All,
Evidently, there was a nearby lightning strike on Sawnee. I think it
happened Wednesday night, but I'm not sure. It turns out that the Sawnee
Mtn repeater on 147.15/.75 (shares the same antenna as the 145.01 radio)
had some minor lightning damage as well. It all makes sense now!
No one mentioned to me that they were having trouble connecting on 145.01
until Sat. AM. While I'm glad that no one has forgotten that this is an all
volunteer effort on my part, I 'might' have been able to get it back up
sooner had I known. A quick email is usually sufficient.
I ended up replacing the radio up there on the 145.01 MHz port. I brought
the
TNC back to the house to fully check it out and found no faults. It is back
in service now.
I'm still not sure that there is actually anything wrong with the old radio.
While I was up there, I cycled the power on the radio and believe that the
CPU in the radio had been glitched. It seems to work fine now on 2 meter
voice!
Anyway, this has made me more aware that I really need a spare TNC for use
up there just as I have a spare radio.
If anyone has an MFJ-1270C model...only a C model will do, I'll buy it from
you or will trade you a KPC-2400 for it if you like.
Let me know.
Also, I'm going to try and do some software upgrades to the cluster software
tonight. The developer of the software is always adding little enhancements
and due to the intensity of my recent business travel, I find myself one
major and two minor revisions behind. So, tonight when everyone the cluster
is a little quieter on the cluster, I'll shut down and do the upgrades.
I've also taped a piece of cardboard over the power button on the cluster
PC.
This should prevent my three year old profession button tester from turning
off
the cluster PC when he is down in my office where he should not be.
Also, if anyone has a DSL connection, or cable modem and wants to share the
wealth, and you have people around you that would like an RF connection to
the cluster, and you have a 2 meter rig available, we can set up a virtual
link to you over the internet and we can create a virtual RF portal to the
cluster located at your QTH. An old PC will be required, but I can supply it
and probably the TNC too. And if your really strapped, we'll find a radio
for you too.
Regards, Ernie KS4Q
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