The Conway 145.470 frequency pair and site were donated to the Nixa ARC by the Lebanon ARC and on August 17, 2018 the repeater came online as a DMR only repeater linked to the Brandmeister network.

In normal operation, the repeater is a DMR repeater with Color Code 12 carrying static traffic on the Southwest Missouri talkgroup 31291 on Time Slot 1 and traffic from the Branson talkgroup 31293 on Time Slot 2

On September 1 2021, the repeater was re-programmed and new equipment added to allow the repeater to be changed to analog repeater operation linked to the SMLRS via a remote smartphone app or Internet website command

The repeater is a 30-Watt Motorola XPR-8400 repeater with a 4-cavity Wacom duplexer. There is NO external controller for this site as it normally utilizes the Motorola DMR controller built into the repeater to connect to the Brandmeister network.

When the repeater is changed to analog mode, the JPS NXU-2A automatically links to the SMLRS’s NXU-2A located at the 147.015 repeater site bringing the repeater onto the linked system just like any other repeater! This change is made by accessing the Ethernet relay controller via a smartphone app or Internet website designed by Rob Huelga, W3LGA, with hosting built by Randy Jordan, KC0UKB.

The antenna is a Commscope DB-222E antenna mounted atop one of the City of Conway water towers. The antenna provides 3 dBd gain in an omni directional pattern with the bays pointed SW and NE along I-44 to maximize I-44 coverage. The antenna is fed with Andrew LDF4-50 1/2″ heliax.

The repeater can generally be worked by mobile radios from Strafford to Sleeper on I-44. The repeater was first used on the SMLRS in September 2021 for the annual Bike MS ride.

Special thanks to the following for making the Conway Repeater a reality:

• Lebanon Amateur Radio Club
• John Rayfield, W0PM and Rayfield Communications
• Randy VanScoy, K0RLV
• Rick Robinson, K0VEL of Velocity Wireless
• Back Yard Repeater Group (BYRG)