Welcome to the Milwaukee Empire Radio Club (MERC)!

The Milwaukee Empire Radio Club was created in 2012 by Chris Tarr, W9JOL, and Tony Abfalter, K0VSC as part of a public service program created by the Broadcast Engineers of Entercom Communications - a broadcast company with locations all over the country. The program started at WWL radio in New Orleans, a club station with the call sign W5WWL was set up for general Amateur use, and as a way to pass health and welfare traffic in the event of an emergency. That idea spread through the company, and is behind the creation of MERC.

The Milwaukee Empire Radio Club is named after WEMP radio (now WSSP) and the Empire building in downtown Milwaukee. The club HF station and repeater systems are in the old WEMP studios (and current transmitter site) in Hales Corners, WI. A great location, since the site has plumbing, kitchen facilities, emergency power, and plenty of room to play!

Just about anyone can be a member of MERC. We’ll be posting club information soon!

The MERC Repeater is operated by Chris Tarr, Robert Deglau (N9LKF), and Tony Abfalter. There are no dues or club memberships necessary to use the repeater - it is open to all licensed amateurs.

The MERC Repeater operates at 225 feet on tower one of the five tower 1250AM array in Hales Corners. The Motorola MSF-5000 repeater is located in a climate controlled building with emergency power and high-speed DSL.

While we are still working on the finishing touches, we hope to soon have Echolink running, as well as a switchable link to the K0VSC repeater in Madison.

The goal is to provide the Amateur community a reliable communication system combined with technical innovation. We plan to continually upgrade the hardware and features as time and funds allow. We look at this as not only a learning experience for us, but a way to give back to the Amateur Community.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments!

This map is an estimation. Your mileage may vary!

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