A team of 5 met at 09h00 on Tuesday, 22 October at the Manor House at the base of Constantiaberg and took a leisurely drive up and around Elephants Eye Cave to where the mast is situated. The road was rough in a few places, but we all managed our way without any damage to our vehicles.

We could not have asked for better weather conditions, a beautiful summers day with no wind. The temperature was also very comfortable.

For some time, the repeater had caused interference when it rained and when the wind was blowing.

As we needed to climb the tower, we were reliant on Sentech employees to be present. On their arrival, they unlocked the gate at the base of the tower and work commenced. On inspection, it was found that the antenna cable going to the feed cable had chaffed through the outer casing and water had got into the outer plastic shield.

The antenna was replaced with a new one and all cables were tightly secured to prevent any movement on the cable. SWR tests were conducted before and after the antenna was replaced and a few tests were done with very good results (SWR and audio). Settings on the repeater were checked and all seemed to be in working order.

Once all the work had been completed, we had a lunch snack, compliments of David, ZS1DDK.

A final check that all was in order, and we slowly headed down the mountain. Today’s special thanks go to Schalk Burger (ZR1SWB), Rassie Erasmus (ZS1YT), David de Kock, (ZS1DDK), Michael Taylor (ZS1MJT) and LEM (ZS1LEM).