to several others in the area and serves as the "hub" for the other sites to link through. As backup, we have a 40 watt MSF 5000 at the site and ready to be put in service should the primary repeater experience a failure. The 2-meter repeater is a 125 watt Motorola MSF 5000 at the same site. It operates into two antennas, a Celwave PD-220 antenna which sits at about 95 feet for receive and a Celwave PD-220 at 62 feet for transmit. As backup, we have a 25 watt MSF 5000 at the site and ready to be put in service should the primary repeater experience a failure. Additionally, the 70cm repeater is connected to the Echolink Internet Link system and is continuously tied into 70cm repeaters in Montana (Boulder, Butte, Lookout Pass, Missoula, and Toston), Sandia Crest near Albuquerque, New Mexico, Atlanta, Georgia, and Remote Base Stations in Cincinatti, Ohio and Los Angeles, California. This system is virtually automatic and is set to stay connected 24 hours a day. More information about the Echolink system can be found at the link below. Additionally as a service for Amateur operators so equipped, a 25 watt APRS Digi-peater ("MACPAS") is operating at the site and is fed into a Telewave 2.5Dbd gain antenna.

Repeater Location: North 46-35-40.7 West 112-17-51.9 (NAD 27 Datum)

70 CM Repeater Specifications:

Receive Frequency (Input): 449.1000 Mhz

Transmit Frequency (Output): 444.1000 Mhz

Transmit Output Power: 110 Watts

Effective Radiated Power: 510 Watts

PL Tone Required: 131.8 Hz, repeater encodes tone

Call Sign: WR7HLN (Mac Pass Repeater Group)

Antenna Gain: 8db both Transmit and Receive

Antenna Pattern: Omnidirectional

Backup Power: 400 Amp Battery (approximately 5 days with 2 hours transmit per day)

Time Out Timer: 3 minutes resets on input signal drop