Tech Talk
The latest information regarding
club repeaters and facilities;
February 11, 2012
As you will all probably know, the Big White
repeater has not been working for some time.
Today, Steven VA7SLL, one of our newer HAMS, and a member of the Big White Ski
Patrol, paid a visit to our repeater installation at Big White. He did some
checking of cables and connectors, and all appeared OK. He and I did a voice
check with Me going in through the Crystal link, and he standing inside the
building near the repeater. All lights on the front of the repeater indicated
normal operation. He and I were able to carry on a conversation just fine. I
asked him to go outside the building, away from the repeater. Only a few feet
away from the building, he was not able to hear the VHF transmitter transmit my
signal.
We are assuming that while he was in the building, he was able to receive the
exciter of the transmitter, but once he got a short distance away, he could no
longer hear it.
This would indicate to me that the VHF "PA" is not functioning. He is bring the
Kenwood portion of the repeater down, and will deliver it to me on Sunday or
Monday. It is my plan to deliver it to Chris VE7EQN for diagnosis and repair. It
may be something similar to what went wrong with the Dilworth repeater.
Steven will take either this unit or another similar unit back up and re-install
it when we are ready.
Thanks for the great effort Steven
Alan
VE7MET
December 18, 2011
The Big White APRS digipeater has gone down
again. Repairs will be made when conditions for access improve.
November 1, 2011
The Big White APRS digipeater has come back up,
for reasons unknown. It started broadcasting beacons about 19:00 October
31; Halloween evening. The coverage area is large, and it's return to the
air is welcome. The beacons appear to give the correct temperature, but
voltage readings are 0.0 volts.
John VE7JWS
September 29, 2011
Yesterday Chris VE7EQN and I drove up to Big
White Mountain to work on the faulty APRS digipeater. Borrowing wife Deb's Jeep
(VE7SHE), we were able to make it almost the whole way, with just a short walk
remaining. We had the SAR group as our backup, and expected we would be taking
a quad ride part of the way up, but the road was in fine shape. Gary VE7GCP,
Astrid VA7KNE, and Ron VA7OH unloaded their quads near the holding pond and
followed us up.
The circuit breakers in the power room were checked, and all seemed OK, so we
proceeded up the lift tower to check on the radios etc. The power supply was
on, the VHF rig powered on, but the TNC was down. Moving the power leads around
proved the problem was in the power feed to the TNC; the barrel connector
specifically. It had a cracked and intermittent positive connection. Having no
spares, we then soldered the power directly to the motherboard of the TNC to
solder pads for this purpose;
You see Chris holding the TNC after soldering. The
equipment was put back together, and Mike VE7MMG was called via the Little White
repeater to confirm proper operation. All was well! Except I had forgotten
that the TNC was to be replaced with one given to me by Mike and pre-programmed,
since the original TNC could not be programmed or accessed remotely. The new
TNC replaced the old one, with power being applied via the solder pads as well.
Another test was done with Mike, and all seemed OK with the new unit;
Here we see the RX light on the new TNC, and the
radio S-meter shows an incoming signal. This was before we closed the cabinet
and left the chairlift.
When I got home and checked BGWHTE on aprs.fi, it showed that the last beacon
was at 11:48 am, which would have been from the original TNC before it was
replaced with the newly programmed one. None of my beacons from VE7JWS-12 were
digied from Big White, but from VE7YLW-15 or VA7WS back in town.
It appears that the new digi was not working properly after being installed, and
this was missed. Perhaps the time delay involved in the aprs.fi refresh, as
well as some incorrect analysis showed us that the new digi worked properly when
in fact it didn't Perhaps the power was bopped off when closing the cabinet,
and we weren't aware of it??
These questions will be answered during the next attempt at bringing this nice
APRS digi back online.
But it was a wonderful day for a drive, and we all enjoyed our time up on the
hill.
Chris VE7EQN enjoys a water and snack before we turn
around and head back down.
The spare radio from the repeater cabinet was to be brought down from the hill
and placed in a more accessible location for future use. A new lock and
incorrect keys didn't let us get inside to retrieve it this time.
John VE7JWS
August 21, 2011
Little White Report
Mike VE7FI and VE7MMG and Marie Morin went to
Little White to service 146.820 noise.
We also finished the painting of the comshell’s
3rd coat of paint and Marie painted the inside with the left over white
primer.
VE7MMG did tests and found a loose connector
from one of the jumpers between the duplexers and the receiver.
We took down the antenna and dismantled it then
reassembled it and this seamed to remedy the problem.
It is crucial that that antenna be replaced
either by the same make and brand by a NEW one or something that has a
better performance, the SWR was 12 to 1 before dismantling and 1.8 to 1
after, not good for an antenna. we did not find anything evident in the
dismantling.
I also recommend we change a few coaxes, from
duplexers to antenna 20 feet one end Type N and whatever is needed at the
antenna end, 2 jumpers between the duplexer and repeater with one end Type N
and PL239 at the other “These are suspect and have adaptors at one end”.
The antenna for the digi/ beacon was tested with
the antenna analyzer and has a SWR of 8 to 1, I brought it down to see if it
can be rebuilt, I installed a rubber ducky temporarily, I recommend that a
replacement antenna be brought up before winter.
August 18, 2011
It
started life as a DOG HOUSE. Actually, that is not quite true, but it
would make a good one ! What was once a steel enclosure housing an
electrical transformer, has been sitting in a grass and weed infested field
waiting for someone to come along and give it a new purpose in life.
Saturday, 4 members of the OCARC rescued the 4 X 4 X 4 foot steel box from the
farmers field and relocated it to the safety of an OCARC storage facility.
Actually, the previous owner advised he was moving to a rural area in the West
Kootenays, and didn't want to take it with him. We decided that it might make
an excellent enclosure for a mountain top repeater some day. It weighs
about 400 pounds so is not likely to walk away any time soon.
Alan VE7MET
August 10,2011
Hi all,
Next meeting will be Aug 29 at 19:00, at the usual place (Dodge
dealership on Hwy 97 at Enterprise Way).
Topics are
- Little White;
- Painting report
- Batteries should be individually checked
with a good Analyzer.
- Digi program report
- D Star;
- What is status?
- What is frequency?
- VE7ROC;
- What is status?
- When will new controller etc. be in service?
- Big White;
- Status of digi, is it to be moved into Lift
Operator Shack from the lift building?
- Dilworth;
- Temp report.
- Club Shack;
- SteppIR antenna. Who is overseeing this
project? How tall is the tower?
Of course any other items may be added to agenda at any time.
RSVP ve7wat@telus.net
thanks, hope to see you there
Geoff, VE7WAT
July 23, 2011
Fellow Club Members
Through the efforts of Mike, VE7FI, we now have our entry card system in place
and operational.
Effective Oct 1, 2011, the current entry code for the club station will be
changed. Access will now be limited to those members in good standing with
current membership.
An access swipe card will be provided to those members wishing them upon payment
of a $10.00 refundable deposit, Associated with each card will be a personal pin
number which one may use in place of a card. (No charge for the pin code.) The
card and/or pin number will provide access through each of the two doors, but
will not replace the current key pad for the internal alarm system
as that is part of the city's alarm system which we do not have any control
over. This alarm code will not be changed unless the city sees fit to do so.
In order for Mike to set up the system, he has asked that each member wishing
access to the club station provide him with a personal 4 digit pin number. He
will program the system utilizing you personal pin number as a back up
replacement for the card. He will be doing this at the July general meeting.
Gord, VE7GFH
July 15, 2011
Update on 12 volt power system at club
station;
Final power distribution box and
wiring has been completed.
Battery
disconnect switch / breaker box now installed.
We have labeled the fuse values that are in use in the power pole breakout
boxes, and there are spare fuses installed in the power pole outlets that are
not currently in use.
Stan VE7TTC can now document and label installation now
that the project is complete.
Thanks
to John VE7JWS, Darcy VE7DBI and Gord VE7GFH for assisting with the wrap up of
this project yesterday.
Thanks
also to Ed VE7EWS for modifying the bakelite boxes to accommodate the
breakers.
Regards
Alan VE7MET
July 9, 2011
Today, Jesse
VE7LYD and Jay VE7JID made the long hard trek to the top of Mt. Black Knight
also known as Black Knight Mountain near Rutland, and replaced the failed
VA7YLW-1 Digi.
It failed last fall, but due to the hardships of the long Okanagan Winter, it
couldn't be repaired until the deep snow pack recently melted.
The Black Knight
Digi VA7YLW-1 is now working well, with recent stations heard including VE7RPC
- the Penticton Digi, and THYNNE the Mt. Thynne Digi on the Coquihalla Highway
- approx. 118 km to the west.
Good work Jesse
and Jay. Many amateurs including those with the Central Okanagan Search and
Rescue thank you for your efforts.
for the Tech
Committee
Alan VE7MET
July 7, 2011
The Big White Mountain Digipeater
was returned to service today. Jesse VE7LYD and Mike VE7MMG replaced the
faulty digipeater with a new one, while John VE7JWS tagged along to
take pictures.
June 28, 2011
Two work parties
took place at the Cedar Creek Club station this afternoon.
Gord VE7GFH and
Hu VA7HR installed two more metal boxes under the eave of the upper roof to
give us added capacity for additional lightning arrestors and additional coax
connections into our shack.
A second group -
John VE7JWS, Geoff VE7WAT and me VE7MET completed the wiring and installation
of the 12 volt power distribution system for the club shack.
Secondly, the
Icom IC-2200H radio was installed. This radio was recently acquired along
with a "D-Star chip" to give the club access to our new D-Star repeater which
connects us to the rest of the world as well. There is a brief
instruction card there showing the currently installed D-Star channels and
frequently used commands. It is highly recommended that you contact either
Ian VE7BST or myself Alan VE7MET for additional instructions before attempting
use of this radio. It is not that complicated, but we can ease the pain of
your learning curve with a little help.
Regards
Alan VE7MET
June 27, 2011
Chris, Geoff and myself went up to Dilworth
tonight to dig further into the problem. Chris could not find anything wrong
generally with the setup so he pulled the repeater and found the output
terminal of the PA looking a little corroded, pitted what ever you want to
call it...but not shinny and smooth like would indicate a good connection.
See picture. He fixed it and we hope the problem is solved.
Ed VE7EWS
June 26, 2011
It appears that
the PA has failed on the 146.68 Dilworth repeater. It hears fine, and
you can hear it if you are standing beside it. You can not hear the
repeater away from the site and no power out is measured on a ham quality
meter.
We need to get a
similar Kenwood tuned up for the Dilworth site, and eventually get the one
we have now repaired as a HOT swap-able spare. So - for the next few
days, this repeater will be unserviceable.
Please use the 146.62 - Autopatch repeater as your main Kelowna repeater.
Will let you all know when this problem has been resolved.
Alan VE7MET ve7met@telus.net
Tech committee
June 12, 2011
There's lots of news :) I was going to save it
for the meeting, but I'll fill you in.
The repeater hardware arrived and is now
programmed and installed in the rack. Ethernet has been run from the rack to
the 6th floor, and is now connected back to the gateway server and firewall
server which is located in LM3 data center.
The gateway server software is installed. The
gateway is registered and is part of the D-Star network - it's visible on the
D-Star pages.
The 2" conduit has been installed across the roof
and has been secured to small concrete blocks to lift it off the roof surface.
Fred completed the tuning of the duplexer and
finished modifications to the antenna brackets. Fred and I went on-site to
deliver the duplexer and antenna mast on Saturday evening. The antenna mast
assembly wouldn't fit in the elevator, so we had to carry it up 13 flights of
stairs.
The duplexer is installed in the rack in a
temporary fashion until we can get some proper brackets. It's all wired up,
and connected to a temporary 1/4 wave mag-mount on top of the rack, just for
testing. If you're in range you may be able to tune up the repeater and
listen. It's linked to REF001C at the moment just so there's some traffic and
I can make sure that the data side of things is working fine.
It's set for low power at the moment and the
antenna is very poor. Nevertheless I can pick it up at home with my handheld.
I can't key it up without an eternal antenna.
All we need now is an antenna install party and we
should be good to go! Hopefully this will happen some time this week.
If you're interested, you can go ahead and
register your callsign with the repeater - this is where we need to get
registrations to meet our target. The URL is:
There's a "Registration" link un the upper left
corner.
You can only register each callsign once in the
entire network, so if your callsign is registered somewhere else, you may want
to attempt to get it removed from the other server before registering with our
server. The system will email me when someone registers, and I'll log in and
authorize them.
Let me know if you have any questions. I'll
compose another email with details about how to link, unlink, etc. as well as
instructions on how to register properly. Otherwise, feel free to experiment.
Ian VE7BST
May 18, 2011
As of yesterday afternoon - Tuesday May 17th, the
12 volt club station project is substantially complete and is in operation.
Details : VHF station #1 on the east wall is the
Yaesu 7900 in the custom Samlex power supply / base that is all one nice tidy
unit. This station was left as was found for now - plugged into 110V mains
and was not switched over to the new 12V battery supply. All other VHF/UHF
radios including those at Station #2, Station # 4 and 5, and those located on
the main equipment rack for IRLP, APRS I-gate and Winlink are now operating
off the new 12 volt system. This
means that they will continue to operate un-interupted in the event of a
commercial power failure. The computers used for IRLP, APRS I-gate and
Winlink have also been plugged into a refurbished 110V UPS unit which Ian
VE7BST has kindly refurbished with newer batteries and donated to the project.
Given the rather large size and reserve capacity (
200 Ah ) of the 12V battery being used for the 12 V system, it would be safe
to say that the above mentioned radio equipment should be able to operate for
many hours if not days without the aid of commercial power. The only minor
task to be completed on this project is the labeling and documentation phase
which I think Stan VE7TTC might do if we ask him nicely. At
least 4 of the Samlex 1223 power supplies were previously used to power these
radios and have now been removed from service and are available for other
projects.
Our thanks go to Geoff VE7WAT, John VE7JWS and Ian
VE7BST for the considerable amount of time and expertise they donated to this
project. Honourable mention to Ed VE7EWS to his small contribution as well.
I will bet that if you check the
Club web site some day soon, you might just find that John has added some
photos of this project on the Club station section.
Regards to all
Alan VE7MET
May 8, 2011
This month's Tech Meeting
Cancelled
No, it is not for lack of interest. We do have
some things going on.
D-Star project proceeding nicely with Ian leading
the way. More on this via e-mail as the project progresses. Of course you
can always check in on the club's web site
www.ocarc.ca for updates. Thanks John.
The new controller and phone patch project for the
146.62 repeater is still a "work in progress" with Geoff and Fred working on
this.
The 12 volt wiring project for the club station
proceeding with all parts and equipment now in hand.
The 160M loop antenna remains on the "to do list"
with Hu and Mike in charge of this project.
And of course the new STEP IR antenna will be received
soon, and I am sure Mike VA7FI will be looking for volunteers to help put
it up.
One last thing. The clubs TAIL GATE swap meet will
be this coming Saturday, May 14th beginning at 9 AM again check the clubs'
web site www.ocarc.ca for more
details.
So - - - No TECH committee this month - reason - several key players are away
or otherwise unavailable. We will continue with e-mails and phone calls to
get the work done.
Regards
Alan VE7MET
March 22, 2011
Today March 22nd 2011, Fred and I went up to Big
Whites Gem Lake to service the repeater and digi, we used the lift to access
the site and this was a pleasure no scary ride with trucks.
Fred will fill you in on the variation in the
duplexers, the band pass filter was in great condition. I did find one of the
coax jumpers between the duplexer and band pass filter, the UHF connector the
tip and braid was not soldered. I believe this is the intermittent cause.
After reconnecting everything and testing with Gord GFH there was a loud hum
in the background. After further testing we discovered that there must be a
ground loop so I disconnected the ground from the UHF antenna and the audio
cleared up. A future service call needs to happen and isolate our UHF antenna
from Jessie's UHF antenna and re-grounding his, We can use a piece of ABS pipe
around the mast where our UHF antenna is mounted.
As for the digi, It was the barrel fuse holder that
was defective. The spring was compressed and I extended the spring to make a
tighter connection. The KPC3 started working. It did TX when powered up and
the RX LED did come on when traffic was present on 144.39 but I did not
see any TX from that traffic. Because it was not powered in the cold
environment for a long period could the TNC have lost it's programming or part
of it? I was inside the top drive while the lift was running and to my
surprise their was a lot less vibration than what I was expecting, but it is a
cold environment.
While in the village Fred did try the new IRLP node
and the audio was very low and noisy to almost the point of unread ability. I
even tried using the echo reflector with the same results. Fred thinks if the
mike was left connected to the radio it would pick up the ambient noise.
73,
Mike Morin
VE7MMG
March 13, 2011
Hey All,
I installed node 1172 at Big White today. It does a good job covering the village, but once you go down the top
switchback it gets noisy. I snapped the mic in, and locked the doors, then
said, crap, I hope the mic isn't hot when its on hook and the rear accessory
port is used. Not sure if it is, does anyone know? I noticed it has some
background noise in the audio and the Tx audio is a little down, not sure if
that happened during the move? I was going to log into it and adjust the
audio a little, but I didn't have the root password, so for another time. All
in all seems to be working pretty good. Some pictures attached.
Cheers,
Jesse VE7LYD
Click on photo for larger size
March 5, 2011
After a fairly lengthy outage, the Revelstoke
Igate is back up and running today
If you wish to monitor APRS traffic passing
through Revelstoke, put the call sign VE7RBG-2 in the call sign box on your
APRS.FI web page.Alan VE7MET
February 27, 2011
The new IRLP node for Big White is
now assembled and ready for beta testing before being taken up the mountain.
It's sitting on my bench in Kelowna, connected to an inside J-pole antenna, and
an internet connection. No CTCSS tones are being used for access. The node
is on 147.420 MHz. to keep it clear of other users, and
to conform to the 2 meter bandplan. You're welcome to access and use this
node, and provide any feedback.
John VE7JWS
February 15, 2011
Today, Mike VE7MMG, Tom VE7YHZ and myself spent a
little time diagnosing and correcting a problem causing extensive noise and
distortion on the outgoing voice signal of our IRLP node.
The problem turned out to be a simple one. The
volume level on the Yaesu 7800 receive radio at the club station had been
inadvertently adjusted to a LEVEL much too high. This was causing over
deviation and an extremely distorted audio level going onto the internet. At
the same time, the receive squelch level on this same radio was tightened up a
little to reduce the noise accompanying the squelch tail.
After several tests, all appears well now.
Alan
VE7MET
January 20, 2011
A new Igate has been added by VA7WS,
porting APRS packets heard around Kelowna to the T2 network on the internet.
Here is a rundown of the station, and how
easy it is to set up one of your own.
John VE7JWS / VA7WS
January 18, 2011
While following Stan VE7TTC on APRS today as he
drove up to Big White, I realized that none of his beacons were going through
the Big White digipeater.
On further investigation, it appears that it has
not been working since January 13th, it's last beacon at 2023Z.
Alan VE7MET
January 12, 2011
A replacement computer for the
ailing HF Remote Computer was delivered to the site on Jan 7. It is awaiting
final configuration setup by Mike VE7FI, and Ian VE7BST, before it is inserted
in service.
Stan VE7TTC
Jan 16 Update; Hi guys.
Received an email from Ian this
morning stating that he has replaced the old remote HF computer with the new
one. We are just awaiting for Mike FI to test the new computer and to ensure
all the programs needed are installed.
Stan
January 5, 2011
On Jan 3, 2011 the following
computers were replaced with new hardware running XP Pro with all patches and
fixes as of Jan 1, 2011.
WS #1 - located on the VHF Bench
WS #3 - Left hand HF bench and associated with the Yeasu FT-920
WS #4 - middle HF bench and associated with the Kenwood TS-2000
WS #5 - Right hand HF bench and associated with the Icom IC-751A
The CRT monitor associated with the remote HF computer has been replaced with a
LCD panel.
The 2 CRT monitors associated with the IRLP, firewall/igate/APRS computers in
the rack have been replaced with LCD panels.
The CRT sitting on the work bench has been removed.
For workstations #3 and #5, data and install programs (if any were found) were
placed in My Documents sub directory WS #X.
WS #1 was a bare bones configuration and therefore nothing was saved.
WS #4 seemed to have the most data and HAM radio unique programs. The old
computer is stored on top of the work bench and Ian has agreed to remove any
data and programs from the old unit and complete the configuration of the new WS
#4 computer.
The old WS #3 computer is up and running on the work bench - this computer may
or may not removed in the near future.
Anyone planning any activities at Chute Lake and has the need of computer should
go up to the site ahead of time to ensure the appropriate application program is
installed and configured.
The current plan is completely decommission the old computers on Jan 31, 2011.
Therefore if have you have any data or programs on the old computers, each
member is responsible for the retrieval of the data and program.
VE7TTC
stanw@telus.net
250.707.3994
At the Club's monthly meeting last evening, there
was a conversation amongst those present about the possibility of moving the
Tuesday evening NET back to the 146.68 repeater for the winter. The reason
would be to conserve battery power for the winter as little if any is being
supplied by the solar panels this time of year.
It was agreed to leave the net on the Little White
repeater for the time being, and to monitor the battery voltage as we go
through the cold winter months. If the battery voltage falls below 12.3 volts
according to our APRS tracker (VE7ROC) then we will probably make the decision
to move the net to the146.68 repeater, which is a 110 volt
powered repeater site.
A reminder to all who use the 146.82 Little White
repeater during the winter months that reserve battery power is a limited
resource, and if you are talking to another station that can be reached either
on Simplex, or on a 110V powered repeater, then you should move to that
frequency and reserve the battery powered machine for emergency use.
Alan VE7MET
November 23, 2010
The latest "mini work party" took place this
afternoon with a team of technical wizards working their magic at the Club
station.
The three refurbished HF antennas were warmed up
with electrical current from the Yaesu FT-920 transceiver, each being checked
for SWR. They all came through with flying colours. We now have
great working antennas for 10m, 15m, 20m and 40m. John VA7WS will be
creating a
graph
for each of the antennas to display their performance
on a wide range of frequencies on each of the bands. These graphs will be
posted in the club station. We will be waiting for the re-installation
of the 160m loop antenna before we will have coverage on 80m and 160m.
New or "new to us" antennas were connected to the
APRS I-gate as well as to the Winlink radio and are now in service. The
I-gate appears to be working well, and we will have to wait for Mike VE7FI to
check out the Winlink performance with the new Diamond X-200 antenna. We
also have 3 Yaesu 7800 dual band mobile/base radios and one Icom IC-228 VHF
only mobile/base radio that are operational now on individual antennas so that
we can communicate on or monitor multiple frequencies simultaneously during a
race or in the event of an emergency.
Although the project is not quite complete, we now have a
club station that is very useable, and among other uses, provides our members
with an excellent opportunity to enjoy the hobby if they don't have a full
featured station of their own.
November 19, 2010
Fellow members.
The past two afternoons, Thursday and Friday,
Chris EQN and myself were at the club station for appx. 3-4 hours each day
completing the installation of coax and connectors. We now have 4 out of 5 runs on tower 2 ( the new
tower ) completed, and 4 out of 5 runs on tower 1 completed at the roof level. Yes it was cold up there, but Chris was able to
get 17 connectors installed over the two afternoons. He actually had to use a
flashlight to get the last connection completed around 4:30 this afternoon.
A big thanks to Chris for getting this part of the project complete. Hu still has in mind to get the 160 M wire loop
antenna up. If the weather co-operates, he just might get it done in early
December. Otherwise, at least we have a working station to get us through the
winter.
73 and keep warm.
Alan VE7MET
November 14, 2010;
A couple of changes were made today to two of
our local digis.
At BIGWHT an error or typo in the location of
the Lat and Long was corrected to get rid of the red flagged transmissions
that were being rejected every 5th transmission. As well the call sign on the
beacon was changed from VA7YLW-2 to the mountains new call of VE7RBG. At Crystal, the displayed call sign of VE7ROW
was changed to KRYSTL. We are limited to 6 letters, and the name CRYSTL was
already in use by another station in the Snoqualmie valley in Washington
State. The beaconing rate was also reduced from every
50 seconds to every 5 minutes. This will reduce the amount of traffic from
this high level digi that is being bounced around a rather large geographic
area.
Thanks to Ian VE7BST for putting his knowledge
and technology to work to make these changes.
Alan VE7MET
