Sunday, April 1, 2001

Zebulon Rptr Site Update

 
The above picture was taken on 4/1/01, at the old Zebulon site on Vance street. You'll see Tim Richards on the left of the tower, and me (WB4IUY) on the right side. In this photo, we were preparing the new 440 mhz antenna for installation on top of the tower mount. This antenna replaced the old Diamond vertical that had become somewhat noisy. The Zebulon site is actually the old water tower in the center of town, and we installed a Rohn tower on the catwalk. The top of the Rohn tower was fitted with a custom 'tophat' with 3 arms and an additional antenna mount in the center. This allows a total of 4 antennas to be installed. Currently, there are antennas installed for the 29.620 (10 meter) repeater, the 53.07 (6 meter) repeater, the 144.39 and 147.54 APRS and Packet BBS nodes (both 2 meters), and the 442.40 (70cm) repeater. The 440 and 2 meter antennas are fed via 2 runs of 1 5/8" hardline, while the 6 and 10 meter antennas are fed with 9913.





Here's a picture of Jay KQ4MS and Alisha assembling a monster-sized antenna for the 6 meter repeater. The weather was great (for an early day in April) and we were able to replace the 440 antenna, remove the 220 antenna, install new antenna for 6 and 10 meters, and install/route/secure two new runs of feedline for the 6 and 10 meter antennas. In addition, much work was completed inside of the repeater cabinet...including removal of a defective combiner, rerouting of much dc and control wiring, repairs and maintenance to the DC power system, and debugging of the APRS PA. 

Dave WB4IUY