SuperPeater
By Steve Stroh N8GNJ
In my newsletter Zero Retries, I have written about my concepts for next generation Amateur Radio Repeaters that would accommodate multiple technologies and user scenarios.
This is the paper I wrote for the Zero Retries Digital Conference 2025 to attempt to thoroughly outline my SuperPeater Concept.
Abstract
At the time of this paper, a SuperPeater is a thought experiment to rethink both the function / technology and the role of repeaters operating in the Amateur Radio VHF and UHF bands in the mid-2020s and beyond.
A SuperPeater requires very little new technology, only a creative integration of existing (or “nearly ready”) technologies.
A SuperPeater addresses several issues that have become problematic in Amateur Radio:
Lack of “reasonable speed” data communications infrastructure on Amateur Radio VHF / UHF bands.
“Quiet repeaters” - repeaters that are on the air, functional, but rarely used. Unused repeaters consume “repeater pair” allocations and spectrum space. Despite the portions of Amateur Radio VHF / UHF bands being “full” (all designated repeater pairs allocated in regions with high population are allocated), objectively that portion of Amateur Radio VHF / UHF spectrum is “mostly quiet”.
The need for better data communications infrastructure for “NewTechHams” that are coming into Amateur Radio seeking a more contemporary communications capability via radio, often when using low power portable radios as their first Amateur Radio equipment.
The duplicative, wasteful allocation of multiple repeaters, each dedicated to a specific technology, such as separate repeaters for FM, Digital Mobile Radio (DMR), D-Star, System Fusion (SF), P25, NXDN, and data. Technology now permits all of these modes to be usable on a single (or clustered) repeater.
SuperPeaters take advantage of (incorporate) new / current technology such as ka9q-radio, Software Defined Receivers, inexpensive embedded computers (such as Raspberry Pi) and faster data speeds now possible. SuperPeaters are largely software based, allowing them to more easily evolve than current “mostly hardware” repeaters.
Postscript: In the paper, part of my rationale for explaining SuperPeaters was the hope that existing Amateur Radio repeaters that were rarely used could be repurposed into SuperPeaters. That idea has not been accepted by any repeater owners (that I’m aware of). Thus, of necessity, SuperPeaters will have to be new systems, occupying additional Amateur Radio spectrum.
KK7NQN Transcriber Service Node
See also KK7NQN’s presentation at ZRDC 2025.
This will be a new capability added to the core functionality of a SuperPeater.
Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Last updated 2025-11-07