Piketberg Site Visit 2024-10-23

I left my QTH around 10h00 on Wednesday and headed to the 145.625 Voorstevlei high site. It was an extremely warm day with temperatures reaching 36 ͦC at lunch time.

On arrival, the ‘overload’ light on the power supply was on (there was lightning in the area and this could have caused some damage). I swapped out with a replacement power supply and did some testing. I found that the controller was also not triggering the repeater. The 70cm link radio was picking up the signal from my handheld and I could hear the audio clearly, but no reaction from the controller.

SWR on 2m was tested as 1.2:1

The controller was removed and the 70cm radio turned off for now.

The PSU will be repaired, and the controller tested to see where the problem is.

I was able to contact ZS1DFR via the 145.625 repeater at the time I was on the site, and then tested again with handheld en route home, with Schalk, ZR1SWB.

After a puncture repair and wheel change, I made it home by 15h30.

ZS1MJT