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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 the hill
and back. Miles are what
I put on my venerable
1996 Subaru (replaced in October
of 2015, at 275k miles, with a new
2016-model Subaru Outback).
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
08/14/20
Capitol Peak (Olympia repeater) to investigate link radio reported inoperative .
Doyle received a report of the link radio (transmitter) being inoperative during
the Sunday Night D3 Net. He made the drive to the station and checked the link system
with a wattmeter and a Mark-One-Eyeball. Between troubleshooting the equipment and
making contacts using a hand-held to get into the repeater he satisfied himself that the
repeater and link system are all working fine.
11/27/19 136 miles, 4 hours;
Holy Cross (South Bend repeaters) to investigate inoperative packet station, W7HCA, NM7R.
Howard wanted to take one more peek at the station before winter snowed the site
in, and I had a day off, so was up for the trip. Between us we hauled tools, test gear and a
couple of spare radios and TNCs. After fiddling with a number of possible places where the
gremlins might be hiding, we finally settled on the cable and connectors that connect the
TNC to the radio, this being the one piece we hadn't replaced at some time during our
previous investigations. That seemed to do the trick. With luck this will get us through the winter.
11/24/19 136 miles, 4 hours;
Holy Cross (South Bend repeaters) to investigate inoperative packet station, W7HCA, NM7R.
There are three packet radio stations at this site, on frequencies 145.010, 145.630,
and a UHF station intended as a relay for the 9600-baud circuit between the two EOCs.
This was a third trip to attempt to unravel a problem with one of the circuits.
Some progress was made, although later testing
from Howard's house showed some issues yet to be dealt with.
10/30/19 136 miles, 5 hours;
Holy Cross (South Bend repeaters) to investigate inoperative packet stations, N7XRD, N7CVW, NM7R.
There are three packet radio stations at this site, on frequencies 145.010, 145.630,
and a UHF station intended as a relay for the 9600-baud circuit between the two EOCs.
This was a second trip to attempt to unravel the
problems with the three different circuits. Some progress was made, although later testing
from the South Bend EOC showed some issues yet to be dealt with.
09/29/19 136 miles, 5 hours;
Holy Cross (South Bend repeaters) to investigate inoperative packet stations, N7CVW, NM7R.
There are three packet radio stations at this site, on frequencies 145.010, 145.630,
and a UHF station intended as a relay for the 9600-baud circuit between the two EOCs.
These were all off-air for various reasons. One radio was tuned to the wrong frequency, one
had a missing power cord for the TNC, and one apparently just needed the TNC to be reset.
While Bob, N7CVW, worked on the packet situation, I assisted, and did some initial recon for
a future upgrade and possible new equipment installation.
08/23-24/19 0 miles, 1 hour;
Reconfigured system to support Hood-To-Coast Relay, NM7R.
As we have done since 2006 (13 years!),
repeaters within our system have been reconfigured to support
the Hood-To-Coast Relay. In the early years we used the remote base
at Naselle to connect our 147.180 repeater to the 146.88 Portland
repeater. Once IRLP capability was added to our system,
this changed for the last several years to
a lash-up connecting the 147.180 and 444.925 Megler repeaters
together and using the IRLP Internet-based linking capability to
connect to a Portland area IRLP Node for the heavy lifting. Once
again, the system served a vital need in the public interest.
08/16/19 136 miles, 6 hours;
Holy Cross (South Bend repeaters) to investigate a soft failure on the link radio, NM7R.
The two repeaters (147.340 and 442.675) have been experiencing
"choppy" audio, particularly on conversations originating at other stations.
This seemed to be a problem associated with the link radio, since a conversation on
one of these two locally linked repeaters was fine on the other one, while a conversation
originating on one of the other system repeaters was affected. Thus, assuming the
problem was with the link radio itself, I did a complete tune-up of the vintage
Mastr-II mobile that is used for the link radio at this site. That seemed to chase the gremlins away, at
least for now. Since this is one of our earliest network repeaters, dating back to 2002/3 and
all the equipment used in this project was at least 25-years old when we got it, a few occasional
inconveniences must be expected. There has been a plan in the works to construct an
upgraded station to replace these two repeaters at some time in the future. Let's hope it's
the not-too-distant future.
Note: this was my first trip to the Holy Cross radio site using the new road.
The old road had been
falling off the hillside for some time, and had reached the point of being both dangerous and
too expensive to permanently fix. This new road comes in on the west side, while the old one
came in from the east. This road is in much better shape, but it is also in active use by the
several logging operations working in this area. One must take the good with the bad.
It is a few miles farther to drive, but not significantly longer in terms of time.
06/07/19 60 miles, 2 hours;
Megler to investigate very weak transmitter output from the 444.925 IRLP station, KD7UCH, NM7R.
Assuming the power amplifier had failed, we hauled a new amp and appropriate tools to the site. The trip up was complicated by logging operations on the (only) road to the site. Upon arrival, checked power output at the amplifier output port and discovered 60-watts (tunable to over 100-watts with the normal adjustment) measured between the amplifier output and duplexer input. However, when checking at the output port of the duplexer, the power was much less than one watt. Apparently the duplexer has failed. Left station as it was and returned home to tune up another duplexer for future replacement. This is the first time I have seen a duplexer fail in service.
After arriving home and unloading the car, stacking all the tools, parts and "stuff" in the Radio Room, I tuned up the radio over the work bench and gave the repeater a "kerchunk". Of course, the repeater came back full-scale. I hate it when something fixes itself. The IRLP feature initialized normally and worked as it should, with a loud-clear signal. I'm left assuming that our fiddling with the duplexer cabling must have addressed a loose connection, or re-seated a connector. In any case, the system is working as it should, and all we can do is wait until the next time it fails.
05/19/19 318 miles, 11 hours;
Neilton Repeater to investigate no transmit signal and Minot Repeater, to investigate low power output. N7UJK, NM7R.
Neilton transmitter has been completely off-air, except that Doyle was able to hear the exciter in the building. Replacing the power amplifier assembly cured the problem.
Minot has been operating but had noticeably low transmit power. Checking the amplifier showed a maximum of 40-watts out. Inspection showed one pair of output transistors had failed, but the other pair had continued to operate, with two of the three balancing resistors completely destroyed on the amplifier board. Again, replacing the Power Amplifier Assembly restored full operation.
02/13/19
Nicolai Repeater, to investigate catastrophic problem with rapidly discharging batteries
and very low voltage on the system. This began abruptly 2 days ago and even with the generator
running, the voltage continued to drop, until finally we couldn't even crank the generator. WB7DOB, K7SH, WA6TTR.
This emergency required a Bat-Phone Call to Bruce, the guy with a snow-cat.
The snow was several feet deep from near the bottom, all the way to the top of Nicolai Mtn, rendering
the normally only narrow, rough, and dangerous logging road to the top completely impassable.
Bruce and his Sno-Cat made the trip fairly easy. There is nothing like having the right tool for
the job. Many Thanks to Bruce!
After a lengthy inspection and troubleshooting episode, Gordon found the problem
to be the stand-by generator continually trying to start, placing a huge load on the battery bank.
This was traced to a failed cable-tie, which allowed the stand-by generator fuel piping to rest
against the stand-by generator start button, continually trying to start the stand-by generator.
Of course, the fuel solenoid was not energized, so the generator could not actually start.
Time will tell if the batteries will recover from their hard discharge. Gordon measured them
at about 2-volts when he got there. They were under continuous charge for several hours after,
reaching more than 13-volts within a few hours.
Follow-up detail - It is now August and the batteries appear to have bounced back
and are behaving normally, taking a full charge in a normal time period and providing the
required power to run the station. Although pulling them so far down is never a recommended
way to treat them, I credit the fact that we were able to stop the discharge and begin the full
recharge so soon after the failure occurred with the apparent full recovery. Thanks again,
Bruce. (08/21/19) NM7R
11/20/18
Capitol Peak Repeater to reinstall the 145.630 Packet station. N7UJK.
After reworking the Packet radio set, handed it off to Doyle
who reinstalled it and pronounced it working once again. N7UJK.
11/17/18 260 miles, 9 hours;
Capitol Peak Repeater to reinstall the 145.630 Packet station. N7UJK, NM7R.
Attempted to reinstall the primary Packet radio station, but there were
problems with the station wiring that could not be resolved. Decided to take it
back to the shop for further modification, Tuned up the
repeater receiver as well.
09/30/18 0 miles, 30 hours;
Spent many hours over several days reviewing/analyzing/correcting
the Macro Function numbers of the Command Macros in
the RC-210 Repeater Controller, which operates the Nicolai Repeater,
to correct several anomolous problems pertaining to
the operation and control of the generators at the repeater site. WA6TTR, NM7R.
Gordon reported anomalous behavior of the radio-remote
generator controls at the Nicolai site, with problems that seemed to be related
to recent station upgrades accomplished over the last
several months. It is possible to download the contents of a Command
Macro (essentially a line of controller code) over the air,
using DTMF commands, with the controller unlocked.
While this is convenient in not having to make the long drive to the
hill and back, it is tedious, requiring sending several DTMF digits to request
each transmission, and having to hurriedly write down the macro digits as they
are quickly read off by the mechanical voice. These digits are then manually
decoded to verify their meaning. Changing a command is
also possible, requiring
sending fairly long sequences of DTMF digits to the controller over the radio path,
and then listening as they are repeated back to be sure they were received correctly.
While time-consuming, this
does allow checking/correcting commands from home where notebooks and
instruction manuals can be spread out, and one is not watching the clock
to leave before darkness falls.
Several critical
mistakes were discovered that should have been updated when certain
hardware changes were made. The station has grown in complexity over
the years, and is far more sophisticated now than before. More attention
should have been paid to the impact on the controlling software, and
this will be more closely watched in the future. After several days of
work, and several trips to the site for Gordon, the bugs appear to have been vanquished.
09/08/18 20 miles, 2 hours;
Replaced failed power amplifier at the Long Beach repeater, NM7R.
I received a report (from N7XAC) that the Long Beach
444.800 repeater was transmitting a weak signal. It was audible
on Hwy101 around the Bay with difficulty, in an area where it
was normally fairly strong. After the usual monthly (Second Saturday)
Pacific County Amateur Radio Club meeting at Hunters Inn, in
Naselle in the morning, I stopped by the Long Beach site around
noon and investigated the situation. Power output was less than
20-Watts from the nominal 100-Watt amplifier. Inspection revealed that
one pair of output transistors had failed, and the balancing
network (the four, 2-watt 100-Ohm carbon comp resistors in the divider)
had failed due to overheating. Replacing the Power Amplifier
with a spare unit restored normal operation, and power output
was set at 60-Watts. The Z-Match was set for a DC return
of less than 0.2 Volts DC. The station appears to be operating
in normal condition. Antenna and feed lines appear normal.
08/24-25/18 0 miles, 2 hours;
Reconfigured system to support Hood-To-Coast Relay, NM7R.
As we have done since 2006 (12 years!),
repeaters within our system have been reconfigured to support
the Hood-To-Coast Relay. In the early years we used the remote base
at Naselle to connect our 147.180 repeater to the 146.88 Portland
repeater. Once IRLP capability was added to our system,
this changed for the last several years to
a lash-up connecting the 147.180 and 444.925 Megler repeaters
together and using the IRLP Internet-based linking capability to
connect to a Portland area IRLP Node for the heavy lifting. Once
again, the system served a vital need in the public interest.
07/08/18 260 miles, 9 hours;
Capitol Peak Repeater, to service repeater. N7UJK, NM7R.
Another beautiful day. Mission was to install and
commission new packet radio. This included programming of
the main repeater controller (accomplished), installing
some wiring (accomplished) and
possibly replacing the dual-TNC with two separate TNCs.
Ran into problems with the volume/squelch wiring harness
and the built-in control panel. Then ran into problems with
the squelch circuit on the old packet radio. Finally decided
to pull the packet radios to take home for a hard look,
and tuned up the repeater receiver, which was off-frequency
and not well peaked. Not sure if the off-frequency issue
was caused by earlier work in the cabinet, or some sort of
drift. In any case, present performance is an improvement.
06/30/18 0 miles, 2 hours;
Replaced the power supply in the IRLP computer. NM7R.
Replaced power supply in the IRLP Station computer to
fix an AC-hum that had been getting slowly worse over the
last couple of months. The first computer in this IRLP station
lasted 6-years,
and the second has lasted 7.5 years, so far. These operate
continuously on unfiltered residential power.
Not bad for used, consumer-grade
equipment. Also nice to be able to repair a complex station
without leaving home and my shop.
05/28/18 260 miles, 8 hours;
Capitol Peak Repeater, to service repeater. N7UJK, NM7R.
A beautiful Memorial Day. Went to look at lack-luster
repeater performance and non-operation of the packet station.
Found repeater squelch open, which explains inability to send
programming and interrogation commands from home. Adjusted
squelch and tuned up receiver, finding it a little off-frequency
and the tuning not as sharp as it should be. Packet problem appears
to be related to squelch wiring on new radio. Pulled radio to
take home for analysis. Discussed several options for Packet
station improvement.
03/16/18 260 miles, 9 hours;
Capitol Peak Repeater, to re-install repeater. N7UJK, NM7R.
A beautiful day. Only traces of snow and almost none on the road going up
Capitol Peak. Only place where we were actually driving on snow was beyond the
gate near the top and that was only inches thick and spotty. Did have to dodge
a logging operation near the top, but no problems.
Installed the refurbished repeater back into the cabinet. Installed the new packet
radio made from a GE Rangr so as to be frequency agile. The two packet stations
are putting about out 25 watts each after the isolators and the new Arcom RC-210
controller works very well. Much disassembly/reassembly and some fabrication to
get the whole station back together.
02/25/18 132 miles, 3.5 hours;
Nicolai Repeater, to service the generator. NM7R.
After errands and lunch, ran up to Nicolai to check the generator oil level.
Road conditions weren't bad until just below the 5-mile post, where the snow had accumulated
to 4-6 inches. By the 6-mile post the snow was up to the bottom of the car and new snow was
falling. Found a place to
turn around and was working at it when the car got stuck. Took some time to get it un-stuck
with the help of a passing truck. Headed down hill without checking the generator. Will wait
for snow to thin out a bit.
01/28/18 132 miles, 3.5 hours;
Nicolai Repeater, to service the generator. KA7SGB, NM7R.
After errands and lunch, ran up to Nicolai to check the generator oil level.
I ran into Mike on the radio and picked him up on the way to have a safety man along.
Generator oil was down 1/3 on the stick after 12 hours of operation. After returning
home, I ran the generator for an hour. Also noted that the battery voltage reported
by the controller is within 0.1-volt of that measured with my Fluke meter. Generator
was as I had left it following the last repairs, and the solar panels were bare and
charging (at 12.6 volts) under overcast skies.
01/26/18 260 miles, 6.5 hours;
Capitol Peak Repeater, to re-install repeater. N7UJK, NM7R.
The temperature was in the low 40s with showers turning to rain in the forecast as Doyle and I headed up Capitol Peak to reinstall the now-repaired repeater. About 500-feet elevation, the showers turned to snow showers. By the time we reached the gate near the top, the snow was deep enough the Subaru was flattening off the area between the tire tracks, and we had already moved one tree off the road. After several attempts to get up the hill beyond the gate, and ending up spinning our wheels each time, we decided to give it a try another day, turned around and headed home. Live to fight another day.
01/19/18 132 miles, 5 hours;
Nicolai Repeater, to investigate why batteries had failed to charge several nights
previously. NM7R.
Had expected to find batteries in need of watering, but they were all fine in the fluid department. Next, started the generator and turned on the battery charger. Noted on the Ammeter almost no charging current. Was expecting 80-Amps but saw nearly zero. Checking AC voltage, expecting something close to 125VAC, saw 47VAC. Checked AC at the generator and found 136VAC. Shut down the generator and inspected wiring. Found a burned connection that was probably causing an imbalance in the system. Fortunately, years of working on electrical systems on ships helped me figure this out, and I soon had the "wild leg" under control and 136VAC (no-load) going to the charger. Plugging in the battery charger indicated 80-Amps charging on the meter. I left the generator running, closed up the building and headed for home, in 6-inches of snow with more coming down. I shut the generator off from home 2 hours later.
01/15/18 260 miles, 8 hours;
Capitol Peak Repeater, to investigate in operative receiver. N7UJK, NM7R.
Repeater receiver was either not operating or very insensitive. I suspected a
"tin
whisker", problem that some Mastr-IIs are prone to, but the usual
cure didn't seem to work. Replaced the receiver front-end block with a spare and
reassembled the receiver. The sensitively was better, but when I went outside to test
with the hand-held, the receiver didn't respond. It was getting dark by then and we
decided to pull the receiver drawer and take it home. On the bench the receiver tuned
up fine, in fact it wasn't far off. Looking for other things that could mimic a dead
receiver, the CTCSS decoder seemed a possibility. Fortunately, I have a spare which
will accompany the receiver to the hilltop.
01/13/18 132 miles, 3 hours;
Nicolai Repeater, to investigate why generator had failed to start two nights
previously. KA7SGB, NM7R.
On arrival, the generator cranked, but did not start. Discovered the wires to
the gas solenoid and the spark plug coil had become disconnected. Traced the damage
to a failed support that had allowed the solenoid and coil to fall away from the
generator itself, cutting off both the spark and gas supply. Repairs took only minutes,
followed by full inspection. Generator now runs normally. Oil was at the full-mark
(after 11-hours of operation since the last maintenance). Propane tank gauge
reads 70%. Lowest battery voltage recorded during failure was 11.8-volts.
12/30/17 132 miles, 3 hours;
Nicolai Repeater, to top up the oil in the generator. NM7R
The generator had been run for between 6 and 7 total hours since the last
trip to top-up the oil. Partly because it was a nice warm sunny, snow-free day, and
those might be a bit scarce for the next couple of months, and partly to
check the consumption rate, I took the afternoon to drive to Nicolai to
do engine maintenance. The oil on the dip stick was at the half-way mark, meaning
running the gen-set for up to 12 to 14 hours between maintenance visits should be
permissible. I also noticed one of the clamps securing the solar panel on the tower
had come apart, so I secured the panel with a piece of rope.
12/03/17 132 miles, 3 hours;
Nicolai Repeater, to top up the oil in the generator. NM7R
On the last trip to the hill, had not thought to top up the
generator engine oil, due to focus on getting the repeater back on
the air. The weather has been sunny these last few days so thoughts
of using the generator have been pushed to the back of my mind.
Today was a nice warm Sunday, so I figured if I didn't make
the trip, that would serve to ensure that the generator would have
to be run. The Spirits are always watching and they have a wicked
sense of humor. The nice sunny day ended at 500-feet from the top
with heavy snow flurries, a 38-degree temperature and 2 to 3 inches
of slushy snow on the road. Managed to check the oil (bottom mark
on stick) and top it up. It must have run something over 12 hours
the night that the repeater supply failed, so in future, I'll make
sure to check it whenever the generator has run over 8 total hours.
11/25/17 132 miles, 3 hours;
Nicolai Repeater, to investigate repeater failure (off-air). N7ONG, NM7R
Found station off the air and generator running. Main power supply wire from battery bank to the repeater cabinet was disconnected at the low-voltage disconnect switch. The #10 wire from the disconnect had failed where it joined the #6 wire to the cabinet. Repaired the connection and station went back on the air. The fact that the generator started all by itself when the power was lost to the repeater controller is troublesome. Will have to redesign so this doesn't happen in the future.
10/26/17 152 miles; 3 hours;
Cosmopolis Repeater, to hook up the Transmitter PL Encode function. N7UJK, NM7R
Apparently, when relocating the repeater from the old building to the
new one, the wire that carries the Tx PL tone to the exciter was not hooked up.
this feature was not used at the time, so was overlooked. It took a few minutes
to fabricate and install the shielded jumper needed. Now, this repeater can
transmit tone and users can enable PL decode on their receiver to ignore the
co-channel repeater in the Puget Sound area.
10/13/17
Olympia (Capitol Peak) Repeater, Doyle, made two trips to the hill to investigate
a dead receiver. N7UJK
The symptoms sounded like a
"tin
whisker" problem. He tried swapping out the receiver tray for a working
spare, but for some reason
that did not work. Replacing the original tray brought the receiver performance back.
this seems to strengthen the "tin whisker" theory. For the moment the station
is working fine. A further work party is planned to repair this problem.
08/18/17
Grays River 147.020 repeater on KM Mountain to install de-emphasis jumper on controller. WA6TTR
The de-emphasis jumper for the link radio (Port 2) had not been installed on the Arcom-210 controller when the repeater was replaced (06/04/17). The link audio was "tinny", as one would expect, and this was immediately apparent. Thanks to Gordon for taking the time to run up to the hill and fix this problem.
08/17/17
Nicolai 444.500 repeater on Nicolai Mountain to move the propane tank. WA6TTR
Previously (06/18/17) the trench had been dug for the new gas line, and
the site prepared to move the propane tank. This
involved digging a trench for the new gas line through the almost solid rock of the
mountain top location. This trip was to help the propane vendor to move the nearly-full
tank to the far side of the building. The tank is now in its new
approved location and functioning as it should.
07/30/17 0 miles, 3 hours
Ocean Park site to replace the 145.17 repeater. I had noticed the UHF link radio was not functioning, and rather than spend the time to look at fixing just that, I elected to upgrade the entire station. NM7R
The original Link RLC1 controller was replaced with the latest version Arcom RC-210 controller. The old controller was very laborious to program, had only limited control capacity, limited in capabilities, and only responded in CW. Fine for me, but not for most of the potential users. The new one has plenty of room for expansion and now has a 16-channel remote base for linking, full control capability and voice response.
06/28/17
Received reports of a Malware warning on the BeachNet website
(this website) calling the site an "Attack Site",
and warning users to stay away.
I contacted the Webmaster for the domain with the following:
Scott, KA9FOX
I received a message that my website
(qsl.net/nm7r) has been declared an "attack site", and
taken over as a Malware site. I assume there has been an attack
on the qsl.net servers. What can/should I do about this,
if anything? Will I have to reload the website at some
point after the system has recovered? Thanks for any info,
and for all you do for the Ham radio community.
73,
Frank, NM7R
Scott replied:
We have 30,000 websites.
A few of them have bad stuff on them, unfortunately (they let their
sites be hacked), but today Google decided to say that the entire
qsl.net domain is an 'attack site' which is false.
We've submitted a request to remove it, and they say it will
take up to 72 hours.
- Scott
The problem should be
resolved in a few days (I hope). [note: was resolved 07/01/17 and
all back to normal operations] de NM7R
06/18/17
Nicolai 444.500 repeater, to prepare site to have propane tank moved. WA6TTR
The Oregon Department of Forestry, which owns the site, is requiring
that the propane tank be moved. It is presently next to the base of the tower,
and needs to be moved some tens of feet to the north, to put the building
between the tank and the tower. Gordon recruited a press gang to help him to
dig the ditch, taking more than a day of work. This is memorialized in 7
photos on the Pictures web page: (Use your "Back" button or arrow to return
after each photo):
Dig1,
Dig2,
Dig3,
Dig4,
Dig5,
Dig6,
Dig7,
(Note: the date on the photos is inaccurate) Most of the work appears to have been done with
picks more than shovels. Yes, that is a jack-hammer being used to crack some
of the larger rocks. Not what one usually thinks of as part of a Ham radio
hobby outing.
A big thank you to all those who helped out. Propane
to run the generator is what keeps the station on the air all winter. The
solar panels can pretty much do the job on sunny summer days, but the dead of
winter is another story. A wind powered generator may be joining the site
decorations in the not-too-distant future.
06/16/17
Nicolai 444.500 repeater, to investigate repeater off-air. WA6TTR
The Nicolai repeater did not respond, and appeared completely dead.
Upon arriving at the site (complicated by on-going logging operations that
blocked the usual route) found power to the controller and receiver, but
not to the transmitter. This was traced to an automotive slip-on power
connector on the main power supply cable to the power amplifier that was
intermittent and at the moment, open. Connector refurbished, the power was
restored and all operates normally again. Thanks to Gordon for time spent.
06/15/17 270 miles, 8 hours;
Minot 444.050 and Ocean Shores 444.200 repeaters, for general maintenance. N7UJK, NM7R
The Minot repeater had suffered an isolator failure. When installing the
new unit some anomalous behavior was noticed. It appeared that during the failure
the capacitor fins on the Z-matcher may have arced. It was not possible to tune to
normal output power. After working the variable capacitors
the tuning became more normal. The new isolator was installed without further
problem, and normal operation was restored. Then on to the Ocean Shores (Saddle Hill) site
to install a new isolator in the hope that might clean up some apparent mixing products
that were spoiling the transmit audio under a particular configuration. The isolator
was installed with some minor improvement (but not a complete cure) to the mixing problem.
06/04/17 100 miles, 4 hours;
KM Hill (Grays River) 147.020 repeater to replace the repeater unit. WA6TTR, NM7R
The KM Hill repeater link radio had lost its receiver, and
rather than just replacing the link radio, a complete station upgrade
was manufactured and installed. The link radio was upgraded from a (failed) 2-channel
"Phoenix" radio to a 16-channel "Rangr" model. Although both
are GE products, the Rangr is far better suited to our needs. The controller was
upgraded from a CAT-200B to an Arcom RC-210, with more capability. The last time
this site was visited was 04/23/10, with the original repeater system installed
07/08/08, showing the reliability of the original equipment.
05/26/17 130 miles, 7 hours;
Holy Cross (South Bend) 147.340 repeater to investigate
low sensitivity on VHF receiver. Suspected front-end
"tin-whiskers" from symptoms. Replaced front-end
casting. NM7R
The sensitivity was markedly poor, requiring
higher power over even line-of-sight paths. Having noticed
symptoms of
"Tin-Whiskers" in the past (rapping
on the front end casting abruptly causes a marked
increase in sensitivity of the receiver) I brought a replacement
front-end casting that dramatically improved receiver performance.
While at the site, also checked receiver performance of UHF and 220-MHz
repeaters. All receivers are performing at or better than specification.
03/31/17
5 hours;
Nicolai 444.500 repeater to investigate
non-functional generator. Suspected fuel tank might be empty.
Intended as a diagnostic visit to figure out why generator
was not starting. WA6TTR, NU7D
The generator was investigated and
found to have a broken camshaft. This will take a major
repair to restore. Meanwhile, Gordon plans to set-up
a spare generator at a later time when access is easier
to tide us over until the Briggs can be refurbished.
It has been months since the snow closed the road to the top.
On several previous
trips Gordon was turned back by deep snow well before reaching
striking distance from the top. This day, he found conditions
seductively better than previous, but even with chains on the
truck, managed to get stuck well below the top. Calling Randy
for back-up and a tug out of the snow, he managed to reach the top
only to find the generator disabled and the fuel tank at 60% full.
At least we know, if the generator will run, the fuel in the tank,
plus the assist of the solar panels,
will get us through the winter.
03/31/17 60 miles, 2 hours;
Megler to investigate 444.925 IRLP Repeater off-air, NM7R, N7ONG
Frank and Kathleen loaded up the Subaru for the drive to Megler.
Due to including a chainsaw in the tool compliment, there were no road
blockages. Repeater was completely dead, although the power supply was
working fine. Discovered a 30-amp fuse in line to the power section of
the repeater had over-heated and opened. Replacing that brought the
repeater back to life. Tweaked the receiver tuning just a bit, and
checked the transmitter power. All parameters nominal.
02/11-12/17
New 444.300 Cathlamet repeater delivered and temporarily installed. WA6TTR, NM7R
Frank constructed and delivered the new, 20-Watt UHF GE Mastr-II repeater
to Gordon at the February Second Saturday PCARC Breakfast Meeting in Naselle.
Gordon
transported the equipment to Cathlamet and set it up. Early reports are that the
coverage is as good as expected. Final installation details remain to be
finished, including a tower. After installation and testing are completed
this repeater will be added to the BeachNet roster.
02/12-13/17
Neilton and Minot repeaters station troubleshoot and repair. N7UJK
The Neilton repeater had gone off the air, along with the co-located
packet station. The County reported snow (melting slowly) on the roads. Doyle
made an exploratory trip to the hill, and managed to get to the building. He
found the circuit breaker feeding the repeater and packet station had tripped.
He reset the breaker and everything passed muster.
On 02/13/17 Doyle made a run to Minot to check reported low-power. Found nothing
out of order.
01/20/17
0 miles, 3 hours; IRLP (Megler UHF) station troubleshoot and repair. NM7R
The IRLP function of the Megler site had failed a few days
ago. My initial cursory investigation pointed to an uplink failure.
I ordered a replacement 220-MHz Yagi in case the wind storms we had
been experiencing had blown the antenna off the tower at the repeater
site. If I was going to make the drive (an hour in each direction), I
wanted a spare, just in case. A few days later, I finally found time
to look at it. My initial troubleshooting indicated a failure
of the uplink (220-MHz link from the computer at my house to the mountain-top
repeater site). Using a low-powered hand-held radio on the uplink frequency,
I was easily able to bring up the link receiver on the mountain (17-miles
away). Checking the uplink transmitter showed that was the problem. I replaced
the transmitter and service was restored. This IRLP station will have been
in operation for 12-years next month (02/09/05 to 02/09/17).
11/28/16
Minot site to investigate station off-air. N7UJK
Doyle traveled to the site to investigate unresponsive repeater.
The repeater wasn't transmitting (main or link) and the packet station
was off, as well. Suspected and found tripped breaker. Transmitter power
was set very high (over 100-watts) so Doyle reduced this to 60-watts. All
else appeared normal.
11/18-19/16
Nicolai site to replace main station batteries. WA6TTR
With winter coming and our present battery bank barely
making it though a day and not taking much of a charge, Gordon
took the bull by the horns and made the Costco run for a new set.
Over the weekend he took the new ones to the site, and hauled
the old ones back for the core refund. The operation has improved
with the new set taking and holding a charge much better. The
original set had been allowed to discharge completely at least
twice, and had not recovered to the point of being dependable.
The new bank is a great improvement to the operation.
11/08/16
Won re-election to a second 4-year term as Pacific County Commissioner. NM7R
The last four years as a County Commissioner, while personally
rewarding and (I feel) good for Pacific County, has drastically cut into the time
I've had available to work on my hobbies, including BeachNet.
While the bad news here is that some projects have been put on hold for too
long already, and some maintenance has been neglected, the good news is it has
dragged in a few more folks to help.
Gordon, WA6TTR, has donated many hours of technical expertise as well as just
plain grunt work to the maintenance of the repeaters covering his county.
When Doyle, N7UJK and I first started working on repeater
coverage for Grays Harbor County (2004) he said he wanted to learn more about
the hardware side of things and how to fix equipment. He has
indeed learned a lot over the years and has now done a number of
repairs on his own.
Others have also increased their confidence level with
equipment maintenance and repair. So, at one level, holding office
has been good for
Ham radio here at the coast in a number of ways.
10/30/16
132 miles, 3 hours; Nicolai site to inspect station before winter
with particular emphasis on the solar panels. KJ6RGX & NM7R
With the storm of last weekend and the weather turning rainy,
winter is on its way, and I wanted to check the condition of the station,
and particularly the solar panel mounts. As it turns out, the station
is in good shape and the solar panels appear to be solid and more or
less as they were the day we installed them, a bit over a year ago. Noticed
light marks where the panels had flexed enough to touch the edges of the
mounting brackets. Installed small foam plastic cushions as a precaution.
10/23/16
130 miles, 3 hours; Holy Cross (South Bend) to repair VHF repeater
receiver and remove UHF packet station for service. W7HGA & NM7R
The Club wanted the UHF 9600-baud packet station brought off
the hill for maintenance, and I wanted to improve the performance of
the 147.340 repeater receiver, which appeared to be 'soft'. The receiver
checked out at worse than 20µV/12dB SINAD on arrival. A couple of the
tuning screws on the helical resonator front end were 'touchy'. After
removing the bottom cover, carefully cleaning (alcohol) and seating
the tuning screws, restored performance to better than 0.35µV/12db SINAD
(the GE spec.).
10/06/16
Doyle Wenzel and George Stone made a trip to the Neilton site to
replace the main repeater/packet antenna. AC7AI, N7UJK
After collecting signal reports from the Neilton station
operating for a week on the new higher gain antenna, Doyle decided they had
lost too much area to the higher gain, concentrating the signal too
much at the horizon, and skipping over some stations. He and George
made the trip to the hill to swap out antennas again. Time will tell
if this improves the coverage in this remote area.
09/29/16
262 miles, 9 hours; Neilton and Ocean Shores.
Doyle and I visited the Neilton repeater to replace the antenna. Then
on to the Ocean Shores repeater to check power levels. N7UJK & NM7R.
The antenna replacement at Neilton went very well.
No injuries, or blood, except for a ginormous spider that was
'removed' from the work area. The original antenna was replaced with a
longer, higher-gain model (Comet x510), sheathed in a
Stationmaster shell
to provide protection from the weather. Hopefully this will
direct more energy into the desired coverage area. Then on to
the Ocean Shores (Saddle Hill) site to investigate low power (30-watts)
from the 110-watt power amp. Turns out the amp had been modified to
bypass the final board, and only the driver was in use. This is
what GE did on some models for lower power. While looking it over,
I remembered having set it up this way, since this repeater was
intended to cover a fairly small area, with a lot of hand-held users.
With the power set at 28-watts out, and the Z-match circuit tuned,
we called it good.
09/21/16
Doyle Wenzel monitoring the move of the Ocean Shores 444.200 Repeater.
The station was
moved to new location at same site. Coverage shifted slightly to
the north due to antenna placement on tower. N7UJK
Grays Harbor county moved their 911-Dispatch/Emergency radio
equipment to a new building and tower at the same site. The county
technicians moved all our equipment and antennas, mounted feedlines,
and used 100-feet of 7/8-inch hardline that we supplied (with
connectors and hangers) for the main repeater antenna, and half-inch
for the link antenna, which they aimed perfectly. Main antenna is a
4-bay double folded dipole array at 85-feet. Link is 6-element yagi
at 45-feet.
09/13/16
180 miles, 4 hours; North Cove to repair
145.31 repeater failure. Replaced dead power supply. NM7R
After work, again left South Bend for North Cove, taking the
back road up the hill, but leaving by the front road. I replaced the
power supply with another from
my stock of spare components. The repeater fired right up. I checked
power and did some audio checks with the KO Peak DVR. During the outage
I had switched the VHF repeater off and shifted the link on the UHF
repeater to BeachNet. All has been realigned in normal configuration.
Looking up the tower, the antenna appears to be caught behind one of
the tower steps. It has a considerable bend in it. It will be
interesting to see if the wind unhooks it this winter.
09/12/16
180 miles, 4 hours; North Cove to investigate
145.31 repeater failure. Found dead power supply. NM7R
After work, left South Bend for North Cove, taking the
back road up the hill. I had diagnosed a possible power supply
failure and assumed a blown fuse. Found all fuses intact, but no
voltage on output terminals. Opened the supply cabinet and found
charred wiring between the transformer and rectifiers. I tried a
field repair but was unable to revive the beast. Will bring a
replacement supply on a future visit, possibly tomorrow.
08/11/16
60 miles, 2 hours; Megler to investigate
IRLP repeater failure. Replaced Power Amplifier. NM7R
The IRLP repeater (444.925) went dead
just 10-days after the last visit. Replaced failed
power amplifier with one previously repaired.
08/02/16
60 miles, 2 hours; Megler to investigate
IRLP repeater failure. Replaced Power Amplifier. N7ONG & NM7R
The IRLP repeater (444.925) went dead
almost a month after the last visit. Replaced failed
power amplifier with one previously repaired,
set power and tuned Z-match. Kathleen walked
down the road looking the plants over as a
professional botanist enjoys doing. After
picking her up on the way down the hill,
a bit further on, an adolescent bear
charged across the road and into the
brush just in front of the car. Hmm.
07/03/16
60 miles, 2 hours; Megler to investigate
IRLP repeater failure. Found/replaced
blown fuse
on power supply. AA7US & NM7R
The IRLP repeater (444.925) went dead
shortly after the newly upgraded equipment
was installed. Completely unresponsive, the
assumption was that the Power Amplifier had
died. Sending commands to the receiver was
inconclusive. Arriving at the site, discovered
no power coming from the power supply. Checked
fuses and found one open (and corroded). New
fuse fixed the whole problem. Also checked
and adjusted
power out and Z-matcher tuning.
06/21/16
220 miles, 8 hours; Minot to instal
and commission the
entire station. N7UJK & NM7R
Doyle and I installed the RF
cabling first then the DC wiring. As
with Neilton, the county graciously
provided a drop from their DC system.
The installation went well, other than
the discomfort of working in a confined
space behind a fixed rack. The various
components were rearranged from their
layout in the previous space so several
new jumpers had to be fitted. The
station came back up once energized.
06/19/16
220 miles, 14 hours; Minot to move the
entire station. N7UJK & NM7R
Doyle and I moved the station from the
PUD's building to the County 911 shack across
the road. Removed all the antennas, cables and
brackets from the old tower and installed new
ones on the County tower. Left hook-up and
commissioning for another day, leaving the
site after 6PM.
06/03/16
130 miles, 3 hours; Holy Cross (South Bend) to look at
the packet station. W7HGA, W7KBA & NM7R
Howard wanted to work on the UHF packet station, so he and
Katie got a lift with me up the hill. I wanted to check the 220
repeater performance (it was fine with minor tuning) and the 2-meter
receiver (which also was improved with a bit of attention).
04/30/16
60 miles, 2 hours; Megler to repair 444.925 IRLP repeater. Replaced the UHF power amplifier.
Also restored the channel disable circuit for the VHF Megler repeater voter. N7ONG & NM7R
Had a half-a-Saturday available after yard work, so Kathleen and I made a run
up the hill. Spotted a Bobcat crossing the road just ahead of us. It looked healthy. The
power amp failed a couple of weeks ago, and this was my first opportunity to replace it.
These repeaters are getting rather long in the tooth, most over 30-years old. Nothing
lasts forever, and these parts have been soldiering along well beyond the design life.
02/06/16
Gordon took advantage of the ferry being put back into service,
to run up Nicolai for routine checks. WA6TTR
After having to make the run via Longview for the last
few months, and with deep snow and ice on the mountain road,
this was like having an old shortcut back again.
The road was clear of snow, he made it with no trouble.
Everything was in good order. He added a half-quart of oil
to the generator crankcase, and checked the battery water,
which was fine. Even with clouds sitting on the mountain,
the station was receiving a 3-Amp charge from the sun.
Thanks, Gordon.
01/19/16
130 miles, 3 hours;
Holy Cross 147.340 repeater to investigate
insensitive receiver. Tuned and checked receiver. NM7R
The VHF Holy Cross (South Bend) 147.340
repeater had become hard of hearing of late.
The Station Monitor noted about a 200-microvolt
sensitivity. On carefully retuning the receiver
Local Oscillator chain, the first helical resonator
was very touchy. Careful adjustment brought the
sensitivity to 20 µV. Working my way up the front
end helical resonators, the second one from the
input was also very sensitive. Barely touching
it brought the sensitivity to better
than 0.35 µV, which is the GE specification.
The repeater seems to work fine now.
Conclusion: there are
probably tin
whiskers growing inside the helical resonators.
This problem is a repeat from 4 months ago. A
replacement front end will have to wait for
less inclement weather.
01/18/16
5 hours;
Nicolai 444.500 repeater to investigate
non-functional battery chargers. Found and
repaired faulty DC cable connection. WA6TTR, NU7D
The generator was starting as usual, but the
chargers were not increasing the battery voltage as
they should. Gordon and Randy headed up the hill again in
Randy's Jeep,
and were able to get to the site
with only moderate difficulty.
Gordon found one of the high-current connections
was loose and discolored from having been hot. He
tightened the faulty bolt and checked all the
connections. The chargers once again
work as they should.
The solar panels are
surviving the harsh conditions well.
When the clouds settle
around the top of the hill, their output
drops to very little, but on most days we are enjoying
at least a few AmpHours of gain.
01/15/16
5 hours;
Nicolai 444.500 repeater to investigate
generator failure. Found and
repaired loose wire that was shorting out the ignition system. WA6TTR, NU7D
The generator was not starting.
When commanded to start, the
15-second cranking interval expired, even when
tried several times. Each time, the battery
voltage dropped appropriately. This seemed to
confirm the starter was working. Every time
the start process failed. Something was keeping
the generator from firing.
Gordon caught a ride with Randy in
Randy's Jeep, and they were able to get to the site in
spite of packed snow and ice on the roads above 2000-feet.
Gordon found a wire that had fallen against the
ignition system, shorting it out. The fix took
only moments.
Gordon also reports the
solar panels are
like-new, the supports straight, tight, and
as we left them, after being tested by several
strong winter storms, perhaps a foot of snow, and
substantial icing at the site.
12/18/15
220 miles, 8 hours; Minot to investigate an audio
problem with the link radio. It was transmitting but
not receiving. N7UJK, NM7R
Met Doyle in Montesano for the trip up to Minot.
After tracing wires, found the connection that had gone
wrong. The rat who had made a home in the warm cozy
repeater had done a lot of work on the wires. Doyle had
done a great job of repairing most of the damage, but one
last hard-to-find connection in the receive audio path
needed to be spliced back together.
12/14/15
60 miles, 3 hours; Megler to install replacement IRLP repeater, NM7R
James Clancy and I visited the Megler site to install
the newly refurbished 444.925 IRLP repeater. The install
went fairly quickly and without incident. All aspects of the
IRLP operation seemed to work as they should, with smooth
switching of the link.
11/28/15
60 miles, 3 hours; Megler to install replacement antenna, K6BSR, NM7R
Branden and I visited the Megler site to install
the new dual-band antenna on the building roof. The install
went fairly quickly and without incident. When checking
the antenna with the Bird directional wattmeter, the
reflected power was less than 10% on both bands, very
satisfactory. Unfortunately, I discovered the UHF IRLP
repeater was operating intermittently. After trying to
troubleshoot, I finally decided to pull the repeater
and haul it home for a better look. This was the first
hill trip for the new (2016 Outback model) Subaru.
11/20-21/15
0 miles, 2 hours;
Soft failure of the KO Peak 441.675 repeater's ACC RC-850 Controller, NM7R
At 2:00 AM on Friday, November 20, 2015, I received
a phone call from a local Ham to inform me that the repeater
network was going crazy. I got up to investigate. In the
(unheated) shack, it was quickly apparent that the KO Peak
repeater controller was cycling, trying to reset itself.
It played, "-RC 850 repeater controller, Vee 3.8,
N7XAC-" over and over, stuck in a a loop where it
played the sign-on message, but before it could finish
the start-up routine, it reset itself again. I tried
sending commands to kill the transmitter, and the reset
command, both through the input and control receiver
channels without any luck. I tried the completely separate
receiver that remotely closes the reset button on the
front of the controller. Still no luck. So I moved the links
from each repeater to bypass KO Peak, reestablishing the network
and quieting all the repeaters, except KO, which continued
to cycle. At 8:00 the next morning, KO was still cycling.
At noon, when I was returning from a meeting, KO-Peak
had magically fixed itself. I spent a half-hour putting
all the links back to normal. I hate it when things
fix themselves. We'll just have to wait for the next time.
10/24/15
60 miles, 2 hours;
Megler to to install new antenna and re-route cabling, NM7R
On the site building roof, dismounted the
Hustler G6-144B
2-meter antenna from the mounting post.
I installed first of two large clamps to hold the new 21-foot
dual-band Stationmaster antenna.
Unfortunately, while these clamps are large enough to take the antenna
base or the mounting mast, they are just a bit too small to accept
both at once.
I'll obtain longer threaded rods to increase the clamp capacity.
Reinstalled the Hustler antenna. One step forward, one step back.
Then, in the building, added a new pair of
duplexer jumpers and T-fitting,
rerouting the cabling to allow the 2-meter transmitter and
receiver to share the one antenna,
reactivating the local repeater receiver as part of the
voting network. This receiver had originally been attached to
the Hustler antenna, with the transmitter
sharing the tower-top dual-band
antenna with the UHF-IRLP repeater. With the failure of that antenna,
the receiver was shut off and disconnected, and the
2-meter transmitter
connected to the Hustler so the VHF repeater could be brought back
on the air, using the other four of the five voting receivers.
Once the new permanent dual-band antenna is in place,
there will be one more cable change to allow
both transmitters and receivers,
of both the 2-meter and UHF repeaters to all share the new Stationmaster
through a CF-416 VHF/UHF diplexer. That will allow the UHF-IRLP
repeater to go back on the air. It is presently shut down due to
lack of an antenna.
10/12/15
Minot to investigate repeater off-air. Successful repair by Doyle. N7UJK.
The Minot repeater went off the air and Doyle investigated,
finding a rat had made a cozy
home in the repeater, and chewed some of the wiring. After the
drudgery of evicting the tenant and cleaning up after, he spliced
several wires back together to get the repeater back on the air.
Repeater work is not always as glamorous as it sounds.
10/04/15
60 miles, 2 hours;
Megler to replace broken antenna. N7ONG, NM7R
Got done with house chores a little before 3PM, so
decided to replace antenna at the Megler site. Kathleen
volunteered as safety person. Loaded the car and headed up
to the site. Staged everything for the climb and headed up
the tower. The plan was to loosen the U-bolts holding the vertical
pipe on which the antenna is mounted, to slide the antenna
down into reach. When the nuts refused to budge, the operation
was canceled. This was a safety call. Will come up with a 'Plan B'.
Meantime, the UHF repeater remains off the air, and the VHF
is operational.
10/02/15
132 miles, 8 hours;
Nicolai to repair and improve the solar panel mount. WA6TTR, NM7R
Today marks 5 weeks and one day that the solar panels have been
operating flawlessly and the generator hasn't been used. We did have a
wind storm that bent the mounting frame. This trip was to replace the
original thin-wall steel tubes with thick-wall aluminum ones and add
bracing struts to reinforce the mount. Time will tell if this additional
support gets us through the winter weather.
09/05/15
60 miles, 4 hours;
Megler to investigate weak transmit on 147.180, KG7VPC, NM7R
The 147.18 repeater transmit signal was reported
as weak, and upon investigation, this was confirmed. Hauled
a spare Power Amplifier, Exciter, tools and documentation to
check the situation out. Checked power and SWR at the bottom
of the hardline, and saw no reflected power for the UHF repeater,
but near-complete reflection on VHF. Inspection of the antenna
from the ground revealed most of the antenna had broken off at
the base, probably in last weekend's wind storm. With the remaining
stub apparently resonant on UHF, the IRLP repeater was
left hooked to what remained of the antenna. The VHF transmitter
was hooked to the separate antenna, normally used for VHF receive.
The local receiver was disabled at the voter, with the remaining
four receivers left to feed the repeater. A replacement antenna
has been ordered. That antenna went up in 2001, so it has survived
14 years in a coastal environment, with salt air and winter storms,
including the major storms of 2007.
08/27/15
132 miles, 8 hours;
Nicolai to install two solar PV panels and remove
damaged antenna, KG7VPC, WA6TTR, NM7R
The plan has always been to install solar panels at the
Nicolai site, with a
propane-fired generator as back-up to keep the station on the air
during periods when
that was was necessary. At first it was unclear if the utility power
would return,
so a generator was installed as the first step. But as time passes,
the prospect for
utility power fades. It is now obvious that we are on our own for power.
With the summer construction season waning for this year,
the time was ripe to add a pair of PV panels.
The only practicable mounting location is the antenna tower attached
to our building.
Using a
home-designed and constructed mount,
the two 285W single-crystal panels went up
fairly easily and without incident. The MorningStar charge controller
mounted to the
back wall inside the concrete hut and once wired into the batteries,
began charging at
the expected rate. Based on the performance of this installation, there is already
discussion on a second pair next year.
The antenna atop the tower was not working and a replacement was
previously installed
on the big ODF tower adjacent to the building. After the primary mission for today
was accomplished, the old antenna was taken down. In the process,
a damaged feedline
connection was discovered. The antenna will be taken home and tested.
It may, in fact,
be serviceable, or repairable.
08/09/15
180 miles, 4 hours;
North Cove to install replacement UHF repeater, KG7VPC, NM7R
The 444.400 North Cove repeater was one of the
earliest in the network, and the last mobile-conversion left.
Replacing it with
a station
model, with a more capable
controller and versatile link radio has been on the to-do
list for some time. Performance of the replacement unit is
far superior to that of the old one.
07/21/15
180 miles, 3 hours;
North Cove to finish antenna replacement and test repeaters, NM7R
The antenna and hardline were
previously installed and lead into the building.
I completed grounding the hardline to
the tower and building entrance ground plates.
Then cut a jumper to connect the diplexer
with the hardline. Next came commissioning
tests of the two repeaters and tuning checks
on the VHF station transmitter and receiver.
Then there was some clean-up work outside,
removing a previously installed temporary
antenna and mast. Finally, replaced the
entrance boot cushion. Tests on the way home
all proved satisfactory.
07/18/15
180 miles, 10 hours;
North Cove to replace repeater antenna.
K7WAT, KE7JMC (and guest), NM7R
The repeater antenna has not been
operational for some time. A temporary antenna
was erected on the ice bridge, but that has not
proven satisfactory. A new Comet X510, housed in
a Stationmaster shell has been ready for over a year,
waiting for a time when the climbing crew could get
together. As it turned out, this was the hottest day
of the year, and the crew was a bit short, but nonetheless,
the new
antenna and the new hardline have been mounted.
The feedline has been led into the building, and the
exterior buttoned up. The old antenna and mounting
brackets have been removed. Testing and hooking up
the new antenna will have to wait for another day,
but progress has definitely been made toward
returning the station to full operation.
07/03/15
132 miles, 10 hours;
Nicolai Mtn. to look over the situation, get Gordon oriented,
and plan work for this summer and into the future.
K7GA, K7YFP, WA6TTR, KC7MFN, NM7R
The generator has been off the air,
allowing the batteries to go flat. The generator
was inspected and determined operable.
UHF repeater and VHF packet stations moved to
more advantageous antennas, feedline cables were
rerouted, 6-meter repeater was removed, and the
6-meter antenna taken down off the tower. Gordon,
WA6TTR has taken the station caretaker position,
and lists of needed parts were made. Plans include
installing the low-voltage disconnect switch,
evaluating the battery performance and installing
a new exhaust system for the generator.
04/16/15
180 miles, 5 hours;
KO Peak to
replace the repeater
power amplifier. NM7R
The KO Peak repeater went off the air unexpectedly.
The transmitter was off the air, but the remote base came up
on 2-meter simplex when commanded over the repeater receiver.
That meant the power supply, controller, remote base radios,
and repeater receiver were all fine. Once on site, the
transmitter was audible on an HT in the building,
indicating the exciter was good as well.
Changed out the PA with a working spare.
03/09/15
130 miles, 3 hours;
Holy Cross 147.340 repeater to investigate
insensitive receiver. Tuned and checked receiver. NM7R
The VHF Holy Cross 147.340 repeater had become
hard of hearing of late. I plugged the Station Monitor
and GE-meter into the receiver and noted about a 20-microvolt
sensitivity. On retuning the receiver Local Oscillator chain,
I discovered the first helical resonator adjustment was very
touchy. Careful adjustment brought the sensitivity to better
than 0.35 µV, which is the GE specification. The repeater
seems to work fine now.
01/11/15
217 miles, 6 hours;
Ocean Shores 444.200 repeater to investigate insensitive
receiver. Tuned and checked receiver. N7UJK, NM7R
The Ocean Shores repeater seemed to have lost
sensitivity over the last few weeks.
While weather could be a factor, there seemed to be
more to it than that.
Investigation ruled out Tin Whiskers,
or antenna issues as the problem. The receiver sensitivity
was measured at a bit over 1 µV for 12dB SINAD.
Tuning all stages improved this modestly, however the receiver
crystal was found to be off frequency by several
kiloHertz. Netting the crystal brought the sensitivity to better
than 0.5 µV at the input to the receiver. Tests
from several locations on the way back home verified anecdotally
that this was a pronounced improvement. The
crystal tuning hadn't been touched since new, about two years ago,
so it is expected that no further
crystal drift will be seen from this point.
11/24/14
Cosi to investigate repeater off-air following
a thunderstorm passage. N7UJK
After a very malevolent thunderstorm
passed through the area,
the 145.39 Cosi repeater was off-air. Doyle
investigated and discovered
(and replaced) a blown power supply fuse, returning
the station to full operation.
09/13/14
70 miles, 3 hours;
Naselle to fix the main repeater antenna. Kathleen
was Safety Person on the ground,
while I climbed the tower to install a clamp device to
hold the antenna inside the
radome shell. N7ONG & NM7R.
The receiver was noisy. Upon investigation,
when viewed through binoculars,
it was apparent that the x510 antenna had slipped partially
out of the Stationmaster radome shell,
and was hanging by the coax cable two feet below. Using the
similar antenna assembly at
home, intended for the North Cove antenna replacement (yet to
come), I built up a
clamp-wedge assembly out of aluminum angle and strap that
would slide up into the bottom
of the radome and hold the internal antenna in the intended
position. The three screws
that had originally held the antenna in place had corroded to dust.
08/28/14
60 miles, 4 hours;
Megler to install new controller on 147.18, set
levels, and check repeater. NM7R.
The intermittent problem with the 147.18
repeater dropping off the air during
a conversation, with the transmitter and link radio
locked out, has become progressively worse. It
seems to take several minutes of conversation,
on this repeater, to manifest itself,
then the drop-outs occur repeatedly. The problem
seems to require activity on the local
receivers, since this repeater has 4 remote receivers
in addition to the repeater receiver itself.
Looking over the schematics for the controller, there
are several places this could
conceivably be, so I elected to swap out the entire
controller for a new one. This
particular CAT-200B has been around for a long time,
at least 2001 or so.
08/09/14
Neilton to install new crystal, and check repeater. N7UJK.
Doyle ordered and installed crystal into ICOM (holder), traveled to the
Neilton site to install it into the repeater, checked for on-frequency
operation, power out and filter loss. All parameters acceptable. Since
Doyle diagnosed this problem (no exciter drive), ordered and installed
all necessary parts, and performed the repair and test measurements,
this entire repair goes to his credit. Repeater sounds great from Nahcotta!
07/24/14
255 miles, 8 hours;
Neilton to investigate lost transmitter in UHF repeater.
Determined the problem was
a non-functional crystal. No spare on hand, will have to
order new crystal. Lead time
is 4 to 5 weeks. N7UJK & NM7R.
Doyle had checked the site out a day or two
before and determined the problem was
in the exciter. On swapping in a new, known working
exciter, still no transmit. I had a
crystal (in a GE ICOM) for a slightly different
frequency, plugged it into the exciter, and it
worked fine. We then swapped the crystals between
the two ICOMs, and still the 444.700
crystal didn't work. All other components, including
the ICOMs, had been swapped, and
the original crystal would not work, while in all cases,
my spare worked fine. Conclusion:
the crystal itself had failed. Neither of us had ever
seen this before. A new crystal
will be ordered (4-week lead time).
07/17/14
4 miles, 16 hours;
Ocean Park to pick up the 145.17 repeater and move it to "Rental Ridge".
Prospects for reinstalling it at the Fire Hall were not looking very good. Rental
Ridge looked like a better location.
The site plot looks
a bit more promising for coverage, with little lost.
NM7R.
Moved the repeater (70 pounds), power supply
(60 pounds), duplexer (not heavy but bulky and awkward),
antenna (10-feet long with 19-inch radials), and mast
(20-feet long with 40-feet
of hardline attached) from Fire Hall attic, over HVAC
unit, down hallway used for storage, down a five-foot
drop without stairs, down a 20-foot staircase, across a
large meeting room and into the Subaru (alone).
After the workout, unloaded same at Rental Ridge garage.
Removed existing 2-meter antenna on 10-foot
1-1/2-inch mast from side of Rohn-25 30-foot tower, and
replaced it with the Hustler dual-band antenna
on the 20-foot 2-1/2-inch mast. Hardline made it just
to the cable entrance, so spliced on 20-feet additional
half-inch hardline, snaked it in through the entrance
conduit and installed connectors. Once reassembled, the
machine lit off like new. The idea of reinstalling
the repeater at the Fire Hall, now that the south wall
has been restored and with no convenient passage to the
roof for the antenna cable, didn't look likely any time soon.
07/01/14
20 miles, 2 hours;
Long Beach to investigate report of repeater
'acting wonky since yesterday'. NM7R.
As I drove south toward Long Beach, I
tuned to 444.800 and noticed the repeater was
continuously keyed, with apparently no audio.
Remotely commanding the controller to 'Macro One'
reset the controller to normal operation. I continued
to the site and checked the receiver, finding normal
sensitivity and all adjustments optimally tuned. The
transmitter was likewise in perfect shape, running
75-watts out, to the duplexer, and about 60-watts
'up the stack'. The Z-match voltage is just over
a very acceptable 0.4 volts. No unusual 'wonkyness'
was noted.
07/01/14
130 miles, 6 hours;
Holy Cross to investigate suspected antenna problem,
with plan, parts and equipment to replace antenna. Ed
did the climbing. K7WAT & NM7R.
The 224.820 repeater, and the HOLYX Packet
Node (145.630 MHz) were off the air, as well as the
UHF link for the repeater. These all use the 3-band
antenna on the south tower leg at the 50-foot level.
Ed climbed the tower to investigate and found the
antenna cable had become disconnected. Substituting a
dummy load showed the cable was fine. Reconnecting the
cable to the antenna restored service. This antenna
went up 4/18/11 to replace a 2-meter mono-band vertical.
Reduced packet performance was noted in March and April.
The cable connector had backed out of the antenna
connector and was no longer attached. Reconnecting
the cable to the antenna restored service.
06/17/14
220 miles, 5 hours;
Minot to investigate lack of receiver sensitivity
and odd noise. Checked tuning on receiver, fining
it adequate. Checked crystal trim for on-frequency
and found it very close. The noise appears to be
desense. Will need a replacement PA for next
attempt. N7UJK & NM7R.
Desense whenever the transmitter is
operating. The Power Amp was recently replaced,
pointing to that as the probable issue. Will have
to contact Ed and dig through the spares inventory
to find a likely replacement.
06/11/14
70 miles, 3 hours;
Naselle to investigate lack of receiver sensitivity.
Checked tuning on receiver, fining it adequate. Checked
crystal trim for on-frequency and found it several kHz
off. Once back on frequency, sensitivity was better
than GE spec. NA7Q & NM7R.
My original suspicion, based on symptoms
(noise and lack of sensitivity), was possible
tin whisker problem
However, rapping on the helical resonator block made no
difference. In checking the tuning, found the receiver
crystal considerably off frequency.
05/06/14
152 miles, 5 hours;
Cosi to troubleshoot new repeater. Removed the
plug harnesses and
used point-to-point wiring to connect repeater
to controller. Replaced
power amplifer (with 40-watt unit) and set levels.
Repeater sounding
very good. Doyle stayed to dress wires and wrap up
installation. N7UJK & NM7R.
Doyle had done an excellent job of installing the repeater,
duplexer, link radio and controller. The 'plug-n-play' plan to wire
a mate for the existing plug-in connection from the previous mobile
chassis (something I did successfully with the Long Beach repeater when
that one was changed from a mobile to a station) did not
work as I had hoped, so abandoned that concept in favor of point-to-point
wiring. There are fewer than a dozen connections to be made and this
worked well in the confined space available. During this activity,
I discovered the CAS signal and 13VDC power were not carried through the
plug system correctly.
Pretty sure I would not have found these without actually trying it.
05/04/14
152 miles, 4 hours;
Cosi to troubleshoot new repeater. The receiver was working fine, and
didn't even need the tune-up I gave it. The transmitter exciter worked,
but we had problems with the power amp. I started troubleshooting the
wiring, but didn't have the reference material I needed to be effective.
Decided to quit and try again later. N7UJK & NM7R.
The repeater chassis was responding well. the receiver worked
as did the transmitter when keyed manually, but the controller appeared
dead. I was frustrated to find I had pulled the wrong controller manual
by accident, bringing a model CAT-300 book instead of one for the CAT-200B.
Rather than poke around blind, decided to try again later.
03/24/14 & 04/20/14 & 04/25/14
Holy Cross Mtn., Made several trips to work on the packet system. Pulled the
original station off the hill, returned later with the new system.
It didn't work right and troubleshooting was frustrated by lack of instruments.
Returned with instruments and determined the antenna was at fault. Ordered a
new antenna. Will need an antenna party soon. NM7R.
Couldn't get the new packet station (VHF, VHF, UHF) to work, so took it
back to the shop and repackaged it. Returned with test gear and determined the
three-band antenna that supports the original packet signal, along with the
220-repeater and its UHF link, was in poor shape. Will add this to the (at
least two) other antenna projects on the list.
02/21/14
70 miles, 2 hours;
Naselle to investigate repeater-off-air. Everything
working except the controller, which had no power.
Pulled power plug from back of controller and reinserted
it. Problem solved. NM7R.
I pulled the coaxial power plug for the controller
and stroked it in and out a few times to clean any corrosion.
The controller came right up. No other problems noted. This
same thing happened in June of 2010, and December 14, 2013.
No other problems with the stack. Next time this happens, if
it happens again, I'll make up a new power plug assembly or
remove the socket assembly and install an external plug set
on soldered wires.
01/30/14
60 miles, 6 hours;
Megler to investigate why the IRLP repeater went off the air. Found the 10-Amp
slow-blow fuse on the front of the power supply had blown. Quick fix. While there,
decided to swap out the PA on the VHF repeater, which has damage and was only
running about 5-watts output. NM7R.
Hauled tools, service monitor, spare Power Amps
(two VHF and one UHF), GE manuals,
project binders,
and two spare mobiles (one each VHF and UHF) for parts.
The UHF repeater ran fine once the fuse was replaced.
The power amp is partly failed on the UHF
machine, although it is putting out 40-watts as is.
I decided to leave it for now. The VHF repeater
has a DCI filter and Rangr link radio hung off the power
amp behind the repeater to save rack space.
I spent almost an hour disconnecting (and labeling) cables
and pieces of equipment in order to get
to the power amp. After replacing the amp, I tested it, and
got no output. It lit off with 500 mW
drive, but not with the 200 mW the exciter was supplying.
Replaced it with the second PA and it
worked fine.
12/22/13
170 miles, 7 hours;
KO Peak to investigate why repeater is off the air.
Found no smoking gun. Everything
checked out just fine. N7ONG & NM7R.
Hauled tools, service monitor, spare repeater,
spare controller, GE manuals, project binders,
two spare power amps and two spare exciters.
Although the repeater was off-air when
I arrived, with the exciter audible from inside the building,
opening the receiver/exciter drawer for service brought
the power amplifier to life. I looked for
any loose or shorting wiring, found none. The RCA plug
from the exciter was a little loose, so I tightened
it up a bit making for a snug connection. Checked power
out while moving all cabling, no problems.
transmitter back to life. I hate it when things fix themselves.
12/14/13
70 miles, 2 hours;
Naselle to investigate repeater-off-air. Everything working
except the controller, which had no power. Pulled power plug
from back of controller and reinserted it. Problem solved. Paul W, NM7R.
I pulled the power plug for the controller
to check for presence of voltage. There was normal voltage
present. Reinserted the plug and the controller came up.
No other problems noted. This same thing happened in June
of 2010. I suspect corrosion on the power plug or socket.
Checked Receiver, Exciter and Power Amplifier, all working normally.
10/31/13
170 miles, 6 hours;
KO Peak to investigate station off air.
Replaced Power Amplifier which was not
functioning. N7ONG, NM7R.
PA was dead, so pulled and replaced
with spare off the replacement station. Upon
inspection, found the positive power supply
lead had come loose. Once on the bench, found
the wire lead on the feed-through cap had
fractured flush on the outside. Replaced
Feed-through and re-soldered power cable.
PA now works normally. Replaced on spare
station for next time.
10/25/13
170 miles, 6 hours;
KO Peak to investigate buzz. Paul W., NM7R.
Attempting to find the buzz that has materialized
on the KO station's signal. Swapped power supply previously, but
buzz still there, indicating it's probably not a power supply issue.
Tried keying transmitter directly and watching signal on station monitor.
Buzz still there, indicating it's not a controller issue.
Buzz appears to be 60/120 Hz based as compared to the 118.8
Hz PL tone. Buzz is a very fast, hard 'tick' waveform, not
unlike fluorescent lights, but not changed by turning lights
on or off.
Still looking for a cause.
10/13/13
180 miles, 6 hours;
North Cove site to look at putting up a temporary antenna. W7HGA, NM7R.
With the weather beginning to fade for the year,
and it looking less and less likely that the climbing team
will be available before winter hits, I decided to try a
temporary antenna rigged on the ice bridge. The install
went fine, but the antenna is too close to the building
and desense is a problem. Hopefully a spell of good
weather will come along and I can get the permanent
antenna up.
09/11/13
60 miles, 1 hour;
Megler site to return three wires
to their original locations on the
back of the voter. NM7R.
In troubleshooting the audio drop-out
problem earlier, I had moved the three wires
for the Cape-D channel to an unused channel
on the receiver voter. Now that the problem
is (hopefully) resolved, I wanted to move
the wires back to their original slots. During
the original set-up process, the levels for
both a full-quieting and full-noise signal
were set up in the voter for the five slots
I intended to use. Note to self: in future,
set up all available slots. It's worth the
extra bench time.
08/04/13
170 miles, 6 hours;
KO Peak to replace power supply.
Picked up Ed in South Bend on the way.
Replacement went very well, but didn't fix the problem. K7WAT, NM7R.
The KO repeater has picked up a hum
on the audio. It is on the signal even when
the audio is muted, meaning it must involve
the transmitter or power supply. Replacing
the power supply was quick and easy, and
seemed to work (in the very noisy environment
of the building), but once away down the hill,
the hum is still there, although somewhat
different in character.
06/07/13
60 miles, 4 hours;
Megler to work on the receiver voting system
for the VHF repeater. Moved the three leads
for Voting Channel 3 to the empty Voting Channel
6. Rerouted the RF cables for the transmitter
and filters, checked power output finding
it low. Will need to replace power amp. NM7R.
Channel 3, Cape D receiver, has a
problem where the audio blanks, but the COR
signal is still present. This keys the link
with no audio, which is always selected due
to being the quietest channel, but supplies
no audio to the repeater. This could be a
problem with the remote receiver package,
or the link receiver, or the voter. This was
an experiment to confirm/deny that the voter
itself was the problem. Time will tell. The
RF cabling was changed to run the transmit
signal from the circulator to the pass cavity
first, before the duplexer cans, to remove
harmonics earlier in the chain. The power
amplifier has a burned equalizer resistor,
indicating a blown transistor. It is putting
out 20-watts and will have to be replaced.
No spares available this trip.
06/04/13
Capitol Peak to repair the damaged
coaxial jumper on the main antenna.
Ed climbed to the 100-foot level
on the tower,
inspected, replaced/repaired the
jumper cable, and waterproofed the
connections. Damage appeared to be
consistent
with falling ice chunks. K7WAT and N7UJK.
The antenna circuit had failed during
the winter, and a temporary antenna had been
rigged. This repair should restore original range.
Also, Doyle reinstalled the 145.01 channel
elements in the second packet station.
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.
Retuning 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 up
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 Volunteer
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 supply 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
electronics 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 week,
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.
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.
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