stock photo of 146.760 repeater from prior trip
Bill Pond N0WP and Dave Damon K4DND have temporarily removed the entire 146.760 repeater (other than antenna/tower) from the mountain top for maintenance. The repeater will be down for a week or two. Dave’s 146.730Mhz repeater, which has similar coverage area, can be used instead; this repeater will be disconnected from the IRLP East Coast reflector during maintenance. The 444.000 repeater will also be down during this time as it is in the same rack which was removed from the mountain.
On 2013-11-20, Bill Pond N0WP wrote:
Today, K4DND and I made the trip to Marshall Manor as planned, and removed the clubs entire compliment of equipment for cleaning/adjusting/checking/service. We removed the rack containing the 146.760 and 444.00 repeaters and power supply plus the 440 duplexers. We also removed the backup batteries and 2 meter duplexers. On the way back home, we took the backup batteries to Central Battery on Preston Ave where they had been reconditioned in the past in order to get their recommendation for service. Their indication was that since the batteries were last reconditioned in 2002, they were well past their expected service life. We left the old ones there for recycling, and plan to replace them with new ones when we return the repeater to use.
I’m now in the process of cleaning everything and checking for loose and/or arcing connections in all of the coax junctions. I have opened the power supply and removed a bunch of mouse nests/droppings there in the process of verifying it’s operation. I’m sure there will be more discoveries as I work through the rest of the rack.
I expect this will take me a week or two, and in the meantime, Dave has graciously indicated that he would disconnect his 146.730 repeater from the IRLP node, and make it available for the club to use for the Monday night info net, and for any other club members routine usage. I feel this would be most appropriate rather than using the 146.895 for day to day purposes, since the 146.730 has a very similar coverage pattern to the 146.760. The 146.730 has the same 151.4 PL tone access as the 146.760 so there should be a minimum of difficulty in using it if you haven’t used it in the past. The 146.895 won’t be linked to anything while the .760 is undergoing work, but please feel free to use it as you wish in the interim.
I’m hoping that after this time of cleaning, checking and service of the 146.760, we can return the machine to stable, enjoyable performance. My plan is to be very meticulous as I go through the equipment to the point that if any problems remain after it’s put back in service, we can be as certain as possible that the issue is not inside the shack.
Please let me know of any concerns or questions you might have with any of the above.