A Note From Your Director
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A Note From Your Director    

Please forward all requests for coordination and re-coordination to Alan McClain, Tennessee Director, at  ka4bni@sera.org.

First an important note follows:

Because of family and work obligations I am scaling back my involvement in the SERA.  I simply do not have the time to properly devote to the SERA.  Therefore, I am currently seeking a qualified person for the position of SERA Tennessee East Region Frequency Coordinator.  The eastern region of Tennessee covers from I-65 east to the eastern Tennessee state line. 

Qualifications are as follows:

1)  Must be a licensed amateur operator holding at least a Technician Class license.
2)  Must be a current member and remain a current member of the SERA.
3)  Must own or be the trustee of a Tennessee SERA coordinated repeater.
4)  Must live in Tennessee in the coordination area (east of I-65).
5)  Must have some background knowledge of repeater operation.
6)  Must be a friendly person, of open mind, willing to work with Tennessee repeater owners to solve
      coordination issues.
7)  Must be accessible to the public, at reasonable hours, (by phone or email, etc.) to solve repeater 
      coordination issues.
8)  Having a broad band internet connection (DSL, cable, etc.) would be a plus (some SERA work
     requires the downloading of files).

The position is strictly volunteer. You do not receive any compensation.

If selected you will receive training and software to be able to coordinate repeaters in the east region of Tennessee.  NOTE: The selection will require being approved by the SERA voting body (the remaining SERA state directors and vice directors).

If you are, or you know of someone, who would qualify and like to take on this position, please send me a short resume to: ka4bni@sera.org

Thank you,
Alan McClain - KA4BNI


Tennessee has the distinction of bordering all but West Virginia and South Carolina as members of the SERA. In fact, the state is almost 500 miles wide, east to west, and less than 200 miles long north & south. With this unique shape the state we have divided coordination duties into three sections.

If you have a repeater in Tennessee and aren't a member of the SERA, you should consider becoming a member. If you're a ham and don't have a repeater, you can become an associate member and receive our quarterly publication, the SERA Repeater Journal.  It is one of the finest amateur radio related magazines in the country. The Journal will keep you up to date with news about ongoing FM repeater activity in your district and the surrounding SERA districts, as well as other amateur radio news.  You can contact me, or your local coordinator, or use the "Web Membership Page" for membership information and instructions.

Due to the abundance of two meter repeaters in Tennessee, I do not know of any frequencies available for two meter repeater coordination.  If you are contemplating repeater construction and coordination, I strongly urge you to consider 222 MHz or 440 MHz.  The propagation characteristics of 222 MHz are very similar to the 144 - 148 MHz band.  Further, the noise floor is much lower, resulting in better signal receive and transmit distances.  Due to the proliferation of dual band radios, the 440 MHz band is also becoming more active.  

If you're still hung up on owning and operating your own two meter repeater, about the only way we will be able to coordinate one for you is for you to purchase one that is already in existence and properly coordinated.  Additionally, you would also have to file for re-coordination in your name, or your club's name, at the same location that the repeater is located.  So, in short, if you want to move it to another location or increase it's coverage area, you most likely will not be able to re-coordinate the repeater.

I also want to encourage every repeater operator in Tennessee to make sure your SERA Datasheets are returned to us and updated yearly.  We are going to aggressively pursue paper repeaters in Tennessee, so we can attempt to open up some new frequencies for hams that are willing to put repeaters on the air. It is not fair to sit on frequencies and deny the rest of the ham population a working repeater.  We will soon begin a literal verification of all repeaters in TN.  If your repeater is not on the air, now would be good time to send me an email explaining why. The more accurate SERA’s database is, the better we can serve the hams of Tennessee by allowing new repeaters to come on the air.  If you know of a paper repeater or one that is off the air, I want to know about it. Please email me with the details and I will pursue it. I would like all existing repeater owners to review the revised SERA Policy 17- Repeater De-Coordination, with special attention paid to Section 7 where it applies to SERA Datasheets.  

In any case, feel free to contact any of us, if you wish to explore repeater construction and coordination, in the Volunteer State.  We'll be glad to help and please consult the map below and determine the respective coordinator to contact.

Thanks & 73,
Alan McClain, KA4BNI
SERA Tennessee Director

Frequency Coordinators

       For the time being, forward all requests for coordination and re-coordination to Alan McClain, 
         Tennessee Director, at  ka4bni@sera.org

Alan McClain, KA4BNI SERA Tennessee Director  /and/ Frequency Coordinator   P.O. Box 672 Dresden, TN  38225-0672 (731) 364-6035  home & fax ka4bni@sera.org

Assistants                     

Tim Berry, WB4GBI          Tennessee Assistant Director          214 Echodale Lane          Knoxville, TN 37920-5042          (865) 579-3494          wb4gbi@sera.org

 

Correspondents

Bob Gault, KD4NEC TN Repeater Journal Correspondent 221 Cedarwood Trail  N.W. Cleveland, TN  37312 (423)  479-6260 kd4nec@sera.org

         
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