The South Canadian Amateur Radio Society (SCARS) operates a number of repeaters in central Oklahoma. This page documents each of these repeaters and should be used to get your radio connected to one or more of these devices. The technical committee maintains also a blog at http://scarsrepeater.blogspot.com/ that has some additional technical information.
VHF/APRS – 144.390 MHz – NORMAN Digipeater
This digipeater operates on the Amateur Packet Radio System (
This machine is operational 24 x 7 and is behind an instant start generator that will provide power in an emergency situation.
VHF/FM – 146.880 MHz – W5OU
This FM repeater is located on the campus of Oklahoma University, at the top of the Physical Sciences building. This repeater uses the common -600 kHz offset but no CTCSS tone is required. This is a 1964 Motorola Motrac repeater that serves the Norman area. This machine uses an RC 850 controller with an analog delay line which gives this system a distinctive audio tone.
This system is on OU power, which is fed from two different generating sources. This redundant power source should keep this machine online during emergency conditions.
VHF/FM – 147.060 MHz – W5NOR
This repeater transmits on 147.060 MHz, has a +600-kHz offset, and requires a 141.3-Hz CTCSS tone. This repeater is available for general local use 24 hours a day. However, during severe weather conditions, or emergency situations, this repeater is the primary ARES communication repeater.
This repeater is located at the Cleveland County District 2 tower, east of Norman, at about 72nd and Alameda. This system uses an Andrew® DB224-E antenna, that provides about 6 dBd of gain. This antenna is on the west leg of the tower, about 300 feet above ground level. Ground level at this location is 1,187 feet above sea level.
This machine is operational 24 x 7 and is behind an instant start generator that will provide power in an emergency situation.
UHF/FM – 443.700 MHz – W5NOR
This repeater transmits on 443.700 MHz, has a +5 MHz offset, and requires a 141.3-Hz CTCSS tone. Co-located with the VHF repeater at 72nd and Alameda, this system uses an Andrews® DB408-B antenna, which provides about 8.7 dBi of gain. This antenna is on the west leg of the tower, directly below the VHF antenna, about 280 feet above ground level.
This machine is operational 24 x 7 and is behind an instant start generator that will provide power in an emergency situation.
UHF/DMR – 443.825 MHz – N5MS
This networked repeater operates from the OU Physical Sciences building. This is networked via the Brandmeister system and can be seen online at http://brandmeister.network. Detailed information on operating this format is available on the W5NOR OKDMR page.
UHF/D-STAR – 444.750 MHz – W5TC
This digital repeater uses the ICOM D-Star digital encoding and operates from the National Weather Center. This repeater is on 444.75 MHz and uses a +5 MHz offset. The gateway information can be seen online at https://w5tc.nwc.ou.edu/
UHF/FM – 444.625 MHz – W5LHG
This UHF repeater is west of Blanchard. This repeater transmits at 444.625 MHz, has a +5 MHz offset, and requires a 127.3-Hz CTCSS tone. In addition to local traffic, this repeater is connected to the Internet via Echolink ID 212301. More information about this repeater can be found at QRZ.com. This repeater is operated by W5LHG.
UHF/D-STAR – 442.975 MHz – KF5ZLE
This UHF D-STAR repeater is west of Blanchard. This repeater will auto connect to the Oklahoma Reflector, REF052B. Users are welcome to connect to other reflectors or gateways. After 10 minutes of idle time, it will reconnect to REF052B. More information about this repeater can be found at QRZ.com. This repeater is operated by W5LHG.
VHF/APRS – 144.390 MHz – W5LHG Digipeater
This digipeater operates on the APRS network. This APRS repeater can be found at
Report a Technical Problem
Please enter any technical system observations you may noticed. The technical maintenance team will review this information. The date/time will be recorded, if this report is for a previous date/time, please make a note of this in your comments. You have 1900 characters that you may enter.Reported System Issues
The following reports have been documented and reviewed. All times UTC, and observations reported above will be shown here once they have been reviewed.| Date | System | Reporter | Description | Resolution | Resolved Date |
| 2019-04-15 18:10:14 | 147.06-Analog-Repeater | W5HLG | This morning at approximately 9:25 AM the repeater sent out the W5NOR voice identifier about 6 times within a minute. I tried to contact Mark via text to see if he was working on th repeater via remote but never received any response. 73 Lea | Audio file downloaded and will investigate. Interesting... | 0000-00-00 00:00:00 |
| 2019-04-11 16:45:54 | 147.06-Analog-Repeater | W5HLG | Today, April 11, 2019 at 11:15 hrs local time and continuing thereafter the repeater noise was so great that 50 watt stations could barely make it into the repeater but were not understood by the other party. This HAS to stop if we aren't going to address and fix this then lets pull it completely out of service and just use the 800 repeater. I NEVER thought those words would come out of me but after I bought a higher power unit to have on my base and have a good antenna and this is still happening I can understand why new people don't stay in the hobby. I have repeatedly asked what I can do to help and still nothing??????? I'm beginning to think that I am "locked out" on purpose????? | This is a re-occurrence of the known issue on which Mark is currently working on a potential solution. I will mark this as resolved as we know which issue this is. | 0000-00-00 00:00:00 |
| 2018-12-11 21:03:55 | 147.06-Analog-Repeater | W5HLG | On 12/11/18 @ 14:58 CST there was another data burst on the frequency. As we eiscussed this is not the first. | Will pull the audio file and evaluate potential sources. I have pulled the audio file and this appears to be a legitimate transmission. Most likely someone accidentally sent a data packet to the repeater. Repeater acted normally. | 0000-00-00 00:00:00 |
| 2018-10-25 04:00:00 | 147.06-Analog-Repeater | w5ifn | Repeater was unavailable. | No observations available. The APRS log was checked on APRS.fi and it appears that the power was up at the site during the reported period. Waiting on a specific date/time to continue the review. | |
| 2018-10-25 04:00:00 | 443.70-Analog-Repeater | w5ifn | Repeater was unavailable. | No observations available. The APRS log was checked on APRS.fi and it appears that the power was up at the site during the reported period. Waiting on a specific date/time to continue review. | |
| 2018-10-21 04:00:00 | 147.06-Analog-Repeater | n5uwy | Main receiver shut down, not operating. | The controller misunderstood some DTMF tones during an over the air programming session and the main repeater was shut down. A site visit was required and the controller programming was updated to a known good condition. | 2018-10-22 12:30:00 |
| 2018-10-20 23:00:00 | 147.06-Analog-Repeater | w5ifn | A set of digital tones were heard on the repeater. Tuning off the repeater frequency made it more obvious to be digital tones. | No observations heard. Waiting on a specific date/time to review. |