The repeater began life as VE5RRG under the auspices of the Regina Repeater Group.  The project was spearheaded by Tom Hill, VE5TH with some funding for the repeater coming from the City of Regina, Emergency Services.  After Tom passed away, the callsign was changed to VE5TH in his memory.  Later the group also set up the VE5REC repeater which was originally located at McLean, but is now located near Balgonie.

In 2010, the Regina Repeater Group decided to dissolve due to dwindling membership and turned over all their assets to the Regina Amateur Radio Association.  The Association was able to maintain the VE5REC callsign for the Balgonie repeater but Industry Canada regulations prevented relicensing the VE5TH repeater because it had a 2-letter callsign.  A contest was held and the new callsign VE5YQR was adopted based on the Regina Airport Identifier.  The association also operated the VE5WM repeater and therefore ended up owning three VHF repeaters.  It was felt that maintaining all of them would put a burden on our resources so it was decided to close down VE5WM and move the IRLP node to VE5YQR.

The VE5YQR repeater is located at Regina City Hall with the equipment located on the 17th floor and antennas on the roof at approximately 200 feet above ground level.  There is a collinear antenna for the VHF repeater and a vertical UHF antenna for the linking system.  The repeater consists of a GE Commercial grade repeater system, an RC210 repeater controller and a GE Phoenix UHF link radio which links to the Science Center where the IRLP node is located.

In addition to the connection to the IRLP repeater linking system, the repeater also offers an autopatch facility, Time-of-Day announcements and a Voice Check feature which allows a station to hear the quality of the signal as it is heard by others.

Last year when the Regina Repeater Group disbanded, it turned over its assets to RARA. These included the VE5TH repeater, known as the City Hall  repeater, and the VE5REC repeater at Balgonie. This meant that the RARA was now operating three VHF repeaters. Due to low repeater usage the club decided to consolidate facilities in two repeater locations, and as a result the decision was made to decommission the VE5WM repeater.

At this time we also had to relicense the VE5TH repeater over to the VE5YQR call sign in compliance with some IC regulations.  RARA now runs VE5YQR as it main repeater in Regina.