Welcome

Welcome to the Indianapolis Repeater Association's web site.

The Indianapolis Repeater Association, Inc., is an IRS 501(c)3 organization incorporated in the State of Indiana.

An ARRL affiliated organization.

Frequencies

Home to Indiana's premier repeater group on the following frequencies all using the W9IRA callsign:

•146.700 MHz -600 kHz 88.5 PL - Wide Area Coverage Repeater, located on WTHR 13 tower at 662 feet AGL. An 88.5 PL is required to access the repeater.

•147.120 MHz +600 kHz 88.5 PL - Open Repeater located near 34th St. and Arlington Ave.

•146.625 MHz -600 kHz 88.5 Hz PL - Open Downtown Indianapolis Repeater. Automatic mode switching between analog and Yaesu System Fusion.

•443.850 MHz +5 MHz 88.5 Hz PL - Open Repeater, located on WTHR 13 tower at 307 feet AGL.

The W9IRA repeaters are coordinated by the Indiana Repeater Council.

News

18-Mar-2025
The 146.525 repeater's duplexer has been re-tuned and the repeater checked out. Working much better now.

20-Jul-2023
The 146.700 repeater has been located on the WTHR 13 tower at 96th Street and Ditch Road since 1983. Originally, the repeater antenna was mounted at approximately 300 feet above ground level (AGL). In the late 1980s, a feedline going to a higher elevation on the tower became available, so the 146.700 repeater was moved higher on the tower.
When the new 146.700 antenna was installed in 2018, it was installed at the same elevation on the tower as the previous antenna. While we were at the site for the new antenna installation, WTHR personnel produced a "tower survey" that had been done a few years prior. The survey showed that the 146.700 antenna was at 662 feet AGL and not at the slightly higher elevation that we previously believed it to be. IOW, the antenna didn't move, we got a more accurate elevation.
The 146.700 repeater antenna is still on the WTHR 13 tower and it's still at the same elevation that it's been for over 30 years. The work that was done on the repeater last week did not involve the location or elevation of the antenna.
Thank you to WTHR for their support of our repeaters.

11-Jul-2023
We visited the 146.700 repeater today. We touched up the tuning of the duplexers and activated the 88.5 Hz PL tone requirement to use the repeater.

25-Apr-2023
As decided at last night's IRA general membership meeting, the 146.700 MHz repeater will soon require an 88.5 Hz PL tone to activate the repeater. The actual date of cutover will be sometime this summer after technical details are worked out. But, you can start reprogramming your radios now.

17-Apr-2023
We made a small equipment change on the 147.120 repeater today. Same RF equipment. Same repeater controller. Everything should ack the same. Remember to use an 88.5 Hz tone to access this repeater.

11-Jul-2022
Effective immediately, the 147.120 MHz repeater on the northeast side of Indianapolis requires an 88.5 Hz PL tone to activate the repeater. Note that the repeater does not transmit using a PL tone. Please reprogram your radios with 88.5 Hz PL encode, but no PL decode.

12-Nov-2018
The 146.700 and 443.850 (88.5 Hz pl) are back on the air. Both antennas were replaced. The jumpers between the feedlines and the antennas were also replaced. Thank you very much to the staff and management of WTHR Channel 13 and to Tower Service Company.

02-May-2018
At the April IRA Membership meeting, the board and members in attendance voted to replace both the 146.700 and 443.850 repeater antennas. This will be a costly and time-consuming project, but we are hopeful that new antennas will solve our persistent noise issues.
A bit of background on how we got here. Prior to last spring, all of the equipment for the 146.700 repeater, except the repeater controller, was 30 or more years old. That includes the receiver, transmitter, power amplifier, duplexer, feedline, and antenna. Over the past year, we have replaced the things we can get to from the ground: the receiver, transmitter, and duplexer. Since our noise persists, we will have to look at those items on the tower. During our planned antenna replacement, the feedline will be carefully checked, but we are keeping our fingers crossed since 750 feet of high-quality feedline would be very expensive.
Some of you may have wondered why we took the 146.700 power amplifier off-line. The challenge that every duplexed repeater faces is desensitization of the receive signal by the transmitted signal. When we replaced the duplexer a few months ago, we decided to take the PA off-line in order to reduce our variables. Once we get the antenna situation resolved, we may reinstate the current PA or purchase a new one. In the meantime, you may find locations around Indianapolis where the signal you hear from the 146.700 repeater is a bit noisy.
We hope that you will bear with us as we continue to address our technical issues. And, we sincerely thank you for your support.