|
I was
asked, in 2004, when our repeater count stood at 7 (all in
Pacific County), how much maintenance a
repeater system like ours takes, and I didn't have a good
answer. So, I decided to compile
a running record. This is not complete. It only attempts to track
actual "hill time" spent visiting the various sites.
It doesn't include all the long
hours spent puttering at home
in the shop, fixing broken
components and preparing new ones.
Nor does it include the hours spent engineering the system
or pondering problems in, or enhancements to, the
network. It doesn't include the miles and hours picking
up "free stuff" or "great deals"
that, after many
hours of modifying, testing
and fixing up might (or might
not) be useful. It also doesn't include the time
spent updating this blog, or the web site. Significantly,
there are no dollar figures for
all this equipment, test instrumentation,
supplies, clamps, brackets, antennas,
cable, hardline or connectors.
The amount of gasoline alone to
cover all those miles adds up to quite a bit.
I've always said, if you think $100 is a lot of
money, you shouldn't play with repeaters.
Even so, this will give some idea of
the kind of time it takes...
BeachNet
began building
"officialy" in 2000. I didn't
start this compilation until July,
2004. Times include driving round-trip to hill
and back. Miles are what
I put on my venerable
1996 Subaru. If someone else drives, I do
not
usually
record their mileage. Although not generally
noted, each site visit
includes a fairly complete visual inspection of
antennas, feedlines,
and equipment. If time
permits, a quick check
of output and reflected
power, and receiver
sensitivity may be performed as
well. It may seem like a
lot of repair time,
but repeater sites are
subject to high winds,
heavy rain, snow,
ice, and lightning.
The power supply
to the mountain
tops may fluctuate
quite a bit. And
remember too, most of this
gear is over 20-years old
when we get it.
It will run for
a long time if
treated well, but nothing
lasts forever.
-- de NM7R
04/28/13
180 miles, 6 hours;
KO Peak, drove up with little trouble.
One small patch of snow on the last pitch,
with one downed tree. Chainsawed the tree
to clear the road (mostly). Replaced power
amp. Touched up receiver. N7ONG & NM7R
The first PA replacement was the spare
I built up for this job. It would not go over
20-25 watts output. Pulled the amp off the
working repeater (KO Replacement) and installed
that. It worked as intended, and was set to 75-watts.
03/03/13
180 miles, 5 hours;
KO Peak, drove up to see the road condition.
As suspected, there is snow blocking the road
about 1.5 miles from the top, 24-inches or
greater in depth. Last time this condition
happened, it took a month for the snow to melt. N7ONG & NM7R
Was able to hear a very weak return
signal from the repeater, indicating the
likelihood of a transmitter power amplifier
failure as the cause of the outage.
02/23/13
8 miles, 0.5 hour;
North Cove site to investigate weak signal.
found what appears to be coax cable pulled
out of antenna.
I was in Tokeland to teach a Technician
license class for the Shoalwaters, and having
arrived a little early, took a short side trip.
What appears to be a coax cable, not entirely
sure if it is ours, is hanging loose on the
tower. Both repeaters (which share the antenna)
are operating but with large return losses
(reflected power).
01/12/13
Geoff, K7GA, announced at the Pacific County ARC meeting that he was handing ownership and control of the Nicolai repeater over to Doug, KC7MFN.
Doug has been doing a lot of the work, and lives at the foot of the mountain, making it a lot easier for him to get up there when needed. Geoff lives across the Columbia River from the mountain, which required catching a ferry ride each way (hourly schedule), not to mention a lot more mileage. He and his wife are also planning to move, which will take him well out of the area.
01/04/13
200 miles, 7 hours;
Ocean Shores (new site) to install the new 444.200 repeater. Typical BeachNet GE Mastr-II repeater with GE Rangr for the link radio, CAT-200B controller, and Sinclair BpBr duplexer. N7UJK, K7WAT, NM7R
Doyle was contacted by the county and offered a berth in the 911 shed on Saddle Hill, just north and east
of Ocean Shores. This site promised to provide some fill-in coverage up and down the ocean beach area, and hand held coverage in Ocean Shores. The repeater was assembled in the three weeks it took for the crystals to be made, and a few days after they arrived, it was installed and operational. The link needs some work, and we are watching carefully for any problems. The repeater itself works just fine, covering the beach as it was hoped.
12/09/12
120 miles, 6 hours;
Nicolai to check on an unresponsive generator. Of course, once we were there and wiggled a few connectors, it ran flawlessly. K7WAT, NM7R.
I hate it when things fix themselves...
12/02/12
180 miles, 6 hours;
KO Peak to fix a low-audio problem in the repeater receiver. Replaced the receiver drawer using a working spare. N7UJK, NM7R.
The audio level on all the links abruptly dropped to a point
of near-inaudibility. I finally found a free day to run up the hill
to look at it, and found the problem was on the IF/AF board in the
receiver. Tapping or flexing the board brought the audio back to
normal, but it wouldn't stay. I suspect a faulty solder joint
somewhere on the module. May attempt repair at a later time.
Summer/Fall 2012
Many trips to Nicolai. During the "repair season" of 2012, Geoff, K7GA and Doug, KC7MFN, occasionally aided by others, including Jerry, the CEO of WCLA, the Landlord (who hauled batteries in and out of the shack when Geoff was just out of arm/shoulder surgery) spent countless hours solving several problems as they arose. The generator was maintained, repaired, hauled off the hill and replaced with a new one; a load of 18 "used but good" batteries was hauled to the site, later to be swapped for a second set of "used but good" ones, and finally a brand new set of golf-cart batteries. Changes were made to the wiring, and controller programming. The charging system evolved dramatically. This was much more than Geoff had signed up for, but he stuck with it, and by the time the rain started again, the system seems to be running will. With luck it will make it through the winter. K7GA, KC7MFN and others...
The generator is remotely operated, to keep an 1800 AH battery bank charged. Voltages and temperatures can be remotely read and the generator system can be completely controlled using the UHF repeater. One of us (there are now 4 control operators) takes the "duty", manually operating the generator remotely to provide about six hours of charging per day. This is enough to keep the battery at a voltage high enough for all the radios to operate. There are two 100-watt low-band and one medium power UHF commercial repeaters in addition to our 6-meter and UHF machines. The landlord pays for the propane.
05/08/12
190 miles, 11 hours;
Neilton to change out the original 2-channel Phoenix link transceiver for a 4-channel Rangr. Required rewiring the link connections to the controller,
adding one new channel-change wire and rewiring the plug to match the Rangr, which had the new standard wiring. K7WAT, N7UJK, NM7R.
The replacement of the link radio facilitates EmComm linking. Previously, the only two link options were KO-Peak (normal) or South Bend (in case KO goes down). With the new scheme, these two choices are supplemented with links to Minot and Capitol Peak, allowing Doyle to link the Grays Harbor machines together without 'borrowing' the South Bend repeater as a hub.
04/07/12
Naselle to fix the link antenna. The single bolt holding the link antenna in its mounting tube had come out and the wind had blown the antenna over against the tower leg. Ed wanted to take advantage of a break in the weather to fix it. Lashed the antenna back into its mounting, and assessed the damage to the mount. K7WAT, KE7LTH
Ed had responded to my request to make a run up the hill to see if something was amiss with the link antenna. Poor performance had made me suspect there might be a problem. He had snapped a couple of pictures that showed the antenna leaning over against the tower, out of its mount. Ed volunteered to fix it temporarily, at least until the summer weather makes permanent repairs more comfortable. Noted missing quarter-inch nuts on the mounting bracket.
04/01/12
Nicolai to pull generator and refuel the Clatsop diesel generator to keep the site alive. Jim VanTrojen's snow cat was perfect for the job. K7GA, WA7DOB, Jim VanTrojen
Geoff liked the snow cat much better than the snowmobile, not to mention the practicality. Snow still feet-deep, and in fact falling while they were on the hill. Hauled 70 gallons of fuel for the generator (3 weeks) and pulled our generator to take home for inspection/repair.
03/26/12
Nicolai to investigate possibilities. K7GA, Brad and Mike of Complete Wireless.
Geoff hated the snowmobile ride. Hauled new batteries up to power our station, loosing a pair to a snowmobile accident (no one hurt). New batteries are in much better shape than old one. Could not get generator to start, although it turns over. Started Clatsop generator, but it is low on fuel and will probably last only a few days.
01/03/12
125 miles, 7 hours;
Nicolai to finish working on setting the generator up. Removed the DB-9
connector pair
that brought the control wiring into the generator control box,
and connected the wires directly. Replaced duplexer, removed diplexer,
calibrated temperature and voltage sensors.
Discovered the 12-volt sense circuit that told the automation that the generator was running
was inoperative. The 12-volt DC relay that buffered the controls had an open coil. Repurposed the line-voltage (Mains AC status
sensor) and remapped the associated macros. Charged Main Battery for 4 hours at 35-40 Amps. K7GA, NM7R
Noted on last visit excessive loss in repeater antenna filtering. Brought a replacement duplexer along, but once installed noticed the loss was still unacceptable. Traced it to the diplexer used to combine the repeater and packet station. Shut down the packet station and removed diplexer. Geoff will install a separate 2-meter antenna temporarily for the packet station. Eventually we will move both antennas to the ODF tower. Removed the DB-9 connector set in the control wiring thinking that a bad connection was causing our loss of generator running/failed status information. The circuit that senses the generator running is critical to the automation, and senses the generator producing 12-VDC with a relay. After discovering that the 12-volt regulator had failed on the generator, with a 27-volt DC source causing the loss of the coil in our sense relay, decided to repurpose the 120-VAC coil relay that was included to sense presence/absence of Mains line voltage. It is now excited by the production of AC by the generator. Reprogrammed the appropriate macros to use this alternate source of information, and the generator operates as intended. I am still not able to work the Nicolai repeater from home, but can satisfactorily control the generator through the link system.
12/30/11
125 miles, 5 hours;
Nicolai to find cause of unresponsive repeater. Found a damaged RF connector in antenna circuit, and replaced. K7WAT, NM7R
Checked all controls at site and everything working as it should. Wind, rain and snow on hill. Temperature and voltage sensors require better calibration.
12/29/11
250 miles, 12 hours;
Nicolai to diagnose extreme desense. Found failed transistor in power amplifier. Replaced PA. K7GA, NM7R
The LP Gas tank arrived today and was permanently installed. Although the PA was toast (burned balancing resistors, at least one dead final) and the new PA solved that problem, the repeater had another problem that turned out to be a loose control cable connector. Finally got it working perfectly, operating the generator as it is supposed to. Once away from the site, however, the repeater would not respond. It was late, and the weather was terrible, so we continued on home. Plan to return tomorrow.
12/24/11
260 miles, 8 hours;
Capitol Peak to look at audio drop-out problem. Traced it (I think) to the controller, but it was hard-wired into the repeater. Decided to build a complete replacement machine and swap out to minimize hill time. It's just too hard to work at these sites. N7UJK, NM7R
12/23/11
160 miles, 9 hours;
Nicolai to replace repeater controller, and install generator, which the new controller will allow us to operate remotely.
K7GA, K7YFP, NM7R
08/26/11
Capitol Peak to replace exciter. N7UJK
An intermittent audio problem showed up almost as soon as we changed the power amplifier.
This should fix the audio, unless the problem exists in the controller or wiring.
08/23/11
60 miles, 3 hours;
Megler to adjust the outgoing link audio level. N7ONG, NM7R
With the Hood-To-Coast Relay coming up this weekend, I wanted to bring the audio level up to where it should be. I also mailed a replacement exciter off to Doyle for the Olympia repeater.
07/22/11
260 miles, 8 hours;
Capitol Peak to replace the power amplifier on the UHF repeater. N7UJK, NM7R
As is all too typical it seems, almost as soon as we returned from installing the 6-meter antenna at the same site, the UHF repeater started to act up, with the transmit signal going intermittent. Finally, it died altogether and I met Doyle in Montesano to go take a look. Upon arrival, it was apparent that the transmit signal was audible within a half-mile of the building, indicating a PA failure but the exciter was working fine. Measured the output from the transmitter at "a meter needle wiggle".
06/24/11
Ocean Park repeater off air due to dead power supply. Ed replaced fuses, and finally replaced the entire power supply to get the station back on the air. K7WAT
06/12/11
260 miles, 8 hours;
Capitol Peak to install a single-bay folded-dipole 6-meter antenna for the W7SIX 53.570 repeater.
K7WAT, K7KID, NM7R
This is not a BeachNet repeater, however, it is one of the 6-meter repeaters used by Camp Murray for Emergency Communications, specifically for District Three, the same area covered by our system, and one of the intended "targets" of the recently established 6-meter remote base at the 224.820 South Bend repeater.
Helping to get this repeater on the air furthers the Emergency Communications mission of our system, and therefore is closely related. The day was perfect with sun and little breeze. The rain even held off until we were half way down the hill.
05/23/11
130 miles, 5 hours;
Holy Cross Mtn., the South Bend site, to reinstall the receiver drawer into the 224.820 repeater.
Added a 222-225 MHz DCI Filter in the antenna
line to make sure spurious emissions are under control. W7TAI, NM7R.
I had found a charred resistor on the Oscillator/Multiplier board, and the associated transistor (Q2) was
also dead. No evidence of other problem or a reason for the failure. This is the final LO amplifier and
is one of the two transistors recommended to be replaced as part of the 220-conversion.
After replacing the two parts, the receiver is
as sensitive as it was previously (0.15 µV/12 dB SINAD at the receiver). In testing, I noticed some interference
between the repeater and 440 radio, so added a 222-225 MHz DCI Filter in the repeater antenna line
to ensure spurious suppression. I'm a little suspicious of the single-stage harmonic
filter recommended by the conversion notes.
05/20/11
130 miles, 6 hours;
Holy Cross Mtn., the South Bend site, to investigate the apparent loss of sensitivity of the new 224.820 repeater.
Discovered that the receiver took 20 µV for 12 dB SINAD, instead of the 0.15 µV previously seen. Unable to find or fix a problem, I pulled the receiver drawer and took it home.
Also cemented the foot of the ice bridge leg that supports the 6-meter antenna, using a tube of 3M 5200 marine adhesive. NM7R.
05/13/11
130 miles, 8 hours;
Holy Cross Mtn., the South Bend site, to install the new 224.820 repeater, and the 6-meter antenna. The check-out was
made somewhat more difficult by not having a working 220-MHz radio with us, but the installation went well. W7TAI, NM7R, K7WAT.
This repeater has been in the planning stages for well over a year. It should provide a reliable link between our
two County EOCs, and the 6-meter remote base should provide a path into the emergency nets on that band.
05/10/11
120 miles, 8 hours;
Seaside, Oregon, to install the fourth (and final) remote receiver supporting the Megler 147.180 repeater. Ed did the extensive tower work required to install the antennas, and the remote receiver package worked perfectly once installed. The VHF receiver uses a Hustler G6-144B 6-dBd vertical, and the UHF link a Diamond A430S10 430-440 MHz 10 element, 13-dBi Yagi. The antennas are mounted on a heavy steel tower side-arm and fed with two runs of LMR-400 coax about 40 feet long. The receiver and transmitter are GE Rangr commercial radios. NM7R, K7WAT.
Most of the remote receivers, part of the voting system for the Megler repeater, have been operating since 2008. With the installation of this last receiver, the system is complete. The hunt for a good location has been underway since the system was first envisioned. The present site was identified and permission secured a few months ago. The wait has primarily been for weather.
04/18/11
130 miles, 4 hours;
South Bend (Holy Cross Mtn.) to install the antenna for the soon-to-be-installed 224.82 repeater. Ed did the climbing and the new antenna went in fairly easily. NM7R, K7WAT.
The original antenna was a Hustler G6-144 2-meter vertical used by the HOLYX packet station. This was replaced with a CX-333 three-band, 2-meter, 220 and 440 antenna. The 2-meter portion will continue to be used by the packet station. The 220-MHz part will support the 224.82 repeater and the UHF link radio will use the remaining band.
02/11/11
60 miles, 4 hours;
Megler to replace the Phoenix
link radio with a Rangr.
This required fabrication
of metal support pieces
and rewiring the controller
connections. The new
radio has 8-channels
(upgraded from the 2
offered by the old radio).
This lends flexibility
we didn't have before,
including being able to
link to the IRLP repeater
for the upcoming
Hood-To-Coast relay.
01/26/11 Nicolai, Geoff
and Ron visited the
Clatsop County site to
investigate the failed link.
Replacing the Rangr radio did
the trick. On his previous
trip, he found deep snow
and a frozen lock, but
this time the conditions
were more pleasant, and
so was the outcome.
K7GA & AK9E
01/26/11
130 miles, 4 hours;
South Bend, to troubleshoot
the link antenna system.
Replaced the coax which
turned out to be
the source of the
high SWR. The antenna
checked perfectly good
on the new cable. Also
waterproofed the feed
point gamma match on
the antenna to avoid
future water
intrusion. NM7R
01/23/11
Cosmopolis Hill; Doyle
drove up to the site
to reset the link audio
level that had dropped
off over the past weeks.
It is now back to a normal
level, although the pot
is at the stop. N7UJK
01/20/11
180 miles, 5 hours;
North Cove to install a new
receive crystal, this one cut
for high-side injection.
Re
tuning spruced up the
receiver noticeably. Taileen
serendipitously arrived at
Highway 105 turnoff from
the north at the same time
I arrived from the south,
so she went along to help. W7TAI, NM7R
12/18/10
0 miles, 2 hours;
For once I didn't have to go
anywhere; the IRLP computer
in the Ham shack refused to
"relight" after the
power outage last night. I
suspect the power supply,
and have ordered a replacement. NM7R
We had a particularly
strong wind storm last night,
from the southeast and east,
an unusual direction and one
we are wide open to. No significant
damage. The lights went out around
10:15 PM, and were out until 3:30
AM. In the morning, I tried to
re-link the IRLP repeater to the
WIN System, and it refused to
accept commands. Investigation
showed the computer was not restarting.
I ordered a power supply in the
hopes that would cure the problem.
Unfortunately, the power supply
was not the problem. Dan, N7DRD,
provided a new HP computer, into
which I swapped the old hard drive.
As of 01/07/11, the station was back
on the air and working normally.
12/03/10
180 miles, 8 hours;
North Cove to replace
the 2-meter station.
The receiver had gone
deaf, and I wanted to
upgrade the link capability,
so a whole new replacement
station was the way to go.
On the way home, stopped
at the Holy Cross (South
Bend) site to investigate
a noisy 2-meter receiver. NM7R
The last trip
to North Cove
was in 2007, and only for an
inspection. The last real
work visit was in February
2004 to repair the transmitter.
Both the North Cove
and South Bend receivers
appeared to have the same
"tin-whisker"
problem. The receiver sensitivity
abruptly becomes very poor,
and a sharp rap on the
Helical Resonator casting
with a screwdriver handle
instantly brings the
sensitivity back.
Here
is a picture of what I
found on opening
the receiver.
I will
have to start carrying
a can of clear Krylon spray
to doctor the receivers
as they fail. They must
all be reaching a point
in their lives where this
becomes a problem. The
North Cove repeater actually
pre-dates BeachNet. It went
in as a stand-alone repeater
in the late 1990s. In early
2000, we constructed the KO
Peak site, and linked North
Cove to it, as the
beginning of BeachNet.
11/27/10
130 miles, 4 hours;
Holy Cross (South Bend) to replace the
link receiver which had failed. The replacement
receiver helical resonator compartment was
cleaned and protected with a layer of clear Krylon
spray paint. It will be interesting to see how well
this one lasts. NM7R, W7TAI
11/16/10
Changed scheduler
setpoints to have the
AB7F nightly link come
up from 9:30-10:30 PM
instead of 8:15-10:00
at John's request.
His solar-powered
sites become a bit
power-critical
during the winter.
11/08/10
130 miles, 5 hours;
Holy Cross
(South Bend site) to
rejuvenate a dead link
receiver. Banging on the
front end helical
resonator block
brought the
receiver back.
This strongly
indicates
"tin-whiskers"
are again a problem.
The building is
heated, but well
ventilated, so moisture
is a factor. As the
receiver front end was
replaced on the last
visit, we will watch
the present
"repaired"
receiver to see how
it fares.
NM7R
10/22/10
180 miles, 11 hours;
KO Peak to change
the battery charger
arrangement. Tapping
off the power supply
had the
small (12AH) back-up
battery for the
controller floating
at 14.7 volts, way too
high for long life.
Replaced the simple
circuit with a
commercial "Battery
Minder".
Also did a small favor
for the County
Telecommunications
Department while there.
Always nice to help the
landlord.
NM7R, KF7APN
10/07/10
230 miles, 10 hours;
KO Peak to reinstall
the
repeater,
controller, digital
voice recorder and
FC-900 remote base
interface. The control
receiver required rewiring
to match the new wiring
harness. The rebuilt station
is working better than
ever.
Accompanied by
Casey and Josh of Total
Electric, going to
the site to meet
Randy of OPB to bid
on a generator for
the TV building.
NM7R
The audio through the
receiver input of the
RC-850 controller always
had an underlying hum
and buzz. The buzz
was from the digital circuit
switching noise
coupling into the audio. The
controller has separate grounds
for the digital and
analog circuits, carried
all the way back to the power
supply to minimize coupling.
I spent a day in the shop looking
for any place the two grounds were
connected, and found one on the
computer interface board. The mounting
screws connect to the case, which is
at analog ground, and mount to
isolated pads on the PC board.
Isolated that is, except one of them
has a trace to the digital ground
on the board. Opening that one trace
cured the digital buzz problem.
The hum, almost a growl, was
in the audio delay board. It had
been a problem from the start, but
seemed to have gotten worse after
last year's lightning strike.
I tried changing
out the caps and fiddling with
the board, but nothing
got rid of the hum, so I
replaced the board. ACC has been out
of business for quite a while, but
an Arcom RAD board was easy to wire into
place where the ACC board had been.
The shop visit also let me clean u
p
the layers of wiring, added
piecemeal as changes and additions
occurred over the years,
building a
new wiring harness with real
connectors and labels. Neatness
always counts. The RC-850 is now
operating "good as new",
sounding great.
The FC-900 Remote Base
interface does not strip
off the PL tone from
the audio passed
through to the repeater.
An incoming PL
shows up on the signal transmitted
by the repeater, and since
we transmit a PL tone, the two beat
together. This causes problems because
neither PL tone is reliable. I installed a
Communications Specialists TS-64 Encode/Decode
board in place of the stock PL encoder chip.
The TS-64 strips the PL from the
incoming signal, and functions
identically as an encoder.
In addition, this arrangement
will decode tone, at least on
"Link Channel One"
of the FC-900. I used one of the
recovered User Function
Switches, available inside
the FC-900, to
remotely enable
this capability
when desired.
Also added a temperature sensor for the
220 repeater heatsink, and a
voltage sensor line for the newly-installed
back-up battery for the controller.
Call it a
once-per-decade tune-up.
09/23/10
Ocean Park repeater
back on the air.
K7KID, K7WAT
09/21/10
170 miles, 8 hours;
KO Peak to pull the
repeater, controller,
DVR and FC-900.
Taking these home to
do a complete tune up.
Installed spare repeater,
RC-96 controller and
FC-900.
N7UJK, K7MHC, NM7R
Trying to troubleshoot
several long-standing problems,
not to mention redoing the
rat's nest of wiring, one
site visit at a time had proven
too frustrating. I decided the
only way to get the station
working to my satisfaction was
to take it home for a couple
of weeks where I had light,
space, parts, instruments and
documentation beyond what could
be dragged along in the car.
The work needed was well
beyond the nominal two-hour
window available on site.
09/18/10
Ocean Park to investigate
an intermittent link
problem. Several things
were looked at and finally
the unit was pulled
and transported to
"the shop".
K7KID, K7WAT
09/14/10
220 miles, 8 hours;
Minot Peak to
install 7/8-inch
hardline, replacing
the LMR-400 coax
originally used.
The new cable was
installed using
mounting cushions,
and grounded top and
bottom to the tower,
and led to a poly-phaser
arrester at the common
ground inside the building.
A noticeable improvement
in station performance
was noted.
N7UJK, K7KID, K7WAT, NM7R
07/19/10
170 miles, 6 hours;
KO Peak to
again look at the
intermittent loss
of transmitter.
Replaced the Power
Amplifier.
Chances are
either the
PA or the
exciter is
responsible,
and this will
either fix the
problem, or eliminate
the PA as the problem.
Also fixed the OPB TV
translator receive
antenna. K7WAT, NM7R
07/14/10
170 miles, 6 hours;
KO Peak to fix
intermittent loss
of transmitter and
receiver. Pulled the
Molex plugs from the
backplane and cleaned,
burnished and reformed
(bent tighter) each pin
to ensure a good solid
connection. Time will
tell if this fixed
it for good. W7COP,
NM7HK, NM7R
06/29/10
Olympia repeater
(Capitol Peak) to
reinstall the packet
dual-TNC. N7UJK
06/29/10
170 miles, 5 hours;
KO Peak to
investigate dead
transmitter and
receiver. Found
a loose
Molex
multi-plug on
the rear of
the Mastr-II
chassis, one
wire being the
Regulated 10-volt
supply to the
exciter and
receiver. Kevin
found the bad
connection while
wiggling the wires
while I watched
the meter.
K7KID & NM7R
06/24/10
Olympia repeater
(Capitol Peak) to
attempt to connect
laptop to dual-TNC
for reprogramming.
Unable to do so,
and brought TNC
home. N7UJK
06/22/10
260 miles, 10 hours;
Olympia to find
audio problem in
repeater transmitter.
Replaced controller
to eliminate its
audio circuits
as the culprit.
Later replaced
power amplifier
when a burned
trace/jumper
found, and exciter
when low output
could not be
corrected.
Basically, the
entire transmitter
was replaced
piece by piece.
N7UJK & NM7R
06/20/10
70 miles, 2 hours;
Naselle to investigate
repeater-off-air.
Everything working
except the controller,
which had no power.
Jiggled the power
connector and it
lit off. Pulled
and inspected
the controller
for good measure,
finding nothing
further. Must
have been a
spot of corrosion
on the power
connector.
W7TAI, K7WAT & NM7R
06/11/10
South Bend for
RACES Vo
lunteer
Appreciation and
Award Presentation.
Received a
Certificate
of Appreciation
for
Amateur Radio efforts
related to Emergency
Management, including
the repeater system
maintenance. Lunch
was provided,
along with a nice
presentation by
our Sheriff.
06/10/10
Capitol Peak to
replace
exciter and
look at apparent
reduced output
power.
N7UJK
06/09/10
170 miles, 5 hours;
Cosmopolis
to troubleshoot
power supply.
Replaced defective unit.
N7UJK & NM7R
06/07/10
130 miles, 4 hours;
Holy Cross
(South Bend)
to fix link
receiver. Banging
on front end block
brought it back,
so suspect
"tin-whiskers".
Replaced front
end. Also handed
off a UHF exciter
to pass to Doyle
for Capitol Peak.
W7TAI & NM7R
06/07/10
Cosmopolis to
replace a failed
power supply.
Found more problems
that will require
an additional
visit. N7UJK
06/06/10
170 miles, 8 hours;
KO Peak to replace
Power Amplifier.
I heard it blink
off the air, and
N7ONG and I headed
up the mountain.
Later found
and fixed a bad
solder connection
on the
old Amplifier.
N7ONG & NM7R
05/24/10
250 miles, 12 hours;
Olympia Station to
replace link antenna.
Found same high reflected
power as last visit.
Attached dummy load in
place of antenna and
reflected dropped to
near nothing. Replaced
antenna along with
a new coax jumper
and SWR is nearly
perfect, and performance
is very good. Ed did
the climbing.
N7UJK, K7WAT & NM7R
05/20/10
320 miles, 12 hours;
Capitol Peak
(the Olympia Station)
to troubleshoot an
intermittent link.
Found a bad 90-degree
elbow fitting in the
isolator cabling. Also
noted very high
reflected power. Will
return to replace
present damaged link
antenna and check
hardline.
Also made a stop
at the Minot site
on the way home to
adjust audio levels.
While there, surveyed
and measured for
planned feedline
upgrade. The repeater
antenna is presently
fed with half-inch
LMR-400 coax and the
plan is to replace it
with LDF5-50 7/8-inch
Heliax.
N7UJK & NM7R
05/16/10
10 hours;
KO Peak to
replace the 220-MHz
repeater antenna.
Also found a bad
connector on the
duplexer harness.
N7XAC, W7TAI,
K7WAT & KB7APU
05/05/10
250 miles, 12 hours;
Capitol Peak
(the Olympia Station)
to replace the
UHF Link Transceiver and
re-crystal one of the
packet radios to
145.05 (from 145.01).
We found the UHF link
radio had been switched
off at the control panel,
by person or persons
unknown. It is troubling
that anyone would shift
a switch on the face of
a piece of equipment at
a busy commercial site.
This is definitely
"Not Done"
in the industry.
We had intended to
replace the link antenna,
but there was ice falling
from the tower, so that
will have to wait.
On the way home we stopped
by Doyle's home station
to help get the new
IRLP base station
fully operational.
NM7R, N7UJK, K7WAT
04/23/10
A trip to KM Hill site
in Wahkiakum County
to look over the recent
security improvements
and pick up a new
set of
keys. The site is now
surrounded by
a fence with locked gate
and barbed wire. The
building sports a heavy
duty security door. There
are preparations in place
for a generator.
Day Wireless
installed a grounding system
which looks very well done.
The trees have been
cleared back from the tower.
NM7R, K7GA, AK9E
04/01/10
A quick trip to Megler
after a report that the
444.925 IRLP repeater
was not as sensitive as
normal. Actually found
the receiver was not too
bad at a bit over a microvolt,
but a little tuning brought
it down to under half
a microvolt. I then
checked the VHF
repeater receiver
and it was fine.
Then a quick power
check showed low
output on the UHF
transmitter, but
a quick adjustment
put that right.
Then a check of the
VHF transmitter and
it was down to 5-watts
output. Hmm. The adjustment
worked to bring it down,
but not up. Of course,
I had brought spare parts
for the UHF repeater (the
reason to come), but nothing
for the other one. I see
another trip to the hill
in my future... NM7R
01/24/10
The Ocean Park
145.170
repeater was
once again
off the air,
so Kevin and Ed
looked at
it and found
the same
10-Amp power
supply fuse
blown that
had failed
before. This
seems to be
related to
storm-caused
power line
fluctuations.
Station back
on the air.
K7KID & K7WAT
01/22/10
160 miles,
7 hours;
Nicolai to
do some work
for the landlord
and also
look at the
444.500 ham repeater.
Found the UHF
machine putting out
nearly zero
power and traced
it to a bad
90-degree coaxial
elbow fitting
in the antenna lead.
This was
affecting both transmit
and receive with an
intermittent
open circuit.
Removed the
offending
fitting
and normal
operation was
restored.
W7TAI & NM7R
01/21/10
160 miles, 7 hours;
KO Peak to
investigate
why repeater
abruptly
went silent
the day
before. Ed
found the
+10-volt
power supply
wire to the
exciter
was loose.
Also installed an
audio card,
re-routing
the repeater
receive
audio path,
and replaced some
capacitors in the
controller.
K7WAT & NM7R
We arrived at the
site and it
was immediately
apparent from
the indicator
lights the
power supply was
healthy. That
was possibility
#1 checked off
the list.
Next it was
time to determine
if the exciter
or PA had failed.
If the power
amplifier fails,
then the exciter
can still be
heard locally, but
if the exciter
fails there will
be no signal
at all. I keyed my
HT and there
was no signal coming
back, pointing
to the exciter.
So I opened
the door on
the front
of the repeater
and suddenly
heard...
the repeater
finish its ID. I hate
it when a
problem
"fixes
itself".
I had a couple of
other things
to do, so asked Ed
to look over
the wiring harness
on the door
for any skinned
insulation,
pinched wires
or kinks.
He found
the +10-volt
supply wire to
the exciter
unsoldered.
The
wire was
stripped,
twisted
and bent
over the
eyelet
where it
attaches to the
feed-through
plug at the
side of the
exciter
enclosure,
but had never
been soldered.
This must go
back to the
early 1980's
at the factory.
The technician
missed soldering
the connection, the
inspector didn't
catch it,
and the wire has been
loose ever
since. This
unit was in
service with
the County for
20 years
before being
passed on to
us, and we
have been
running it
for nearly
ten years.
That's a
long time
for the main
supply line
powering the
exciter to
be just bent
over the lug.
01/20/10
180 miles, 6 hours;
Nicolai to straighten the
UHF repeater antenna and
work on landlord's repeater.
Heard the KO Peak repeater
drop off the air while on the
way up to Nicolai, but
can't do anything about
that now.
K7WAT & NM7R
01/18/10
175 miles, 6 hours;
Cosi first, to install a
DCI bandpass filter and
replace the exciter. Then
on to Holy Cross (South Bend)
to change the PL tone from
118.8 to 82.5 Hz to suppress
the kerchunking caused by
cable TV interference.
KF7APN, W7TAI, N7UJK & NM7R
01/15/10
130 miles, 6 hours;
Holy Cross (South Bend)
chasing the intermittent
key-up problem. Added a
bandpass cavity and tightened
the squelch. While listening
on local speaker heard an
interfering signal that
replicated the key-up
problem. K7WAT & NM7R
01/14/10
180 miles, 6 hours;
Nicolai
site to look
at the
landlord's low
band
Micor. AK9E & NM7R
01/06/10
60 miles, 4 hours;
Megler site to install a replacement
220-link receiver for the IRLP station.
Originally set up with a transceiver, in
case a two-way link proved desirable, the
transceiver has only ever been used as a
receiver. I converted a Mastr-II Auxiliary
receiver from High Band to 220, and installed
that. Removed the transceiver. Also balanced
the audio levels on the VHF repeater.
KF7APN & NM7R
12/31/09
Doyle made a quick run
back up to Cosi to throw
a DIP-switch on the controller.
I had neglected to turn the
little switch "off"
when replacing the link
radio, and with it in the
"on" position the
link CTCSS was disabled.
Thanks to Doyle's help,
the new link works as
planned. N7UJK
12/30/09
190 miles, 11 hours;
Cosi and Neilton. The Cosmopolis station got a
new front-end helical resonator "block"
with the later-model flat finish to eliminate the
"tin
whisker"
problem. Sensitivity
improved almost 3dB in the bargain.
Also replaced the Phoenix link radio with a
Rangr for improved shielding from the co-located
FM broadcast station. Then on to Neilton
in Doyle's Jeep to give the station a once-over.
The last time we were there was July of 2006.
And a minor
tweak to the audio levels was all we
really we needed to do.
Receiver and transmitter were both
well-tuned and on frequency.
Antennas, feedlines, equipment all
in good order. One good check out
every three and a half years
is not asking too much. N7UJK & NM7R
12/17/09
150 miles, 7 hours;
Nicolai to troubleshoot link and set packet TNC telemetry up to report supply voltage. Found two wiring errors with link, one was a selection line being inadvertently grounded instead of open, and the other was the omission of a wire to bring the "valid PL" signal to the controller. The latter was not discovered until a couple of miles down the road leaving. Added a voltage divider inside the TNC to scale the s
upply to the 0-5 volts allowed by the A-to-D converter. Noticed the antenna is leaning due to a slipped clamp but no climbing gear so that will have to wait. W7TAI, K7GA, K7YFP & NM7R
12/16/09
60 miles, 6 hours;
Megler to replace failed power amp on UHF IRLP repeater, with a spare I brought. Replacement went in and fired up, but as I was lacing the wiring, I smelled a whiff of something hot. Looked inside just in time to see some smoke getting loose. Shut down the repeater and replaced that amp with a second spare I had brought. This one required some moving of parts to make it work. Finally had it back together and working once more. NM7R
12/15/09
195 miles, 8 hours;
Cosi to look at low receiver sensitivity, and the link dropping to one-way occasionally. The Grays Harbor PUD and County radio techs were busy working at the site. "Plan A", to replace the receiver and link radio did not look like the tactful thing to do with limited room in the building. We reverted to "Plan B", and found a "tin whisker" in a receiver LO chain helical resonator, and a loose plug in the link radio control cable. This, and a quick tune up of the audio levels, brought the station back to normal in about a half-hour, and we beat a hasty retreat. On the way home, I dropped a couple of donated power supplies at the "Warrenton Storage Facility" and made a quick trip up to Megler to see why the IRLP repeater is off the air. N7UJK, W7TAI (ex KF7CWO),
& NM7R
12/10/09
160 miles, 9 hours;
Nicolai to install the
link radio, check the
controller
wiring and
look at the packet
station. At the
last logging road branch
an ODF crew was installing
a large heavy duty permanent
gate. We drove back down the
hill to have lunch and give
them two hours to finish
what they were doing.
Returning at 2:00 we got
through and up the hill.
The TNC was changed out
in the packet station that
had been unresponsive, the
Rangr radio was installed
for the link and seemed to
work fine. Later we figured
out that the controller was not
able to switch link channels
properly. Replaced the
link antenna. K7GA, KF7APN
& NM7R
12/04/09
125 miles, 3 hours;
Nicolai to install the
link radio and check the
controller wiring. At the
last logging road branch
the ODF had just recently
installed a new cable across
the road with a new lock.
Of course, we were told nothing
of this ahead of time, nor provided
with a key. Will investigate on
Monday. I turned around and came
home, accomplishing nothing. NM7R
12/02/09
160 miles, 10 hours;
KO Peak to address the
antenna situation. First order
of business was to disconnect
the antenna and hook a dummy
load to the hardline and coax
jumper. The SWR was nearly
flat with a bit more than
50 watts forward power and
less than 2 watts reflected.
Hooking the present antenna
back up gave a reflected reading
that was higher. Significantly,
the reading was fluctuating with the
wind gusts. So the next step
was to change out the antenna
for a different replacement. This
yielded an SWR comparable to the
dummy load and it didn't shift
with the antenna movement.
Hopefully, this antenna will last
for a long time. K7WAT, K7KID & NM7R
11/29/09
160 miles, 8 hours;
KO Peak to
replace
the
isolator
with a single-section
circulator (all I had
on hand at the time). Although
the station would operate without
one, I feel it necessary as part
of being a "good
neighbor". I spent some
time checking every component
of the station, looking for
the apparent loss of power
out and receiver
sensitivity. Everything is in
apparent good order, leaving
either the hardline or the
antenna as the problem.
We came and went by the
Grays River route. Although
20 miles shorter over all,
the off-pavement portion is
16 miles compared to 12 miles
for the northern route, making
this route at least as long
in terms of time. N7ONG & NM7R
11/27/09
170 miles, 8 hours;
KO Peak to investigate
loss of power out of the
repeater. Discovered the
isolator had died, probably
saving the rest of the
station from the lightning
strike. Removed the defective
isolator until I can obtain
a replacement. The station
is now working fine.
While on the site I took
a few minutes to re-orient
the KGW TV receive antenna
that feeds the translator
in the other building. The
wind had turned it about
120-degrees around the
tower leg. We took
the "back way" home
down the road that comes out
the Grays River drainage.
Turns out to be
a good 20-miles
shorter than the regular
way. N7ONG & NM7R
11/25/09
185 miles, 8 hours;
KO Peak to install
antenna. Tower work went
well with Ed and Kevin
doing the honors. Station
was working perfectly
when we left, but within
an hour the Power Amp seemed
to have failed.
A return trip will
be necessary. KF7APN,
K7WAT, K7KID, KE7JMC & NM7R
11/24/09
150 miles, 8 hours;
Nicolai Ridge to
extend tower. Added
one section of Rohn-25
tower. Moved antenna to
top of the section.
Checked link radio and
found problems with
the wiring in the repeater,
which will require an
additional visit. K7GA,
K7YFP, AK9E, K7WAT & NM7R
11/21/09
185 miles, 8 hours;
KO Peak to replace
main antenna, and
inspect, repair, or
replace the station
ele
ctronics as necessary.
Three inches or more of
snow from a mile below the gate.
Due to rain, the snow was slushy
and we made it to the last
switchback. Weather not
safe for tower work, windy and
raining with ice sluffing off
tower. Stashed antenna inside
building. Replaced power supply
and inspected each component of
the station. The repeater
receiver preamp needed replacement
but surprisingly, no other
deficiencies were found. Will need
a day with acceptable weather
to replace antenna. KF7CWO,
N7KUH, K7WAT, KE7DOV & NM7R
11/19/09
Noticed the Ocean Park
repeater was off the
air. Kevin and Ed checked
the machine out and
found a blown line
fuse. Apparently
when the power went
out the night before,
and the emergency
generator came on line,
it popped the fuse.
The repeater seems good
as new. K7KID & K7WAT
11/13/09
180 miles, 7 hours;
KO Peak to inspect
and investigate the
damage caused by a
lightning strike the
previous week.
The repeater, remote
base, and links have
all been off the air
since the event.
Found the main
antenna had disappeared
above the mounting
base, and coaxial cable
jumper appeared severed.
Power supply also dead
which precluded any further
testing. Plan to return
with work party when
weather permits. Three
inches of snow on the ground
from well below the gate.
KF7APN & NM7R
I had been talking on the network on the afternoon of 11/07/09, when the KO Peak station abruptly went off the air, during a particularly malevolent thunderstorm passing over the area. The KO Peak tower had taken a direct lightning strike a couple of years previously, with no damage to our equipment, however the county's closed circuit TV cameras had not fared well. I continued home hoping at first that the emergency generator was going to kick in at any moment, and then that it was a fuse blown when the emergency generator came on. Later that evening, I received a phone call, "This is the US Celular tech up at the KO site, restarting our gear. There's smoke coming out of your repeater. Do you want me to turn it off?" He also indicated that the PUD pad power transformer had exploded. Of course, I was heading out of town for a week the next day, so we were not able to visit the site until I returned. Our repeater antenna had taken a direct hit, vaporizing the antenna itself. We also lost the receiver pre-amp, power supply and transmitter isolator. All-in-all we got off very lucky. It took six trips over the next couple of weeks to find and repair all the damage. The repeater, duplexer, remote base, controller, digital voice recorder and control receiver all came through more or less undamaged, along with the hardline and connectors. The entire 224.040 repeater in the rack next over, and with an antenna only a few feet away from this one was unscathed by the incident.
10/29/09
250 miles, 10 hours;
Olympia site to replace
failed Power Amplifier
on repeater. Also found
a bare wire end in PTT
circuit and taped it up.
Antenna looks great and
everything else normal.
Met a DNR employee who
let us peek in the
downstairs room in the
building. N7UJK & NM7R
10/08/09
377 miles, 12 hours; Drive to
a meeting at the Oregon Dept.
of Forestry in Salem.
Meeting concerned the power
situation at the Nicolai site.
K7GA & NM7R.
10/01/09
120 miles, 4 hours; KM Hill repeater
to check out deaf receiver.
Found the receiver banspass/notch
cavity 5-turns out of tune(?).
Not sure how that could have
happened on its own... Retuned
for best sensitivity (from 200
micro-volts to 0.17 micro-volts
for 12 dB SINAD and no detectable
desense. NM7R.
09/21/09
250 miles, 9 hours;
Capitol Peak to add
a support strut for
the top of the
antenna.
Kevin and Ed did the
tower work, with Frank
and Doyle as ground
pounders. Found the
antenna slightly off
vertical with a clamp
turned and set it
back straight. Then
into the building for
a pre-winter check, and
found the power amplifier
putting out 3-watts.
It would
go to 60-watts maximum.
Found a burned
resistor, indicating a blown
power transistor. Swapped out
the entire amplifier
assembly for a
spare, and set power out at
90-watts, at the
PA, 40-watts
after the dual-isolator,
bandpass cavity, low-pass
filter, duplexer and diplexer.
Judging from the results,
the amp must have died in
December, along with the old
antenna and was not noticed
until now.
N7UJK, K7KID, K7WAT, NM7R.
07/16/09
120 miles, 4 hours;
KM Hill to install
door switch and
reprogram alert
messages to switch on
transmit PL. NM7R.
07/07/09
80 miles, 5 hours;
Touched up the
tuning at Long Beach
to bring receiver back
up almost 10 dB. It
seemed to be in the LO
first multiplier tuning.
Checked everything while
I was there since it has
been a while. Then on to
Discovery Heights to
look at the battery (fine)
and check the receiver.
Then on to Megler to set
the audio levels so the
repeater receiver is the
same as the remotes, and
bring the receiver
master level up a
bit. NM7R.
06/30/09
150 miles, 9 hours;
Nicolai Mtn in Clatsop
County (Oregon) to work
on the 444.500 Nicolai
repeater. Replaced
main power breaker at
entrance panel (AC
Mains were once again
down), rearranged DC
supply
wiring from battery.
Finished up a number
of anti-rodent measures
to seal the building,
started by Geoff and
Ron during a visit
last wee
k,
including Ron's new
carpentry around the
door and a cable
entrance boot.
K7GA, AK9E,
NM7R.
06/12/09
130 miles, 6 hours;
Nicolai Mtn in Clatsop
County (Oregon) to help
install new 444.500
repeater. K7GA, K7YFP,
W7CAT, KD7RYY, NM7R.
06/08/09
150 miles, 3 hours;
KM Hill, Grays River
repeater to adjust power
level, check battery
voltage and orientation
for Geoff. K7GA,
KE7DOV, KE7WFO, NM7R.
05/28/09
Cosi, Minot; Doyle (N7UJK)
made 2 trips to Cosi. A
new alarm has been
installed, so he had
to abandon the first
attempt, go into town
and pick up a card key
(which didn't work) and
return to set the audio
levels. Cosi has been
too low on the audio for
a while. Now audio is as
it should be. Also installed
a low-pass filter at Minot.
N7UJK
05/12/09
Doyle (N7UJK)
attended the DNR
inspection of the Minot
site. Once again,
our station passed
quickly and with
only positive comments.
Low pass filters
were discussed, and
are likely to be required
within a year or two.
N7UJK
05/09/09
Ken (NM7HK) and
Jody (K7IEU)
investigated an
outage at the Holy
Cross station. The
UHF repeater was off
the air, while the
VHF station was working
normally. They found
and replaced a blown
fuse in the power
circuit to the UHF
repeater. NM7HK, K7IEU
05/05/09
Doyle attended the
DNR inspection of
the Capitol Peak
station. As previously
the inspectors approved
our installation.
N7UJK
04/24/09
Doyle visited the
Minot site to install
a dual-section
isolator
and a DCI filter
on the UHF link
transceiver, and add
a second single
section circulator to
the VHF packet
transceiver in
anticipation of
the upcoming
DNR inspection.
These required
isolation devices
had all been
promised by the
Grays Harbor DEM,
but when funding
issues all but
closed that department
we started looking
on our own for
suitable units.
N7UJK
04/22/09
60 miles, 3 hours;
Megler site to
look over one of
the repeaters
and orient
Sam to the site.
NM7R & KC7BFU
04/20/09
Received the Governor's
2009 Volunteer Service
Award for designing,
building and maintaining
the BeachNet
repeater network,
maintaining this
associated informational
website, and
other Amateur Radio
related activities
including emergency
communications support
and training.
The award
was presented at the
Governor's Mansion on
the State Capitol grounds
in Olympia.
I handed off a VHF circulator
to Doyle on the way
home for Minot.
04/19/09
60 miles, 3 hours;
Megler site to
change PL on IRLP
220 up-link, set
levels on VHF
repeater and
waterproof 220
up-link antenna
connections.
NM7R, K7WAT & WA7PIX
04/14/09
100 miles, 4 hours;
KM site to
install high/low
output power mod
on PA, and set up
repeater to drop
to low output when
on battery back-up.
tried duplexer and
found it unsatisfactory
compared to present
two-antenna system. NM7R
04/09/09 Attended the Pacific
County Emergency Management Agency
Council Meeting, and was presented
with the Sheriff's Department
Outstanding Service Award. My
name also appeared in the Sheriff's
weekly column in the local newspaper,
the Chinook Observer,
under the heading, "Caught
doing Something Good".
03/27/09
60 miles, 4 hours;
Megler site to
balance
the audio levels
on the IRLP
machine. Also
helped with OPB
channel 23 TV
translator. NM7R
03/17/09
60 miles, 4 hours;
Megler site to
replace the 220-link
antenna for the IRLP
UHF Repeater. NM7R
03/01/09
6 miles, 2 hours;
Ocean Park to install the
repeater itself. Mounted
and cut hardline, installed
connector, installed power
supply in cabinet and
hooked everything up.
NM7R, K7KID, K7WAT
02/28/09
20 miles, 5 hours;
Kevin, K7KID, Ed, K7WAT,
and Sam, KC7BFU, erected
the mast & antenna and ran the
hardline for the new
145.170 repeater at the
Ocean Park Fire Hall.
K7KID, K7WAT, KC7BFU
01/22/09
250 miles, 9 hours;
KO Peak to untangle
and straighten the
220 repeater antenna
and help OPB crew with
preparing the TV
translator for the
digital cut-through.
On the way home we
stopped by Naselle
to straighten the
repeater antenna and
repair one of the
link yagis (smashed
by falling ice)
there. That should
complete the winter
damage repairs up
to date. NM7R, K7WAT
01/20/09
180 miles, 10 hours;
Capitol Peak with Doyle to
remove the stub of the snapped-off
antenna and install new antenna.
NM7R, N7UJK
01/14/09
60 miles, 3 hours;
Recon flight to check
for damage at the
KO Peak, Holy Cross,
Megler, Naselle, and
North Cove sites.
Assessed snow on KO,
and antenna damage
at all sites for
planning future
repair work. NM7R
01/13/09
Doyle was able to bum a
ride up Capitol Peak and
was greeted by a mostly
missing antenna. He shut
off the station, and we
are now working on a
more rubust replacement.
N7UJK
11/26/08
250 miles, 6 hours;
Minot to fix link
transceiver. Replaced
IF board in the
Mastr-II. NM7R, N7UJK
11/24/08
140 miles, 5 hours;
Holy Cross to fix transmit
PL on UHF repeater. This
is necessary for some
alternate links.
Picked up nail in tire.
11/22/08
170 miles, 5 hours;
KO Peak, to move
power supply plug
from control receiver
as the socket I had
moved it to during
the 220 repeater
install was dead
(tripped breaker).
Made sure it worked
before
leaving this
time.
NM7R,
N7ONG
11/20/08
190 miles, 10 hours;
KO Peak, to install
the new 220 MHz
Repeater. Got most of
the way up F-line
when we came on
dozens of trees
across road. Doubled
back down and took
A-line to the top.
Repeater went in
well and early
reports are
promising. NM7R,
KB7APU
11/17/08
290 miles, 12 hours;
Capitol Peak to
repair packet
transceiver. Found
receiver sensitivity
way down but as
soon as I tweaked
one helical resonator
it came back. Suspect
a
"whisker".
Installed
new radio and left
old one with Doyle
as a spare. On to
Minot to install
replacement link
radio (Mastr-II
mobile) in place
of Phoenix. New
radio is modified
to accept Isolator.
NM7R, N7UJK
11/12/08
120 miles, 3 hours;
KM Hill and
Discovery Heights to
check batteries.
10/30/08
150 miles, 10 hours;
Installed the new
repeaters at South
Bend. New machines
are in individual 30-inch
cabinets. Station
now comprises base
station chassis for
both VHF and UHF repeaters
and a Mastr-II Mobile
for the link radio.
The contoller is now
a three-port one
to allow the repeaters
to be split apart
when desired. There
is also a control
receiver.
10/15/08
130 miles, 6 hours;
Installed the Warrenton
Remote Receiver to complete
the original plan for
voting
system. Unit located
in back room of Warrenton
Police Department,
courtesy of W7LEO. Has
stand-by power, antenna
on roof. Also went by
Grays River site to check
batteries on the way home.
10/14/08
100 miles, 3 hours;
Grays River (KM Hill) site
to install battery back-up.
Two 90 AH batteries from
W7TOM, charger from W7FBM.
Wired into repeater power
supply through blocking diode.
Repeater speaks 'Emergency
Power'
locally
when battery
powering
station.
10/10/08
150 miles, 9 hours;
Naselle (2 trips) to
install voting receiver,
change frequency of
old remote receiver to
work with North Cove
repeater, move control
receiver antenna &
hardline, install
Megler link antenna
& coax, and
re-route remote base
hardline away from
County microwave waveguide.
KE7SEV, NM7HK, NM7R.
10/08/08
150 miles, 6 hours;
Holy Cross to analyze
the audio distortion
on the South Bend
repeaters.
10/02/08
60 miles, 4 hours;
Megler to install a DTMF
decoder to control the
channel disable function
on the voter panel. Mostly
for testing, this will
allow remotely shutting off
any/all receiver channels
at the voter.
09/24/08
80 miles, 6 hours;
Ilwaco, (two trips)
to install the
Cape Disappointment
remote receiver package
(Mark-Two)
to go with the Voting
system. A Mastr-II
base station power
supply was installed, since
this station will now
be working full time. A 90
AH battery (from W7TOM)
installed as back-up
power. Will try to fit
a second battery into
cabinet at a later time.
Original charger used and
old battery removed. I
was able to get in
full-quieting,
from the campground
at Cape D, low power
on an HT inside the car.
One
voting remote
receiver done,
two more to go.
09/23/08
80 miles, 3 hours;
Naselle to repair hardline
and mountings.
This is the last of the damage from last
winter. K7KID, K7WAT and NM7R.
09/18/08
60 miles, 2 hours;
Megler to change the
repeater receiver 'COS'
signal from PL-decode
only to an AND product
of CAS and PL to remove
the obnoxious squelch
crash from PL-only
switching. You'd think
I would learn...
09/17/08
60 miles, 4 hours;
Megler, to install rack shelf with
four UHF receivers and LDG voter
panel. Wired in repeater receiver
as fifth receiver. For the moment,
it is the only receiver with an
active COR, so it is the only
one that will be voted. As the
satellite receivers are
converted from the old
(PL switching) system to the
new (Signal-to-Noise voting) system, the
Megler end should be ready
to receive and incorporate
the new signals.
This was the first
step in installing a true,
automatic voting system to
manage the remote receivers
associated with the Megler
VHF repeater. The previous
system had used remote
receivers, each with a
unique PL tone. Selection
was done manually by changing
the PL tone transmitted by
your radio. This new system
will make manual intervention
unnecessary. The voting unit
will constantly evaluate the
signal-to-noise ratio of the
incoming audio streams from
the various receivers, and
use the best quality one for
retransmission. This had been
a "blue-sky" idea
until two fortuitous events.
First, I received from Pacific
County several GE Rangr
transceivers,
suitable to be used as
remote VHF receivers, UHF
link transmitters and
link receivers. Second,
I received from Grays Harbor
County, an LDG voter unit.
Putting these together made
a reality of the plan. This
also proved to be the ultimate
answer to the TV intermod at
the Megler site. By using
three alternate receivers, each
in a relatively quiet location,
two with high-gain pre-amps
and all with overlapping
coverage, the repeater site
receiver is only used when
it has the quietest signal
and the other receivers
provide great quality
audio the rest of the time.
Of course, like all
Amateur projects, this
became a
"work-in-progress".
09/10/08
180 miles, 10 hours;
KO Peak, install 220 MHz antenna,
hardline, and check APRS station.
NM7R, K7KID, WA7RW, KB7APU and K7WAT.
08/07/08
259 miles, 10 hours;
Capitol
Peak to tune
and check; Minot
to rehab link receiver
N7UJK, NM7R.
07/10/08
248 miles, 9 hours;
Capitol
Peak to replace Power
Amp, tune
and check, N7UJK, NM7R.
07/08/08
120 miles, 8 hours;
KM Hill,
Install 'Grays River' antennas,
hardline runs and
set up new 147.020 repeater. K7KID,
KE7SEV, W7FBM, KD7UEB, N7YBZ, NM7R.
07/07/08
120 miles, 4 hours;
KM Hill,
Haul equipment and take
measurements for Grays
River repeater install.
06/20/08
167 miles, 8 hours;
KO Peak for tower
work. Straightened main
antenna, checked all
connectors and dressed
mountings. Removed
old remote base antenna
collection and rusting
mount. Installed new
side arm and tri-band
antenna
for remote base.
Installed tri-plexer
at radio station for
140/220/440 modules.
K7KID, KE7JMC,
KE7SEV and NM7R.
06/13/08
75 miles, 6 hours;
Long Beach
to remove temporary repeater
and reinstall original unit
with remote base, and Megler
to install filter
on DC line
to Exciter/Receiver.
06/09/08
75 miles, 4 hours;
Naselle
repeater, reinstalled remote
base after modifying it to have
receive PL decode in FC-900
remote base controller. The
squelch has been occasionally
opening with DX repeater signals.
It's the start of summer
ducting season,
and this will allow us to silence
the noise without losing
the linking capability with KO Peak.
It works perfectly.
Decode function is remotely
controllable.
05/31/08
25 miles, 1 hour;
Long Beach
to replace link transceiver in
temporary repeater.
05/30/08
75 miles, 6 hours;
Naselle and
Long Beach.
05/29/08
140 miles, 6 hours;
KO for antenna
work. Kevin, Thatcher, Ed and Jody
along. Stopped by snow a bit over a mile
from the top. Kevin and I stopped
at Long Beach on the way back to fix cable
mounting.
05/15/08
75 miles, 6 hours;
Naselle &
Long Beach repeaters,
took remote base
package from Long Beach machine to
Naselle site and swapped out with
the remote base package there.
Brought the Naselle package home to
diagnose the problem with the link
receiver 'blowing squelch'.
03/26/08
25 miles, 4 hours;
Long Beach
repeater, pulled entire
station and
installed temporary replacement.
02/26/08 75 miles, 5 hours;
Naselle antenna work (with Kevin),
replaced remote base antenna and
replaced crushed remote base antenna
coax with LDF4-50 1/2-inch
hardline.
02/25/08 75 miles,
7 hours; Naselle antenna work (with Kevin),
straightened main antenna. Weather closed in.
02/18/08 200 miles,
12 hours; Capitol Peak (with Doyle) in Bruce's
SnoCat to replace antenna.
02/15/08 150 miles,
8 hours; Holy Cross (with Kevin) to replace
broken antenna.
02/14/08
80 miles, 6 hours;
Took up the airplane on the first
good-weather day after the Big December Storm
(with Doyle). Surveyed all
the BeachNet sites and were able to see
all of them. Most accessible, except
KO Peak and Capitol Peak still had lots of
snow. Discovered missing antenna
at South Bend.
12/29/07 75 miles, 4 hours;
Megler with Bob Frost and his Spectrum
Analyzer.
12/18/07 75 miles, 6 hours;
Megler intermod chase.
12/16/07 75 miles, 5 hours;
Megler with Bob Frost.
12/15/07 75 miles, 6 hours;
Megler intermod chase
12/01/07 A major
winter storm event
struck the region.
It began with cold
temperatures and snow,
followed abruptly
by hurricane-force
winds, warmer temperatures
and heavy rain. At the
coast, this meant trees
down blocking all roads,
power out and telephone
and Internet service
out for days. Inland, the
snow, followed by warm
rain, meant serious
flooding. The BeachNet
repeater system was
heavily used, in
spite of heavy wind
damage, both during
the storm and the
recovery phases.
It would be
months before
most of the damage
to the repeaters
could be attended to.
11/21/07 75 miles, 6 hours;
Megler antenna adjustments.
11/19/07 75 miles, 10
hours; Megler IRLP receiver replacement
to improve sensitivity. Curious that the five
1 KW TV translators are
all UHF, and yet they bother the VHF
repeater and not the UHF one. Or,
could it be
leakage from the Chinook
cable TV system?
11/18/07 75 miles, 8 hours;
Megler VHF circulator
install.
11/17/07 75 miles, 8 hours;
Megler antenna completion,
mounting and dressing hardline.
11/16/07
75 miles, 10 hours;
Megler antenna relocation
of dual-band Hystler
from building roof
to top of tower. This will be VHF receive
and UHF Tx & Rx antenna.
G6-140 2-meter antenna
installed on
the building roof is now
the VHF transmit antenna.
10/06/07 KO; 170 miles, 8 hours;
install & activate control receiver.
09/25/07 KO; 170 miles, 8
hours; replace receiver.
09/24/07 Megler;
60 miles, 4
hours; change
PL tone to stop
repeater keying
itself up. Installed a
line to a
controller remote
switch that
changes the PL
remotely from
118.8 to 82.5 Hz.
I later decided
that continually
changing the
tone to
avoid the TV
buzz was more confusing
than just changing
it permanently. So,
unless some magic
bullet comes
along to fix the
buzz, the Megler tone
is now 82.5 Hz.
09/24/07 KO; 170 miles, 12 hours;
troubleshoot receiver failure.
Replaced receiver.
09/20/07 Megler; 60 miles, 6
hours; Duplexer touch up and
site maintenance. Jay,
W7FBM, also along. Still trying to get the
TV retrace buzz out of the
repeater. Tried pass
cavity on transmitter,
no difference. Moved it to
receiver, still no difference.
08/??/07
Hood-To-Coast again accommodated
with the 147.18 Megler and
440.675 Naselle repeaters tied together
and then linked to
a Columbia County 146.88
repeater to provide Medical and
Administrative circuit for race committee.
08/??/07
170 miles,
12 hours;
Cosmopolis
repeater
site to
change antenna
and hardline
(replaced half-inch
hardline with
7/8-inch).
08/??/07
160 miles, 5 hours;
North
Cove to inspect duplexer
move from floor under repeater to
ceiling. John & Joe did a nice job!
07/??/07
825
miles, 36 hours;
Three (3)
round trips to Capitol
Peak to work on the
packet gateway
station. Finally
figured out the four
transmitters
keyed together
pulled the power
supply down and
reset the packet TNC.
05/22/07
130 miles,
4 hours;
South Bend equipment
retrieval.
05/12/07
250 miles, 10 hours;
Capitol Peak,
general minor gremlin removal...
04/29/07
250
miles, 16 hours;
Capitol Peak install;
antennas,
hardline, cabinet.
04/23/07 80 miles, 3 hours;
Naselle, change out power supply.
04/07/07 220 miles, 10
hours; Minot; Frequency change to
444.050. This is to free up the
444.950 frequency for Capitol Peak.
WWARA has agreed to the plan.
Capitol Peak will be a high site
with long range coverage. Finding
a suitable pair would be difficult
if not impossible. Our existing
444.950 pair is not used anywhere
else in Western Washington, so moving it
to CP makes sense. The 444.050 pair
will probably work fine on Minot, because
it is blocked to the north, shielded from
Puget
Sound.
03/30/07
120 miles, 8 hours;
KO Peak, 10m antenna install.
Antenna is a vertical dipole
suspended off side
of tower.
03/10/07 260 miles, 12 hours;
Capitol Peak, Site Survey.
Doyle wants to sponsor a station with packet
gateway and UHF repeater.
My first close up look at the site. Nice new
building and tower.
01/24/07 170 miles, 12 hours; KO Peak,
replace PA. This one
has a Z-match.
12/27/06 140 miles, 6 hours; Holy
Cross Packet transceiver replacement.
12/22/06 140 miles, 6 hours; Holy
Cross Packet failure diagnosis.
12/05/06 140 miles, 5 hours; Holy Cross
audio repair and
balance. Audio was overdriving on VHF side.
Rechecked all combinations
with each of the three receivers and three
transmitters so a 1 kHz tone
at 3 kHz deviation going in any port comes out
all ports unchanged.
12/04/06 140 miles, 6 hours;
Holy Cross Audio repair and
balance. VHF and UHF receivers not
the same level. New scheme has them
mixed on a modified audio card.
09/29/06
330
miles, 12 hours; Weatherwax repeater
replacement with very-low-current-draw
unit and Minot
packet node repair.
08/27/06 190 miles, 8 hours;
Minot for link repairs and replacement of the
packet station.
08/25-26/06 24 hours; Hood-to-Coast
relay public service support; Megler
147.18 repeater was tied to Naselle 440.675
repeater. These were disconnected
from BeachNet for the two-day event, and the
Naselle remote base connected
to the 146.76 Nicolai repeater, allowing the
Race Committee in St. Helens
to communicate effectively with the last few
stages and the finish. The
circuit created was used
for medical and emergency traffic, while the
Astoria linked system was used for Operational matters.
08/24/06
28 miles, 8 hours; Discovery
Heights & Ilwaco FM station, move
batteries and 146.86 PCARC repeater
from DH to the FM tower, and install
my Cape D remote receiver
(Mark-One) at DH.
08/22/06
190 miles, 8 hours; KO Peak,
finish up remote base
antennas. Cut 20-feet off the main hardline and
moved connector. Fitted
remnant of LMR-600 cable from hardline to repeater.
The book says the
difference between 100 feet of LMR-600 and
LDF5-50
should be about 1 dB,
but the
change has made
a far bigger difference
anecdotally.
08/14/06 180 miles, 12 hours;
KO Peak, Straightened antenna
and replaced original LMR-600 coax with
100-feet of LDF5-50 7/8-inch
hardline in mounting cushions. Hardline
was 120-feet long, so we ended
up with 20-feet wrapped around the inside
of the building on the cable
tray when it came time to leave.
08/11/06 75 miles, 3 hours;
Megler, UHF link retune. Locks are
back in proper order with new hasp.
08/08/06 52 miles, 2 hours; Megler,
IRLP PL change to 82.5. Lock hasp
had been cut by County Telecom Manager. Timber
company lock not in chain now.
08/07/06 44 miles, 1.5 hours; Megler,
Gate locked (skunked again).
08/06/06
44 miles, 1.5 hours; Megler,
Gate locked (Locks
rearranged but ours still not in chain). Again
advised County Manager.
08/05/06 44 miles, 1.5 hours;
Megler, Gate locked (our lock
not in chain). Called Timber Co. They said
they would
fix right away.
Called to advise County Telecom Manager.
07/17/06 270 miles, 8 hours;
Neilton install. Problem
turned out to be a single broken finger in
the center conductor
of an N-Female connector on the duplexer. It
took hauling it home
and going over the entire machine with a
flashlight and a fine
tooth comb to find it. The other three
fingers had overheated and
lost their temper, causing an intermittent
connection on the transmit
side of the duplexer.
07/10/06 75 miles, 2 hours;
Megler change PL to 82.5. This
cured the problem of the spontaneous
key-ups, but the buzz is still
there on weak signals just above the
squelch threshold.
07/06/06 75 miles,
4 hours; Megler troubleshoot of
intermod. Bonded and grounded everything I could.
07/05/06
75 miles, 4 hours;
Megler to
diagnose intermod
problem. TV retrace
buzz is
bad
enough to false
trigger the PL decoder on
118.8 causing repeater to key
up spontaneously with
loud buzzing noise.
06/18/06
270 miles, 8 hours;
Neilton to repair
repeater. After several hours not able
to pin-point problem,
pulled entire
repeater to take home.
06/13/06
313 miles, 13 hours;
Weatherwax install and Neilton PA
replacement. Neilton had been intermittent
for some time, going from full
power to barely readable or off-air, and
then back. New PA seemed to cure
the problem, but a few hours later the
problem returned.
05/28/06 75 miles, 8 hours;
Megler several little
upgrades.
05/27/06 225 miles, 12 hours;
Minot link antenna
upgrade to dual phased
yagis. Link path is directly through the
phone
company tower
and horns across
the
road. This antenna design 'burned
through' and gives good
performance.
04/28/06 225 miles, 11
hours; Minot antennas,
repeater antenna moved to tower and
link antenna moved to
mast on building.
04/21/06 185 miles,
10 hours; KO finish up. Brought new
exciter cable and secured in place.
Dressed cabling on repeater
that had been cut loose and
disturbed previously.
Tested and checked everything.
No discrepancies noted.
04/20/06 75 miles, 4 hours;
Replace Megler Repeater with
upgraded version. It is far more efficient
to build and test a
complete new
replacement
station at home, and then change it out
on the hill, rather than do extensive work
on site. This
is my normal
policy with extensive work. Whenever
possible, minimize time
on the hill. It is always easier to do the
work at home and it turns out looking and
working better.
04/14/06 184 miles, 11
hours; KO for transmitter
troubleshooting and repair. Found
bad cable from exciter
to PA. Jerry rigged a
temporary repair.
04/13/06 181 miles,
8 hours; PCEMA Meeting
in SB, Trip to Shoalwater Reservation,
North Cove, and Holy Cross for
inspection and minor
maintenance.
This side
trip lead to a successful Technician
class and a dozen new hams in
North County.
03/31/06 65 miles, 4 hours;
Megler, local link antenna
replacement after falling ice had
destroyed the old one.
03/30/06 175 miles, 6 hours;
replace VHF receiver Holy Cross.
03/27/06
230 miles, 8 hours;
abortive trip to KO, and Holy
Cross troubleshooting stop.
03/24/06 175 miles,
6 hours; install wx station on Holy Cross.
10/29/05
175 miles, 12 hours;
Visited
Neilton to reprogram and
modify Phoenix link
transceiver for link Rx PL and
2-channel link.
I added CTCSS decode
on the link receivers to suppress
out-of-area signals on 441.675,
especially during the summer ducting season.
The links were originally carrier squelch to
make the switching times as fast as possible.
The GE Phoenix radios I used for linking require
reprogramming the X2212 EEPROM and a minor
hardware mod.
10/25/05
125 miles, 6 hours;
Modify link transceivers at
Megler and Holy Cross for
link Rx PL and 2-channel link.
10/24/05
10 miles, 3 hours;
ARES Meeting at Bob Cline's
house re: BeachNet.
10/22/05
187 miles, 14 hours;
Visited Minot,
Neilton and Cosi sites. Replaced
Power Supply and reprogrammed and
modified Phoenix link
radio at Minot for link
Rx PL, reprogrammed and modified
Phoenix link radio at Cosi.
Locked out of
building at Neilton.
10/21/05
193 miles, 8 hours;
Visited KO Peak,
Holy Cross and Naselle sites.
Hooked up transmit PL on KO
repeater as first step in
implementing PL on the links,
reprogrammed Phoenix link radio
at Holy Cross for PL on
KO Frequency,
and replaced (upgraded) Power
Amplifier at Naselle.
This one has Z-match.
10/18/05
120 miles, 4 hours;
Visited Holy Cross
to get repeater back on air.
07/31/05
140 miles, 6 hours;
Holy Cross Repeater Site; Repair
147.940 receiver and add PAR filter
to notch out paging intermod.
07/29/05
75 miles, 9 hours;
Naselle Repeater Site;
Finish cable mounting install
on tower.
07/28/05
75 miles, 2 hours;
Naselle Repeater
Site; K7KID along,
Weather not cooperative
so no tower work. Finished
repeater install inside the
building.
It is probably
appropriate to
point out here that
this completed the
construction
of a new UHF
repeater, with
3-band
remote
base, on
a 2000-foot
mountain
that had not
seen an Amateur
repeater for
almost 20 years.
Rents on
the site were
prohibitive.
A comment by an
acquaintance
led me to believe a
rent-free
billet might
be possible. This
required soliciting
permission
from the
site owner,
obtaining the
cooperation of
Pacific County
Emergency
Management
Agency and it's
oversight Council.
It meant
assembling,
fabricating
and testing
the station
components
in my shop,
followed by
installing
the equipment
at the site.
On the
paperwork front,
there was
finding a
likely frequency
pair,
ordering crystals,
negotiating with the
co-channel
neighbors by
email
for letters
giving conditional
permission to
share their
pair for testing,
and filing
with WWARA toward
repeater
coordination
and a
permit to build
and test.
All this
was
accomplished
(from
twinkle-in-the-eye to
finished working
repeater)
within three weeks.
The station
includes a
110-watt
continuous-duty
GE Mastr-II
base station with
ACC RC-96 controller,
FC-900 remote
base on
140/220/440
MHz bands,
Sinclair duplexer,
Sinclair dual
section isolator,
DCI 440-450
pass filter,
100-feet of
LDF5-50 7/8-inch
hardline,
mounted in
cushions, and two
GE Mastr-II
auxiliary
receivers, one
associated
with the Megler
repeater and
the other a
dedicated
control receiver.
The Power Supply is
a GE.
The antenna
is a Comet X510
dual-band (UHF for
the repeater
and VHF for
a remote
receiver augmenting
the Megler
repeater coverage)
mounted inside
a Stationmaster
radome shell,
at the top of
the tower.
This repeater
fills the last
remaining "hole"
in the
Pacific County
coverage. On
the air 28
July 2005.
07/27/05 75 miles, 6 hours; Naselle Repeater Site;
Finish dressing cable in building.
07/26/05 75 miles, 9 hours;
Naselle Repeater Site; also
Kevin (K7KID)
and
Shane (N7XAC),
Antenna and 7/8-inch
hardline install.
07/22/05 140 miles, 4 hours;
South Bend to swap keys
and Naselle for recon,
planning and measurements.
07/21/05
120 miles, 2.5 hours; South
Bend to
pick up key for Naselle.
Turned out it was the wrong key...
07/19/05 25 miles, 1.5 hours; PUD Commissioners
Meeting; Seeking permission
for new (Naselle) repeater installation.
07/14/05 30 miles, 1.5 hours; PCEMA Council Meeting;
Seeking permission for
new (Naselle) repeater installation.
07/14/05
Received Certificate of
Appreciation
for BeachNet
activities
from Pacific County
Emergency Management
Council in
recognition of contribution
to Public Service and
Disaster Preparedness.
It's always easier to ask
permission
for something
after they have handed you
an award.
07/12/05 52 miles, 3 hours; Megler adjust PL and
install Tx PL on 147.180.
07/11/05 52 miles, 4 hours; Megler install
COS/PL logic board in IRLP
repeater.
07/08/05 175 miles,
7 hours; Cosi replace receiver.
<
p class=MsoNormal align=left
style='margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-align:left'>
02/14/05
150 miles,
10 hours;
Trip to relocate
Raymond site equipment to
Holy Cross. The VHF
station was originally
located at the hospital
in South Bend. A UHF
repeater on Holy Cross
Mountain
was necessary to make
the system link to KO Peak
operable. To improve
coverage, the VHF
receiver was moved
to the Holy Cross site,
leaving the transmitter
at its coordinated
location. Eventually, it
became desirable and
practicable to move
(and re-coordinate) the
transmitter, co-locating
the VHF repeater
transmitter at the
Holy Cross site.
02/09/05
160 miles, 8 hours;
Two (2) Trips
to install
IRLP repeater
at Megler.
This new
UHF repeater
will function
as an open
IRLP node. It
uses a 220-MHz
uplink to bring
the audio from
my home station
to the repeater
site. The home
station has a
receiver listening
to the repeater
output, and I
am gating a PL
tone on the repeater
output to provide
CAS signal to the
computer at the
home station.
This arrangement
allows the IRLP
Node to share
the DSL line
at home, and
have a full-duplex
control channel.
02/04/05
165 miles, 6 hours;
Trip to North Cove to repair
transmitter.
02/03/05
80 miles,
6 hours; Trip to
Megler to
consolidate
equipment to
make room in the rack
for the 444.925
(IRLP) repeater.
10/??/04 175 miles, 7 hours; Cosi change
frequency to 145.39;
swap out crystals
and retune duplexer.
This was to solve
the co-channel
problem on 145.170.
08/13/04 160 miles,
6-1/2 hours;
Install the
145.170 repeater at
Cosmopolis Hill.
08/07/04
200 miles, 14
hours;
Swap frequencies;
444.700 to
Neilton and
444.950 to
Minot. Picked
up duplexer and
crystals from Minot,
took to Neilton
and swapped with the
ones there, returned
to Minot and
installed duplexer and
crystals from Neilton. Also
relocate link antenna at Minot.
We had a co-channel issue
with the 444.700 frequency in
Puget Sound area, and the
444.950 frequency is not in use
there. Swapping the two pairs
between the sites solved the
problem.
08/04/04 160 miles,
5 hours; Repair controller
problem at North Cove.
07/31/04
240 miles, 12 hours; Install
444.700 Minot Peak repeater (Elma).
07/25/04
120 miles, 11 hours; Tech
class and VE
exam South Bend.
07/24/04
200 miles, 13 hours;
Technician
class South Bend
and Cosmopolis
repeater site visit.
07/18/04
168 miles, 8 hours;
KO Peak; Install
220 remote
base
antenna and mount
repeater coax, upgrade
power supply and retune
repeater.
07/17/04
120 miles, 7 hours; Technician
Class in South Bend
07/10/04
168 miles, 7 hours;
KO Peak; power amp noise problem.
07/09/04
168 miles, 8 hours; KO Peak;
duplexer replacement
(Motorola 4-can-pass went
to Long Beach/Phelps-Dodge
6-can pass-notch
installed) and station
tune-up. The Phelps is
certainly a superior
filter. Installed 2
temperature sensors,
heatsink and outdoors.
|
