Hello and happy Sunday! Just wanted to follow up on the recent changes and repairs to the system. Most important is the system is working fabulously! In the past 3 days, we have had solid conversations with Libertyville IL, Waukegan IL, Fond Du Lac WI, Lomira WI, Sheboygan WI, Jefferson WI, Madison WI, Oconomowoc WI, and many HT signal reports from Milwaukee, Racine, Waterford, Pewaukee, Kenosha, and Oconomowoc.
Yes, you saw that correctly, mobiles work in downtown Oconomowoc again, as a bonus, you can now include Downtown Watertown! Now that the main site is stable and working as expected we have several other improvements in the works. A big thanks to all the members that helped make this possible! I just want to include it does take a village to Fund, Operate and maintain a repeater. As a rough estimate, the current upgrades are pushing $6000, none of this would have been possible without our members and some generous donations. I look forward to hearing more of you on the repeater, 73’s for now!
Here is a quick overview of what’s been done since November 2021 (Photos)
- Full assessment of existing repeater system. 11/2021 – 12/2021
- Plan to replace the entire repeater system. 1/2022
- Sourced two identical Motorola Quantars so we have a backup unit. 1/2022
- Replacement of the repeater with 1 of the Motorola Quantars.
- Replaced the entire battery backup system with a 24hr battery revert, charging system, and new 125ah battery. 2/2022
- Plans to add some solar assist to the battery system this summer for sustained use off-grid.
- Replaced the entire lightning and ground system to ensure equipment is protected. 2/2022
- replaced the 22-year-old duplexer with a new High Isolation six cavity duplexer. 3/2022
- Contracted climbers to replace connection from the main feed line to the antenna. 3/2022
- Finished merging the new duplexer into the system. 3/22
Currently, the only items we did not replace were the Antenna and feedline, but plans are in the works for spring! We took no chances with this upgrade, all of our RF cabling is now a minimum of 1/2 inch Superflex helix solid shield cable, N style connectors, and 8AWG grounding. These upgrades also allowed us to disconnect the analog phone line we had for repeater control and phone patch saving the club over $1200 per year in unneeded expenses.
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