Welcome to WC0HC Emergency Repeater System

WC0HC-VE backup repeater for Medtronics marathon

(10/1/2021) The WC0HC-VE repeater in Edina is reserved as a backup repeater for the Medtronics marathon this Saturday morning. Please refrain from using the repeater at that time. 

WC0HC Repeater System upgrade status

(10/1/2021) Hennepin County Emergency Management, in coordination with and with help from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office Technical Services Division, is continuing to replace repeaters as a part of the repeater upgrade project.

Current status of the repeaters is:

• WC0HC-VM, which is the VHF repeater in downtown Minneapolis, will be shut down the morning of Monday, Oct. 4, and will remain off the air until all hardware is replaced, which could take 1-2 days. WC0HC-VP, which is the VHF repeater in Plymouth, is installed and off the air. Its intended use is to be a backup to WC0HC-VM if needed. We will be testing that capability when the Minneapolis repeater is shut down and we will turn on the Plymouth repeater. Users are encouraged to try it out and a noticeably smaller coverage footprint is expected. The frequencies for the Minneapolis and Plymouth repeaters are 146.700/146.100 with a PL of 127.3.

• WC0HC-VE, which is the VHF repeater in Edina, is now on the air. The frequencies remains 145.430/144.830 MHz with a PL of 127.3

• WC0HC-UE, which is the new UHF DMR repeater in Edina, is now on the air. Its new frequency is 444.19375/449.19375 MHz and is currently not networked, running as a standalone repeater for the time being. 

• WC0HC-UP, which will be the new UHF DMR repeater in Plymouth, is now on the air. Its new frequency is 444.20625/449.20625 MHz and is currently not networked, running as a standalone repeater for the time being.

DMR repeaters will not initially be connected together, and will operate as standalone DMR repeaters, but will be networked for regional, statewide, and multi-state coverage over the next 6-12 months.

We will release any new repeater information as it becomes available on www.wc0hc.org and the WC0HC Facebook page. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email Dan Anderson, HCEM Communications Coordinator, at dan.anderson@hennepin.us.

WC0HC Repeater System to receive major upgrade

(8/11/2021) Hennepin County Emergency Management, in coordination with and with help from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office Technical Services Division, is replacing all the repeaters in its WC0HC Public Service Amateur Radio Repeater System. We will keep an analog presence with two of our most well-known repeaters in downtown Minneapolis and Golden Valley and converting one repeater in Edina to DMR and adding a DMR repeater in Plymouth.

The DMR repeaters will initially operate as standalone repeaters and in the future be networked together to mark the beginning of a metro-wide amateur radio public service DMR network with specific metro amateur emergency communications talkgroups. 

Installation of all repeaters is currently ongoing and will conclude within the next few weeks and will consist of the following:

• WC0HC-VM, which is the VHF repeater in downtown Minneapolis, will stay analog. It will be upgraded with a repeater controller with voice ID. The frequency will remain 146.700/146.100 MHz
• WC0HC-VP, which is the VHF repeater in Plymouth, will stay analog but turned off and in reserve if we have to shut down VM. It will be upgraded with a repeater controller with voice ID. The frequency will be the same as the WC0HC-VM repeater.
• WC0HC-UG, which is the UHF repeater in Golden Valley, will stay analog. It will be upgraded with a repeater controller with voice ID. The frequencies will remain 444.175/449.175 MHz
• WC0HC-VE, which is the VHF repeater in Edina, will stay analog. It will be upgraded with a repeater controller with voice ID. The frequencies will remain 145.430/144.830 MHz
• WC0HC-UE, which is the UHF repeater in Edina will become DMR. Its new frequency will be 444.19375/449.19375 MHz
• WC0HC-UP, which will be the new UHF repeater in Plymouth, will be created and made DMR. Its new frequency will be 444.20625/449.20625 MHz

As we install the new repeaters, some will become unavailable until frequencies are coordinated and equipment testing is complete. We will release any new repeater information as it becomes available on www.wc0hc.org and the WC0HC Facebook page. 

DMR repeaters will not initially be connected together, and will operate as standalone DMR repeaters, but will be networked for regional, statewide, and multi-state coverage over the next 6-12 months.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email Dan Anderson, HCEM Communications Coordinator, at dan.anderson@hennepin.us. 

WC0HC-VM Back on the air

(7/30/2021)  The WC0HC-VM repeater in downtown Minneapolis is now back on the air. The antenna was replaced. We have configured this new antenna to a more of an omnidirectional pattern, which should gain better results for stations to the north, east, and south.

WC0HC-VM Offline

(7/26/2021)   A major failure was found with the antenna on the WC0HC-VM repeater (146.700 downtown Minneapolis) and the repeater was taken offline. It will be INOPERATIVE for the next several days or few weeks. We will brief when we know more. 

Any group that has factored in the use of this repeater will need to enact alternate communications plans immediately. Sorry for the inconvenience.

WC0HC-VM Technical Issues

(5/14/2021) UPDATE: The issue continues with the  WC0HC-VM repeater in downtown Minneapolis, in that it appears to be an issue in windy conditions. This may mean that there is a loose connection somewhere that is exacerbated by the winds. We will continue to monitor and attempt to remedy the situation soon, but you can probably expect that on calm days the repeater will work better than on windy days. 

(5/6/2021) The WC0HC-VM repeater in downtown MInneapolis is experiencing significant technical difficulties, to the point where it is unusable. We will be investigating the issue and see if we can come to a resolution soon.

WC0HC-VE Back On The Air

(3/11/2021) The WC0HC-VE is currently back on the air.

WC0HC-VE Temporarily Off The Air

(1/27/2021) Due to issues with the WC0HC-VE repeater, we have taken it off the air temporarily to investigate, reconfigure and reinstall. We hope to have it once again operational in 2021.

WC0HC-UG Issues

(1/15/2020) Over the past few weeks we've noticed an issue with the WC0HC-UG repeater, 444.175 MHz. We are looking into the weird sounds it's making and hope to have it resolved soon.

Issues with WC0HC-VE, WC0HC-UE

• (2/27/2019) We are currently having issues with both our repeaters in Edina. We believe it is external radio interference and are working with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Communications Division to fix. Thanks for your patience.