This week’s report – a barren inbox.
Sutherland Repeater maintenance 2019-06-11
Transmitter:
Output power: 21.6W
Frequency error: -315Hz
Deviation: 1.49kHz
Receiver:
Sensitivity: 0.683uV
for 12.2dB SINAD (NOT CCITT weighted)
@1.5
kHz deviation AT 1kHz
Squelch Could
not be measured. Comms test set only goes down to 0.350uV
TX Filter unit:
RF power before filter: 42.63dBm
(18.3W)
Return loss: 3.4dB !!!!!!(VSWR 1:5.23)
RF Power after filter: 34.3dBm (2.7W)
Antenna Return loss: 15.7dB (VSWR
1:1.39)
After tuning the filter unit, I got the following results:
RF power before filter: 42.85dBm
(20.1W)
Return loss: 23.2dB
(VSWR 1:15)
RF Power after filter: 40.34dBm
(10.3W)
Antenna Return loss: 15.7dB (VSWR
1:1.39)
RX Filter unit:
Measured loss at intended frequency: 20.6dB
Isolation at plus 600kHz Around
50dB
After tuning the filter unit, I got the following results:
Measured loss at intended frequency: 2.4dB
Isolation at plus 600kHz Around
50dB









Conclusion:
I could probably get better results tuning the filters if I had the directional
coupler with me. Maybe next time. I would have also preferred to have the
manufacturers specifications to test against but did not have at the time. In
my experience the repeater performs well according to what I measured. I tested
the repeater from the town using a 5W hand held radio and got full quieting
from the repeater with good quality audio. I there is someone who can test from
the N1, some feedback would be great.
Report compiled by Neville Gleeson (ZS1NEV)
Site tested by: Neville Gleeson (ZS1NEV) and Deon Lamprecht (ZS1AFU)
Repeater Status Reports: 20190604 and 20190611
Two for the price of one this week 🙂
Hawequa maintenance 2019-06-09
On Sunday a team of four consisting of David ZS1DDK, Mike ZS1TAF, Markus ZS1MTB and Rassie ZS1YT left home at 7h00 to meet at the site gate at 8h00. The purpose of the visit was to replace the 3 cable stays on the tower with new Stainless Steel cables, clamps and turn buckles.

A 6m dipole was also fitted to the tower for future linking of a 6m simplex radio onto the repeater system.

Although quite a strong wind was experienced, the temperature on top of the mountain was a very cool 18o C. Work started immediately with Mike and Markus climbing the tower and David and Rassie fixing the cable stays on the bottom anchor points. The team returned home by about 12h30.

The 6m Webb-antenna and Stainless Steel cable was donated by Rassie ZS1YT
The antenna clamps, cable ties and other hardware was donated by Mike ZS1TAF
Travelling to the site by ZS1TAF, ZS1MTB and ZS1YT was also donated.
Repeater Status Report 20190528
Still no reports in my inbox.
Repeater Status Report 20190521
My mailbox is still very quiet. Maybe it’s broke as well? 🙂
Repeater Status Report 20190514
My inbox has been very quiet of late, with nothing to report.
Repeater Status Report 20190430
Apologies, this was supposed to go out last night. Neighbourhood Watch duties kept me busy until 4am.
Repeater Status Report 20190423
Greetings!
These long weekends really mess one’s internal clock around a bit. I thought it was Monday and almost omitted the report!
Repeater Status Report 20190416
Good evening.
After an uncomfortably extended period without any personal computer (my Toshiba laptop gave up the ghost), and not being permitted to use work resources for private purposes (people were fired for this recently), I am finally back online after purchasing my old Mecer mini-tower from the company that was leasing them to my employer. It’s a nice enough machine, similar in spec to the laptop that it replaces (Core i5, 4GB RAM, 250GB HDD) and performs quite nicely now that it has my laptop’s SSD inside.
I’m sure there have been several updates that I’ve not been able to catch up on so the attached report will be no surprise to anyone. Regular updates will commence from next week, as and when I receive them.
I offer my sincere apologies for the lack of reports since mid-February. All seems to be back on track now.