The 2m test repeater has been taken off air while the duplexer is back with Darren for more work. Echolink has been swung back around to the analog side of the 70cm repeater with VKDMR operating as close to normal as we’ve come to expect DMR to work! Please also read about the CHOPPY Parrot. The result of last weekend’s work means we’re now gradually turning up the power of the 70cm repeater and keeping our fingers crossed.

Thanks to everyone who turned up at the RBT site on Saturday. The weather, even at that altitude, was mega and everyone’s interest in the project is awesome. We just love the central tablelands.

Two steps forward hopefully took place last weekend. The trailer is being powered by two AGM batteries which slipped under-voltage during the lousy weather in the weeks prior. I swapped them out but the single solar panel and charge controller were not up to the task. So an additional solar panel was added and an upgraded controller thrown in. As with just about everything, it’s whatever I have lying around that keeps things going.

In the case of the antenna though, I’ve invested in a new RFI COL8 to try and arrest significant intermod problems. When the repeater was at Big Box, we coped with a Diamond X-30 but the move to Woodstock has given us some headaches. I’ve replaced the patch cables, swapped between two Diamond dual band antennas, swapped the duplexer and even added filtration without any effect. The equipment is not entirely isolated from the rusty old trailer either.

So the best thing I thought I could do is give the repeater a real antenna cut for the frequency of operation and over time, work on eradicating all the bad connections that might be associated with the trailer.

So where does VK2RHO fit in all of this which is a 2m repeater we’ve been testing nearby? In DMR only mode, the 70cm repeater did not reveal to us the problems lurking with filtration. Only after switching to dual mode or analog did we realise there were problems and that digital tends to mask those problems. But the 70cm repeater seems to have proven that the site has useful coverage and that the 2m repeater we have in waiting should be installed there as well.