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<p class="MsoNormal">During Rogers report I stepped on his
transmission. I am posting his report on the reflector so his
full report is know to all. When you have contact with Roger and
Dan, please thank them for all the effort to keep our Repeater
Systems up to date and functional.<br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">73</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Gary-KF5ZRT<br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Here<span style="color:#1F497D"> i</span>s the
<u>revised</u> July report. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">1.<span
style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span>The
Bellville repeaters, both C4FM VHF/UHF, and the D-Star VHF/UHF,
have been functioning normally.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">2.<span
style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span>Yaesu
returned the DR-2X repeater I sent in back in April for repair.
They replaced faulty inductors in the front end, and it appears
to be working properly again. The repair was covered under
warranty, so the only cost to the club was shipping it to them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:36.0pt">I tested the
repaired repeater at home with an HRI-200 Wires-X interface hooked
directly up to the repeater, and linked to the Bellville Wires-X
room. I learned a couple of things by doing this:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph"
style="margin-left:54.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level1
lfo4"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt
"Times New Roman""> </span></span>Hooked
up this way, the repeater can do either digital or analog
communications, but not both.</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph"
style="margin-left:54.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level1
lfo4"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt
"Times New Roman""> </span></span>While it
works fine, there is a two-second delay in RF communications that
is introduced when going between repeaters: roughly one second
for each HRI-200 involved on each end. I don’t believe there is
any way to reduce this delay.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">3.<span
style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span>I
visited the Glidden site (where the Columbus repeater is housed)
three times in the last two weeks. For those who are not aware,
this is a restricted site and we have to make prior arrangements
with San Bernard Electric, who meets us there to let us in. The
San Bernard Electric folks have been very cooperative letting us
in. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt">The goal was to hook
up the Columbus repeater to Wires-X and link it with Bellville.
To do this I deployed an old Windows laptop, one of the club’s
HRI-200’s and a souped-up Raspberry Pi with a power relay board.
The Pi can be used to </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt">remotely power cycle
the repeater if it has problems, without having to visit in
person. We have an identical setup in Bellville built for this
purpose.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt">The connectivity
issues that were plaguing us in Columbus have been resolved, and
we now have working internet with the proper ports opened for
Wires-X connectivity. In addition, I can remotely access the
equipment through the internet.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt">We noticed that the
VHF antenna’s SWR was high, so during one of the visits we pulled
the cans and Dan White retuned them. They were reinstalled
Tuesday and SWR is down around 1.2. So the Columbus repeater was
down for a few days, but is up again as of Tuesday. There is still
an issue with the antenna, but we won’t be able to resolve this
until San Bernard Electric does maintenance on the tower – it is
cost prohibitive for the club to hire someone to climb the tower
and do the work. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Although the repeater is
working, I have so far been unable to connect it to the Bellville
Wires-X room (63655) and actually link the repeaters. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">4.<span
style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span>Dan
and I have been discussing the feasibility of linking the
repeaters from another location. We think it is possible to link
Bellville, downtown Houston and Columbus, giving us an
exceptionally wide coverage area for our repeaters. This would be
accomplished by using a Wires-X RF link, which we’re currently
doing in Bellville with an FTM-100 dedicated for that purpose.
However, it would require the purchase of additional radios to
implements. We will test this in the near future, and if it is
feasible we will present a proposal to the club including the
cost. Note however, that linked repeaters will experience the
two-second lag in communications.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Respectfully submitted,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
Roger N5RWK
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