Chester County has made a few improvements to its VARA FM Network on 145.670 this week with the addition of two VARA FM Super Digi's. They are both in testing mode but usable across the region. 1st one is on the Charlestown tower in Chester County the 2nd is in Roxborough.
So the current network configuration is as follows on 145.670:
Roxborough Super Digi W3EOC-3 (Wide)
Charlestown Super Digi W3EOC-6 (Narrow)
West Chester EOC Digi W3EOC-4 (Narrow)
Downingtown WL2K Gateway N3MEL-10, VARA FM Digi N3MEL-4 & VarAC Vmail N3MEL (Wide)
Kennett Square WL2K Gateway KB3PCY-10, VARA FM Digi KB3PCY-4 & VarAC Vmail KB3PCY. (Wide) (KB3PCY also has a full time HF WL2K Gateway)
Pottstown WL2K Gateway KE3HG-10, VARA FM Digi KE3HG-4 (Narrow)
Mt Airy (Phila) WL2K Gateway K3FZT-10, VARA FM Digi K3FZT-4 (Wide) (Out of county)
We encourage everyone to give it a try, we think it could be useful for inter county linking. BUT we would also encourage everyone to use their closest dependable gateway before the Super Digi's but if option one is not available then by all means use them.
The Super Digi's are up for testing and to see if they add any EMCOMMS value to the region. We already realize the full county coverage that Charlestown digi is providing here in Chester County. If you have any questions please let me know.
PS: They will be available for the SET exercise this weekend feel free to use them. VARA FM is a one to one mode so please keep your message short and to the point so that others can pass their traffic as needed. Chester County will be testing its Winlink HF P2P station again this Thursday evening from 18:00 to 21:00. Setup is 80m Center Freq 3597.500 Dial 3596 VARA HF 500 bandwidth, address all P2P messages to N3MEL with W3EOC in the subject line. This will be the same setup for the SET as well.