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NSRC
The NSRC is a not-for-profit Amateur Radio club serving Chicago’s north suburban area. It is one of Chicago’s largest and most active radio clubs whose members’ interests cover the entire spectrum of what the Amateur Radio Service has to offer. The club is a long standing Special Service Club member of the American Radio Relay League. It participates in Field Day, sponsors fox hunts and operates special event stations for Kid’s Day and the Boy Scouts’ Jamboree on the Air. NSRC also provides public service communications for local organizations like the TREK100 Bicycle Ride. We have served the Bank of America Chicago Marathon for more than 10 years, providing communication support for the medical volunteers. Many NSRC members participated in this world-class event. The club participates in and encourages all aspects of Amateur Radio including license classes and exams to help people get started in this wonderful hobby.
Club Meetings
Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30 PM at the Heller Nature Center in Highland Park. Meetings are open to the public. On occasion the club will have special meetings at various guest locations. Our meetings offer an informal setting for informative programs. The Heller Nature Center is located at 2821 Ridge Road in Highland Park.
Our Weekly Net
Please feel free to check into the NSRC weekly Thursday night net at 8PM CDT/CST on our 440 repeater 442.275 Mhz & PL 114.8 Hz. Our net features recorded Amateur Radio news from the AR NEWSLINE, and announcements of general interest.
NSRC sponsored radio systems which are open to all licensed operators:
The most popular and heavily used club system is the 440 FM analog repeater on 442.725 MHz with a +5 MHz offset and requiring a 114.8 PL tone. Not only is this repeater used for the club's Thursday night nets, but it is also the back up repeater for the Northern Cook County Skywarn weather net. It is a current Motorola model located near Foster and Sheridan on the far north side of Chicago. it runs about 35 watts out to a 4-element "offset pattern" antenna at 500+ feet. Offset pattern means that more of the repeater's RF energy is radiated over land than out over Lake Michigan. Co-located at this site is the club's "stack" of D-Star repeaters covering the the 70cm and 23cm bands. The D-Star 70cm repeater, NS9RC-B, is on 442.09375 MHz with a +5 MHz offset. This repeater runs 25 watts out to another 4-element offset pattern antenna. The D-Star 23cm repeater, NS9RC-A, is on 1292.200 MHz with a -20 MHz offset. This repeater runs 10 watts out to an omnidirectional antenna. Also located at this site are the club's Winlink RMS node station on 145.610 MHz and an AREDN mesh network node, both with internet access.
A few months ago the club's 2M and 220 MHz repeaters were relocated to Northfield and Deerfield.The 2M repeater was relocated to a 260 foot tower near Edens Expressway and Willow Road in Northfield. This is a dual mode Yaesu System Fusion and FM analog repeater on 147.345 MHz with a +600 KHz offset and requiring a PL tone of 107.2. It runs 20 watts out to an omnidirectional antenna at the top of the tower and is the primary Northern Cook County Skywarn repeater system during severe weather periods. The 220 MHz repeater is now located in south east Deerfield on a 190 foot water tank. It is an FM analog Broadcom unit on 224.320 MHz with a -1.6 MHz offset requiring a 110.9 PL tone. The club encourages use of this repeater to get more activity on the 220 MHz band.
For many years the NSRC has supported area APRS activity by operating two APRS digipeaters on 144.390 MHz, NS9RC and NS9RC-5. The flagship digipeater, NS9RC, is located on Waukegan Road near Winnetka Avenue in Northfield. It is at 45 feet and covers the north shore and the city's far north side. The second digipeater, NS9RC-5, is located north of downtown Highland Park at 25 feet and fills in a known dead zone in that area.
Lastly, since 2001 the club has operated a 10M CW propagation beacon on 28.297 MHz located at the Heller Nature Center. It was built from a Radio Shack HTX-100 running 5 watts out to a Cushcraft AR-10 half wave vertical antenna at 20 feet. The CW message is generated by an Ultimate PicoKeyer built during an NSRC Build Club session. We have received reception reports from over 30 countries and from every continent except Antarctica.
See also
Flex cadre our Flex Radio Group information on this WIKI.
