Ed (W1NQH), Jack (N1JK), John (WA1ABI), and Willy (W1LY) were at it again on April 27th, installing custom made Heliax cables and resolving RF noise that was desensing the receiver. You can read about the latest update HERE, and see photos of the repeater site and update HERE
The club is very grateful to all those involved in the update, which when completed, will result in a fine ECOM repeater for all of the East Bay area.
Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, who produces the Ham Radio Now webisodes, has interviewed the three net control operators who are responsible for the Boston Marathon and direct the efforts of approximately 240 hams before, during, and after the race. The interview deals with the bombing, and has been split into two parts.
You can find the first part here: http://arvideonews.com/hrn/HRN_Episode_0074.html
Following the activity list presented by John King during the last club meeting, Rick, Ed, John, and Willy, were at it again this weekend, performing additional upgrades to the W1SYE repeater. A document describing their activities can be found here. More work is needed in the future, especially with respect to the receiver performance.
Also they need someone to design a AC power fail detector circuit that can give them a logic level output when power is good and when power is failed. If anyone is interested in this project, please contact Willy MacLean or John King.
The Technician Class continues, and 13 students are now participating. Tonight marks the half-way point for the class. The exam will be held in early May, and the club will be recruiting new members from those that pass.
The original W1SYE Repeater antenna had been damaged during recent storms, and water ingress had degraded the signal. Club members Rick Brendlinger (N3RWB), John King (WA1ABI), John Mills (N1JSM), and Willy MacLean (W1LY), plus Henrikas Tamulynas, spent three days working on the antenna system. They spent two days assembling a new G7, taking down the old antenna, and installing the new one. On the third day they ran 180 feet of new Andrew hard line. This was secured using stainless clamps which were supplied as part of a Red Cross antenna upgrade package and augmented with hardware supplied by John King and John Mills.
After cleaning up all existing coax and topping up the battery the repeater was tested and found to be much improved. Besides this new antenna system, there are two spare runs of coax, the control antenna, and a backup 2 meter antenna on the tower.
Members are reminded that Rich Travers (N1ZSR) runs a net each night at 7 PM (details on Web site) and with the improved operation of the W1SYE machine, increased club usage is encouraged.
You can see a few photos of the antenna work on the photo tab.