Club | N4BC

Update …

A further update on the repeater antenna … The wind whipped it into the tower, a U-bolt got latched under one of the diagonal tower braces, and it’s stuck there. We’ve switched over to the backup antenna (just a few feet below this one), and will tend to the stuck antenna during the next tower inspection, unless Mother Nature pops it loose before then.

Our plans are to add a pvc standoff to hold the mast away from the tower. The backup antenna (a dual band fiberglass stick) already has one. Hey, hindsight is 20/20, right?

73 de Dick N4BC

Oops …

Somehow, out main repeater antenna has flexed a bit too much! From the picture, it looks like the top may have flexed into the tower structure and gotten caught. We’ll be going to the site on Saturday morning to further evaluate the problem. I haven’t seen the actual antenna yet … just this photo that was sent to me. We’ve still got the backup antenna if needed.

73 de Dick N4BC

It’s Baack …

As of yesterday afternoon, the W4MT UHF & VHF FM repeaters were back on the air. We got the repeater cabinet moved to the new site and connected everything up and threw the power switch to ON!

As usual, it was not without its hiccups. Although everything had checked out before installing, the reflected power was high. That was resolved to a bad connector and remedied. Then we found that the control receiver was not working … that was a bad 1-amp fuse.

Finally, everything was up and working properly. We left well enough alone and wrapped up our endeavor for the day. We’ll go back and take care of grounding and cable dressing shortly.

It’s really nice to hear the repeater back on the air. Actually, it has been operational, but with limited range due to compromises with the antenna height. Now, with the antenna at a decent height, it sounds great.

TBC

73 de Dick N4BC

Repeater Progress Report

There’s been progress on the W4MT repeater installation. As you may recall, the antennas went onto the tower a few weeks ago. Yesterday, we were able to check the feedlines and both the main and backup antennas were well within tolerance. Later this week, we’re going to clean the equipment room at the site, move in the equipment, and get everything connected up and on the air.

Maybe by next week both repeaters will be on the air (fingers crossed)!!

It’s Aliiiiiiive!!!!!

Interesting evening … just when you’re sure that JT9 is dead and gone … killed by the FT-modes … you work a bunch of them!

Last night I saw K9ZIE spotted on a 40 meter JT9 POTA activation, so I popped on down and worked him easily. There was actually quite a bit of JT9 activity there, so I worked a few more successfully. Maybe I just haven’t been noticing, but I thought that JT9 was pretty rare nowadays … Guess not!

It’s been a pretty good week for POTA contacts. I’ve put about ten new parks in the log since Monday. Propagation has been pretty good … even a couple of Canadian parks.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we’re putting our two repeater antennas on a 300-foot tower. We’ve had thunderstorms most afternoons this summer. Hopefully all goes well … out repeaters have been looking for a new home for far too long.

73 de Dick N4BC