Hampton VA Repeater is now in BETA Testing

[LEO757]

SYSTEM:

The Hampton Virginia repeater is new, is a Vertex VDX-R70, 25 watt system located near Mercury Blvd and North King Street in central Hampton. It's currently in BETA testing mode and is owned by me; a retired law enforcement officer and disabled vet. I am working closely with a couple of great individuals in Portsmouth and Surry to accomplish this goal. In late November 2024 we requested The Chamberlin Hotel / Harmony Assisted Living center on Fort Monroe to allow the installation of this repeater in the building with a roof-mounted antenna, and were told they would do all they could do to get it done; we are still awaiting a response. As secondary and tertiary locations, we sent a request December 10th to the Fort Monroe Authority to utilize space there, as both locations are on the water, have higher structures, and will reach Norfolk. I have also reached out to Hampton University Real Estate Foundation this week requesting a 2nd alternate location at 2 Eaton Street in downtown Hampton. 2 Eaton Street is a 14 story building and would give very ideal coverage.  I'm open to other possible locations in Hampton with the height requirement to attain a 20 mile service radius. The system is currently being BETA tested at my Hampton residence with the antenna installed at 30 feet until it can be installed at one of the top three locations in the next 90 days.

ROLE:

This repeater's PRIMARY role is to provide radio distance access to Disabled Veterans and military personnel with low power radios in Hampton, Portsmouth & Norfolk who utilize GMRS as a hobby or to speak to someone other than F2F and have no repeater access. It will however be open to any licensed user. The SECONDARY role will be utilized for emergency communications for a group of volunteers, the majority of whom are DV's, active duty & retired military personnel who require solid communications when volunteering during hurricanes, flooding and other disasters on the peninsula and northeastern Norfolk. This repeater will be restricted to essential personnel only during these incidents.

[tcp2525]

5 hours ago, LEO757 said:

SYSTEM:

The Hampton Virginia repeater is new, is a Vertex VDX-R70, 25 watt system located near Mercury Blvd and North King Street in central Hampton. It's currently in BETA testing mode and is owned by me; a retired law enforcement officer and disabled vet. I am working closely with a couple of great individuals in Portsmouth and Surry to accomplish this goal. In late November 2024 we requested The Chamberlin Hotel / Harmony Assisted Living center on Fort Monroe to allow the installation of this repeater in the building with a roof-mounted antenna, and were told they would do all they could do to get it done; we are still awaiting a response. As secondary and tertiary locations, we sent a request December 10th to the Fort Monroe Authority to utilize space there, as both locations are on the water, have higher structures, and will reach Norfolk. I have also reached out to Hampton University Real Estate Foundation this week requesting a 2nd alternate location at 2 Eaton Street in downtown Hampton. 2 Eaton Street is a 14 story building and would give very ideal coverage.  I'm open to other possible locations in Hampton with the height requirement to attain a 20 mile service radius. The system is currently being BETA tested at my Hampton residence with the antenna installed at 30 feet until it can be installed at one of the top three locations in the next 90 days.

ROLE:

This repeater's PRIMARY role is to provide radio distance access to Disabled Veterans and military personnel with low power radios in Hampton, Portsmouth & Norfolk who utilize GMRS as a hobby or to speak to someone other than F2F and have no repeater access. It will however be open to any licensed user. The SECONDARY role will be utilized for emergency communications for a group of volunteers, the majority of whom are DV's, active duty & retired military personnel who require solid communications when volunteering during hurricanes, flooding and other disasters on the peninsula and northeastern Norfolk. This repeater will be restricted to essential personnel only during these incidents.

Kudos to you for deploying a repeater. It's always nice to see a new one on the air even though I'm to far away to use it. Good luck on getting it finalized the way you want it.