Missing Persons Report

Where have I been? Was I kidnaped? On a secret spy mission for the government?

Nope. Just out of circulation for a while. I went to see my doctor for my regular checkup and, to make a long story short, ended up being the recipient of quadruple bypass heart surgery. That will definitely take you out of the mix for a while.

All turned out well, and I am well on my way to recovery now. The surgery was back in October, and I go back to work in January. I feel better than I have in years, and am glad the doctor caught the abnormality in my ECG.

Radio-wise, I’ve been doing POTA and digital modes. Pretty much the same thing as before the surgery.

Merry Christmas to all!

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

300!

I’ve been hitting the POTA activations pretty hard lately, and finally made it to 300 confirmations with unique parks. It’s definitely a challenge, but attainable by anyone, no matter the skill or equipment level.

Steve, K5ATA, has just uploaded an interview with Jason Johnston, W3AAX, with a great overview of the Parks on the Air program.

Goodgame Ham Radio & Outdoors YouTube Channel

This was a good overview of the POTA program. Steve has a great channel with lots of videos about various aspects of ham radio. Check it out here.

As I’ve said many times, YouTube is your friend. I don’t care what I’m doing … building an antenna, wiring a switch, buying a new phone, or changing a washer in a faucet … there’s most likely a video showing how to do it.

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)!!

W4MT repeater site
Our antennas on right side of tower