W8ECG Repeater in Fostoria. MI 443.450
What's been happening by date: 2006 entries
12-18-2006 - Todd(Shyster), (KWYN), (can't do without him), thanks dude for the help you have given me... He climbed Saturday and removed the Paper Clip or folded dipole and the diehard Hustler went back up, the SWR is great. See the movie of the antenna being pushed off the tower (Caution: audio in video contains expletives uttered by the climber). Slightly shorter and slightly bent 440 folded dipole for sale...
12-11-2006 - Todd(KA8WYN) climbed the tower and installed a new connector on the top of the 1 5/8 hard line, we got a chance to inspect the connector that the "un-named out of town tower crew" installed - here it is next to one installed correctly.
12-07-2006 - What I know thus far about the SWR issue, (SWR readings all over the place on top antenna);
First climb - SWR was high, Sweep of hard line with a very expensive meter showed no issues, replacing antenna jumper seems to solve the problem, days later SWR back up.
Second climb - SWR was good at start, Replaced Hustler Spirit Series repeater antenna with a DB 420 8 bay folded dipole, SWR was perfect, (too perfect)
Days later - SWR was back up again, inspection of Hustler antenna shows antenna was in great shape, no water infiltration and no damage.
Checked for water in Andrew 1 5/8 heliax, dry as a bone, checked bottom connector, not installed correctly by our "un-named out of state tower crew". After seeing this I suspect the top connector is incorrectly installed and may be the culprit.
An awesome page for installing 1 5/8 connectors correctly - www.ipass.net/kd4wiw/hardline/
11-14-2006 - We have a Decibel Products DB420 8 bay folded dipole antenna, we were unsure about the use of this business band antenna for the ham band, we corresponded with our many valued contacts and one thing stands out - everybody in the repeater biz loves this antenna, so we cleaned it up and re-secured the harness to the mast and are awaiting the installation, if you are doing research on this antenna check out what these guys had to say - and I appreciate these fellow hams and their knowledge - WB7TUJ, Paul Shinn, WA8DBW, and K4JDR.
10-27-2006 - Tom and crew from Thumb Radio were on the tower for maintenance (see pictures below) and I had him check the antenna and jumper because the SWR on the top antenna has been getting higher, the jumper pin was black on the antenna end and we feel the lightning strike last year either entered or exited the antenna causing damage to the jumper and antenna, we have another antenna ready to go up and are currently operating on the side arm antenna. A sweep of the hard line showed it to be OK.
09-15-2006 - Have not had the receiver dropping issue since the repeater was checked out.
We sent an email to the Lapeer club asking if they would like to use our tower as a remote receive site for 146.62 repeater, somehow the offer turned into me (KG8ID) becoming trustee for the Lapeer club, I was asked to take this position before when Jim (KD8YX) moved out of the area, then and now I feel I do not have the time if an issue arises where the repeater would need immediate attention for service. I would certainly make myself available to help as time allows and maybe in the future take the task as a full time position. We have no plans at this time of shutting down the 443.450 repeater, as I have said before it does not cost much just to sit there even if no ones uses it.
09-07-2006 - Repeater arrived back yesterday - it was send to the place it was purchased from for testing. We still have an issue with something causing it to stop repeating for a few seconds, repeater checked out ok, maybe the controller is at fault.
04-29-2006 - Joe and I taught a one day Amateur Radio Technician license class at the Church, we had a celebrity in our mists - pic1,
we had 7 participants and 4 passed, I say our first one day class was a success. Class picture page.
04-03-2006 - " The surge stops here" or "Fun with MOV's" pic1 pic2
03-22-2006 - Just got around to opening the wireless radio card that was in the surge - fried, my chip has got a hole in it... Sing it!
03-20-2006 - Installed a couple stud mount thermal switches on the amp to make the fans only run when the heat sink reaches 120 degrees.
02-14-2006 - Happy Valentines day, we have Echolink (node# 81702) installed in place of WIRES, my thoughts are to be able to talk to Wally (KC8RVP) in Florida from time to time.
01-18-2006 - Happy New Year by the way - The little static monster is at it again and we are chasing our tails - that's why we enjoy having a repeater so much.
