Since late April, most of our repeaters had been sounding and operating very well. However, early in June, I learned the 224.76 had been giving low repeated audio. I had planned some improvements to this machine for some time, so this seemed the perfect time to implement them. On 6/10/15, we visited Buck’s Elbow and removed the repeater and duplexers for service.
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At home on the bench, I installed a new internal RF cable, installed a new tone decode/high pass filter module, disabled the internal transmitter, and substituted the club’s Alinco DR-235 as the transmitter, built the required interface cables, and totally retuned the duplexers.
Shortly after the above work was finished, the 146.760 started acting up by transmitting feedback noises, I think on 6/14. We temporarily corrected that by turning off the outgoing CTCSS tones till we could schedule and accomplish a visit. Before that could be accomplished, on 6/15, it began yet another behavior where it would cut out transmissions while folks were talking. Before we could make the 146.760 site visit, 146.895 began transmitting constantly on 6/25. On 6/26, we corrected the 146.895 problem by swapping its controller out. During the visit, we also installed the 224.760 hardware, adjusted all audio levels, and verified proper operation. I’ve been working on the controller on the bench since then, and having ongoing email exchanges with the manufacturer about the problem. They’ve asked me to return the controller to them, which I did this morning, 6/30.
We had planned to make the Marshall Manor visit to work on 146.760 tomorrow, July 1, but now the NEW 146.895 controller, or something else at the site has begun to act up! In short, it acts as if it’s totally dead, or powered off, or at least that’s what it seems like to me. Since the 146.760 is at least alive, we’ve decided to see if we can fix 146.895 first by making another visit Wednesday morning 7/1. We’ll keep 146.760 in our plans for the next opportunity to visit which depends on weather, conditions, and scheduling.
Stay tuned for further updates!
Bill, N0WP