This is not an exhaustive history but a little background as to who we are and how we got to where we are currently.
In the early days Steve (KT4AZ) had a repeater on 145.210 MHz. After being on that frequency for a time, he had issues with interference. He started to promote a environment to foster a great Ham Radio community. It was the start of one of Central Florida's best repeaters and the best Ham Radio community. We thank Steve for all his hard work and foresight to create so great a community of hams.
Now we pause the history for a few minutes to I introduce a few early movers and shakers in the group. Phil, AI4OF (SK), Ralph, W4ORL (SK) and many others help make things run in a top notch manner. Steve (KT4AZ) brought to the area a great platform for a great group, with out Steve none of this would have been possible. Steve, we thank you for all you have done for the ham radio community. Tracy (N4LGH) grew up as a famous Ham in the area, you have to ask him sometime about his famous event. Tracy started a Technical Net that has ran for many years. This net in conjunction with the central Florida listener's net, gave this repeater an audience like no other repeater in the area. Jeff (W4TEK) was a great source of entertainment and started a traders net that ran for some time. It had a great following through out the area. Then came a net that was one of the most popular and it was started by Vern (KI4SDY). The net was called the first amendment net, it was adored and loved by many hams and scanner listeners in the area.
These are just a few things we could speak about. This group has a diverse group of people, from super engineers like Phil (AI4OF) and Cory (N4NGZ) just to name a few and the not so technical Ham, and to the scanner Listener who may not be a ham. They call it the zoo, because this group is so crazy at times. The conversations can go from very technical, to politics, and to something totally unrelated to Ham radio in the blink of an eye.
Now back to history. There was talk of Steve (KT4AZ) retiring, the group was concerned about what that could mean for the repeater. The group came together and met at the Linux install-fest. If I remember right there was 40 people in the original meeting. We as a group decided to make a deal to buy the repeater from Steve.
Notes by Tom (KD4WOV)