• DMRAA club repeater
• Central Iowa repeater guide
• Central Iowa VHF nets
• D-STAR
• APRS
• Packet

DMRAA club repeater

The Des Moines Radio Amateurs Association maintains an analog 2-meter repeater on 146.940 (negative shift) with a PL tone of 114.8. This repeater is funded by membership dues and donations and is identified by the callsign W0AK.

Central Iowa repeater guide

Trying to figure out the local repeater frequencies and tone codes for the central Iowa area? Look no further as we’ve compiled a downloadable list for you. Click here for the central Iowa frequency guide (PDF).

For information on the Mid-Iowa Skywarn linked system, click here.

Central Iowa VHF nets

There are several VHF nets in central Iowa to check into each week:

Sunday    6:00 p.m.      147.135+ 141.3 PL CIRAS (Marshalltown)
Sunday    7:00 p.m.      147.240+          Story County ARES (Ames)
Sunday    8:00 p.m.      146.610- 114.8 PL Central Iowa ARES
Sunday    following ARES 146.940- 114.8 PL Central Iowa Technical Net
Sunday    9:00 p.m.      146.820- 114.8 PL ARTS (Des Moines)
Sunday    9:00 p.m.      146.850-          Boone County ARC (Boone)
Monday    7:00 p.m.      147.015+          Hamilton County Radio Club (Webster City)
Monday    8:00 p.m.      145.190- 114.8 PL Dallas County ARES
Monday    following ARES 145.190- 114.8 PL HARC (Perry)
Wednesday 9:00 p.m.      147.375+ 114.8 PL Cyclone ARC (Ames)
Wednesday 11:00 p.m.     146.610- 114.8 PL Night Owl Net
Thursday  7:00 p.m.      146.940- 114.8 PL Polk County ARES (Des Moines)

D-STAR

The DMRAA, in conjunction with the Des Moines Amateur Radio Technical Society (ARTS), established Iowa’s first D-STAR (Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio) repeater system and is located in Grimes under the callsign KD0IAN. The KD0IAN system employs 144MHz digital voice, 440MHz digital voice and 1.2GHz digital data. The KD0IAN system is funded by members of both clubs as well as generous donations from the Iowa amateur radio community. Click here for a guide for getting started on the KD0IAN system (PDF).

System status and gateway registration can be found at https://kd0ian.dstargateway.org/. It is recommended that users register for gateway use with their nearest repeater. You only need to register once to use the gateway on any D-STAR repeater.

Questions regarding the D-STAR system should be directed to administrators Mike Waldron (AE0MW), Larry Vandewater (N0BKB), Tom Reis (N0VPR), and Dean Madsen (N0XR).

APRS

Iowa uses the nationally-recognized APRS frequency of 144.39. There are numerous digipeaters and i-gates spread throughout central Iowa.

For a map of recent APRS activity in Des Moines, click here.

Packet

The DMRAA maintains a packet system, located at Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines. It operates under the W0AK callsign. The frequencies are: 147.555, 145.010, 147.450, and 446.025.