Hello everybody, I’m Kyle (N0KTK) the Engineering committee chair for the 2018 calendar year. Here on the SLSRC website, I’ll be updating everybody monthly on the goals, progress and accomplishments of the Engineering committee in a blog type format, so I hope you find this informative.
Late last year and early this year, the committee recruited some great talent to add to the already seasoned veterans in the group, and we hope to accomplish a lot of awesome things in 2018. In January, the committee accomplished the following tasks.
- Updated documentation on all the SLSRC repeater sites to help maintain and troubleshoot the different systems.
- The committee established an every two week Google hangout to meet and discuss goals and action items.
- Established a monthly repeater work day (2nd Sat of every month). We plan on hitting each site at least 3 times a year do perform preventive maintenance and upgrades.
- We completed site walk-throughs at three of the 4 repeater sites to bring the newer members up to speed on the SLSRC repeater systems. During these walk-throughs, we gathered a list of items to accomplish for each site.
- Completed our first of many monthly repeater work days at the 9666 Olive Blvd site.
- Defined issues and long/short term goals for the committee which we will present to the SLSRC board during the February board meeting.
Item #6 is a very important item, as it will help define the road map for the SLSRC repeaters for many years to come. Once the board has signed off on this plan, it will be presented to the membership for opinions and discussion, as we want your thoughts!
Back in 2016, the Engineering committee purchased 5 DR-1X Yaesu System Fusion repeaters with a special discounted deal. Currently three of those repeaters are installed. The 443.075 & 146.940 repeaters operate in AMS (Automatic Select Mode). If you’re unfamiliar with how AMS mode works, please visit our updated Repeaters & Nets page for more info. Also note, a CTCSS (input + output) tone of 141.3 has been added to these AMS input/output repeaters for FM users only. The third System Fusion repeater was installed at the 146.910 site and operates in a FM in, FM output mode. The .91 repeater still maintains a 141.3 PL input tone to activate for FM. We are currently evaluating the final mode for this repeater, so stay tuned to the repeater & nets page for updates.
One of the short term goals of the committee is to install the remaining two Fusion repeaters into the 146.850 and 146.970 sites. We are also going to replace a broken antenna at the 146.970 site to return that repeater to full power and operating range. Be looking for updates on these goals in the coming months.
On January 13, 2018, the SLSRC Engineering committee completed their monthly work day at the 9666 Olive Blvd site. This location supports the 146.85, 224.52 and 443.075 repeaters.
Some of the tasks completed were labeling of cables, replacement of the Point to Point dish cover which blew off during the fall, and installing a new Ubiquity switch at the site.
We are currently in the process of building out a point to point IP based 5Ghz network to each repeater site from 9666 Olive Blvd with Ubiquity PowerBeam AC dishes. This allows us control and command of each repeater along with some really cool linking abilities in 2018.
See below for pictures during the repeater work day at the 9666 Olive Blvd site.
I encourage anyone with questions, comments or interest in joining the Engineering committee, please email me at n0ktk at slsrc dot org.