PLEASE EXCUSE ANY MISTAKES BELOW - WE ARE STILL COLLECTING ACCURATE HISTORICAL INFORMATION.

The repeaters that make up the K8BIG Repeater Group's systems today have a long and storied history.

The 145.350 repeater has been known for years as the "BIG 535" due to its BIG profile/coverage and BIG personalities.  This eventually resulted in the current callsign, K8BIG.

The 145.350 repeater was first put on the air in the early days of FM repeaters by Tom Talley.  The repeater became quite popular during this time.

Following Tom Talley's passing Tom Case, K8CLA stepped up and put the "BIG 535" back on the air under his callsign.  Under his care and with some silent partners the BIG 535 thrived for many years as an Analog FM repeater with BIG personalities such as George, KC8YJ, Joan, Jimmy, Mike Wagoner, KB4VKS, and many others.  Several nets and the "Color Contests" were favorites on the system, many led by Debi Case, N8BVI.

Over the years the 147.150 and 444.000 repeaters were added to provide additional communications options.

In 2008 a new antenna was installed for the BIG 535 as the old antenna had reached the end of its service life.  This involved installing a 20+ ft long antenna at the 700 ft level of the tower and was performed by a professional tower crew.

In 2008 the K8BIG repeaters underwent their most drastic change since their inception.  The BIG 535 and 444.000 repeaters were converted to D-Star, some of the first in the country to do so.  This was done partially due to a large amount of intentional interference that was limiting the usability of the systems, and the desire of Tom and his partners to adopt new technology.  The 147.150 repeater remained Analog, providing an alternative for those who did not own D-Star Capable equipment.

In 2010 in an effort to improve the performance of the D-Star repeaters we developed a custom interface to allow use of better-quality Analog repeaters as D-Star repeaters while still using the standard D-Star Controller and Gateway Server.  This was the first such implementation worldwide and is still in operation today on 145.350.

In August of 2013 the Cincinnati Repeater Association (CRA) disbanded and we acquired their 147.090 repeater and frequency.  It is operating in Analog mode on a GE MastrIII.

In June of 2014 K8BIG installed the first DMR radio system in the Cincinnati area utilizing a Motorola MTR3000 repeater on the DMR-MARC DMR Network on 443.900 MHz.

In July of 2014 K8BIG installed the first P25-Capable repeater in the Cincinnati area on 147.150 utilizing a Motorola Quantar repeater.  This was later linked to the P25NX P25 network until that network changed architecture and collapsed.  P25 repeaters are capable of operating in Mixed-Mode, both Analog and P25 Digital so no functionality was lost in this transition.  Later the 444.000 was transitioned to Analog/P25 as well after an analysis of its usage on D-Star showed it was rarely used.

In January of 2019 Tom Case requested that Dan Woodie, KC8ZUM, take over as Trustee for K8BIG.

During early 2019 the K8BIG repeater site equipment room was totally renovated with new racks, cable management, and a new server to support D-Star and other modes.  Additional site work will be completed and additional system capabilities added as time and resources allow.

In May of 2019 K8BIG installed the first wide-area 900 MHz repeater in the Cincinnati area on 927.025.  It is capable of both Analog and P25.

On November 10, 2019 Tom Case, K8CLA, long-time Trustee of K8BIG and its predecessor became a Silent Key after a battle with Cancer.