Harold and All else interested,
At one point Saturday, the transmitter final would take off - just with power on. I got RF burned disconnecting coax, I had to power down and let it cool. an hour.
Re tuning the duplexers at 11pm after 6 plus hours, was a? bit- "digging my grave deeper"? I had it operating and felt, that unless we gave it some time to see if we were at least status quo, was appropriate.? I was going to return the following day after updating the powers that may be. Further there was a Sunday Morning Brunch scheduled for the room.
It was decided, that we are to meet Monday morning. to tune, install the "Z matcher" and "regroup". The concern we still have is that in the past year, the transmit side of the duplexers have required re-tuning 3 times. I know other installations, 3-5-10 years go by and no duplexer re-tuning required.
It is time to carefully evaluate by various means to a resolution that so far and each time we have attacked it, it seems to continue to cause grief. If the repeater is "stand alone" no one uses it. So problems hide.
If it's active like on ALLSTAR? it sees plenty of use as it parrots the Blind ham talk group -- or for that matter any other of the 10,000 Nodes we were to place it within ALLSTAR. However, the intermittent issue we hear on the repeater- the white noise "arcing" that is especially evident at sunrise and sunset. Is heard on the internet and others there have complained. Thank God the FCC hasn't come a knocking. ? Actions taken have included changing? the Transmitter PL tone to another as to eliminate the transmitter PL to key the receiver. That solution bore no results..We've re-tuned duplexers 3 times with you.? Yet every time the feed-line to the antenna is checked it is barely 1.2 to 1. I am still not convinced it is a "dew" or icing problem even if that, still we have other problems.? Within 200 miles there are 5 other repeaters on the same frequency listed in Repeaterbook. 2 are even showing the same PL code, but not our PL.? I hear a W5? machine often in the mornings. All though they show different PL codes, we don't know. The Repeaterbook is not the bible.? It's a stretch, but our repeater is capable of decoding up to 16 PL tones at the same time. Which is common in commercial community repeater service. Could there be a "glitch" in that controller, that is decoding another PL.. We need someone to spend an hour and try all PL tones to see if we have any falsing. Seems everyone wants to use the repeater, cause it's cool to be able to meet new friends, Rather then build and configure? their own ALLSTAR node. Or buy one ready to go for $295. Our repeater and ALLSTAR provides a service Wichita needs. I so enjoyed my 3 months in Rochester NY listening to 146.76 on the east coast refector? 24x7. Stations from Boston to Orlando. While I painted a 3 bedroom house inside and out. ?
I wasn't the first person to say Ham's are a bunch of tight wads. Having come from east coast-west coast- Ham radio in Kansas is "dismal" at best. The State convention, 40 people at the 8am start.. . Boxboro- New England convention 6,000. Timonium- Mid Atlantic- 3 days 5-6,000. Findlay, Ohio 3000. I've even been to a winter hamfest in Duluth, Minnesota that was bigger than anything I have attended in Kansas or Oklahoma.. I may go to Irving Texas hamfest March 7th.. 70 vendors. Who ever heard of Port City Amateur Radio Club in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.? At each meeting they have over 100 attend and when I lived there, we were #1 all classes, all modes for ARRL Field Days for 5 years running!!!? The apathy in Wichita Ham Radio screams of silence. Most Wichita Repeaters sit silent for DAYS.. The most activity in the past 3 weeks has been our repeater and 146.52.
In the last 40 years I have been on the technical committee of 3 major repeaters, and owner 4 of which 2 are waiting to be deployed as I work on the VFW machines instead. The VFW is a 20 mile trip each way for me,? and frankly the smoke bothers me. Around thanksgiving I said I was going to look at making it work. Now I know why it sat, as it did for over a year after we paid to have ALLSTAR added to it.
Monday a group of us will work on it . Tuesday is the meeting.? Saturday is the Fund raiser. I spent 2 years on an Island in Alaska 12 hours on,12 hours off 7 days a week. There I did the most hamming I have done in 50 years. There were 3 hams, I was 1 on the Air Force base. The Club was KL7FBI -- so I don't need a big club or have to rely on others. It may be time to be the only active member of the N8NCC Memorial Club. Ask me in a couple of months, maybe June when my dues run out. ?
Harold, I hope you are feeling better. That hospital stay was a @$$ kicker for you... I am blessed with fair health, and longevity in my genes, yet, 10 years ago I was given 10 years by Dr. Hagburg, the professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Since 15 I've been? licensed and waiting to play Ham Radio, not sneak a few hours here and there. Or only operate while driving from 1 customer to another in a business. Kids are raised or gone. Wife passed on 18 years. My closest relative is over 1000 miles away.? I haven't had a CW contact in 5-7 years because I'm too busy to enjoy a hobby and I"m retired now. That's when you're to enjoy your hobby.
So hopefully we'll see you at the Tuesday meeting? or at the weekend fund raiser on Leap year day..
Larry Macionski