11/24/2012 - The WB4IUY 147.39 repeater was removed from Clayton for major repair and relocation. Learn
more about it
HERE.
2/1/2012 - The WB4IUY 10m repeater on 29.620- is off the air. We have lost the TX site and I am in
search of a new place to re-install it. Hopefully it will be back on the air soon. All equipment is operational, it is simply
shut down for the time being.
3/1/2012 - The WB4IUY 440 repeater on 442.400- has lost it's PA, for a 3rd time. I am going to replace the entire
radio, as there must be something wrong with the circulator or the power control board is going nuts. These things are too
cheap to let it drive me crazy :-) It is completely off the air until it is replaced.
9/7/2011 - The WB4IUY 440 repeater on 442.400- has been repaired and is back online.
8/21/2011 - The WB4IUY 10m repeater on 29.620- is repaired and back online.
7/30/2011 - The WB4IUY 10m repeater on 29.620- is down at the moment. A recent electrical storm took out the
receiver, and it is now on the bench being repaired. The damage is minor, and should be back up and running very quickly.
7/10/2011 - The WB4IUY 10m repeater on 29.620- is running on driver power only, about 10 watts. The PA will
be repaired and have it back up to full smoke very soon.
6/17/2011 - The WB4IUY 440 repeater on 442.400- has lost it's PA, again. This has happened after a local
user was running crossband into it for long periods of time. Strange, after running as a link hub for many years, it seems
to be having problems with high duty cycle operations, now. I must have overlooked something during the PA replacement. It
is again running at VERY low
power, around 100mw, at this time.
11/12/2010 - The WB4IUY 440 repeater on 442.400- has been repaired and is back online.
9/23/2010 - The WB4IUY 440 repeater on 442.400- has lost it's PA. It is running at VERY low
power, around 100mw, at this time.
11/21/2009 - The WB4IUY 10 meter repeater on 29.620- is now back on the air and running well.
It could use a more lofty TX location, but it's running and making contacts again.
3/23/2008 - Some pics and info about the Zebulon site updates
are now online. Click
HERE to have a look!
3/17/2008 - The new circulator in the 442.40+ repeater has now failed, and was replaced.
The problem was traced to a low level transmitter stage that was generating harmonics. The increased
current in the circulator was desoldering components. The low level amp stage was replaced and
all now seems to be well.
3/16/2008 - The circulator was found to be defective in the 442.40+ repeater, and
was replaced.
3/15/2008 - The K4RTP-7 SEDAN node on 145.77, and the W4RAL-7 Packet BBS nodes
were re-installed at the new Zebulon site. They are combined into a single antenna with a 6
cavity repeater duplexer and are running nicely.
3/14/2008 - The 442.40+ repeater receive interference problem has worsened.
All plug-in boards were removed and replaced, as the problem seems to be associate with vibration.
No _real_ repair was found.
3/11/2008 - The 442.40+ repeater has developed a problem with interference
when transmitting. An additional pass cavity was installed on the transmitter.
3/7/2008 - An intermittant receive problem on 442.40+ repeater
was traced down to bad duplexer jumper cable.
2/25/2008 - The 442.40+ repeater was installed at the new Zebulon site.
On-air testing is underway...
2/24/2008 - The new Zebulon repeater site was finally completed and
ready for re-installation of the Zebulon repeaters.
6/5/2007 - The new Zebulon repeater site was approved, and is now being
assembled and readied for re-installation of the Zebulon repeaters. Much work has to be done,
including installation of a concrete pad & weatherproof cabinet, power, cables, paint, etc.
3/5/2007 - The Zebulon repeater site was dismantled, prior to
removal of the water tower. We are now in search of a new site for the 10m, 6m,
220, & 440 repeaters, in addition to the packet nodes. Bummer...
1/14/2003 - After 9 months of negotiations, frequency studies,
meetings, writing letters, providing insurance info, ate....the management at the
prospective repeater site for 147.30 in Wilson has changed hands. New management declined
our ability to install the repeater at the new site. 147.30 has been returned to the
frequency pool with SERA and the Wilson repeater retired with no ETA for re-installation.
6/8/2002 - More tower work was done at the Clayton
tower site today. Click
HERE to have a look!
6/2/2002 - The K4RTP-7 SEDAN node in Zebulon was updated to
K-net protocol by a WA4MJF chip replacement, and the callsign is now
K4RTP-8 to avoid an interference situation when the system drops to emergency
power.
6/2/2002 - Several more days of work have been done at
the Clayton 147.39 repeater site, including installing lightning protection
on the AC power circuits and all antenna feedlines. We're beginning to feel a
bit more safe about this new installation, and trying to take as many precautions
as possible to avoid another serious strike (if that's possible!).
5/26/2002 - A new 145.01 W4RAL-4 packet BBS node
was installed at the site in Clayton, and we still have a bit more work to
do on it.
5/23/2002 - The 442.400 is back on the air from a test
antenna at the WB4IUY shop. Most of the serious repairs have been completed, and
only minor controller work remains.
5/21/2002 - WooHoooo!!! The new 147.39 repeater is now
back online. The site was refurbished, a new repeater cabinet was fabricated,
new cavities were assembled, a new repeater was constructed, and all is now
back as it should be.
5/21/2002 -
BULLETIN! New 147.39 repeater is now completed and on the
air in Clayton. While it was being constructed to replace the repeater
described on the TEARA repeater page, we documented some of it. Want to see
pictures of the bulletin described herein? Click =>HERE<=
to see it while it was under construction!
5/3/2002 - Man, the Clayton site took a lightning hit
last night, and took out the W4RAL-4 packet BBS node, power supply, amplifier,
TNC, and did a bit of damage to the antenna system. Someone tell Zeuss to
quit picking on us!!
5/2/2002 - A new site has been secured for the 147.30 repeater
in Wilson. Decent sites are hard to come by, and we're surely thankful for
this one. Lots of stuff had to be done to determine compatability, including
an intermod study involving a wide range of frequencies. More on this site
will be posted later.
4/26/2002 - The old 147.30 repeater, duplexers, antennas,
and assiciated hardware were removed from the Wilson site and returned to
the WB4IUY shop for repairs/updates, prior to relocating to a new site. Whew,
that thing is HEAVY!!!
4/19/2002 - A problem arose in the messaging system on
the 147.39 repeater and was corrected.
4/12/2002 - The last of the 147.39+ cavity cabling was
completed to allow cohabitation of the site with a packet node on 145.01. Sometimes,
things that seem simple on the surface....well, you know :-)
3/30/2002 - Testing was performed at a possible site for
an east-bound packet BBS node today. Much site noise proved the site
unusable, but a plan was assembled to hopefully work around this...
3/25/2002 - The W4RAL-7 bbs Packet Node on 147.54 developed
a transmit power amp problem. Radios were swapped out, and an additional
outboard PA was installed.
3/6/2002 - The 10 meter repeater's transmit site seems to
have developed an an intermittant antenna problem. As a result, UHF noise is
generated that blocks the link rx. An additional low pass filter was installed on
the 10m tx, and that seemed to be a reasonable 'patch' for the time being (until
we can get up the tower and locate the antenna problem).
2/23/2002 - The 10 meter repeater's receive site controller
thumbed it's nose up at me today, and required the replacement of a timer chip.
All is once again well with 29.620-.
2/19/2002 - The 10 meter repeater's transmit site power
supply is showing it's behind. It was revamped today, and all seems to be
well again.
2/14/2002 - The 10 meter repeater is having some aches and
pains after being off of the air for some time. A bit of trouble arose in the
amplifier, but that was repaired today and everthing is running again.
2/10/2002 - The 224.80 220 mhz repeater is getting a
synthesizer overhaul. Much work is yet to be done, as this repeater was also
a fatality when the 10m repeater was struck by lightning.
1/4/2002 - Now that it's cold outside, I've slowed down with other
activities and am back on the repeater projects... Many things are underway,
including new packet nodes, repeater repairs, etc. The 10 meter repeater is
now back online, the 442.40 and 224.8 repeaters are getting a facelift, a new
BBS packet nodes are under way for Rocky Mount and Clayton on 145.01, a new SEDAN
node is underway for Clayton on 145.77, and the 147.30 repeater will be undergoing a move
before warmer weather returns....
The following activities occurred on April 6 and 9-11, 2001....
Once the Repeater's PA problems were corrected,
Steve and I set out to begin completion of the control system. Part of
the control system is built from a refurbished S-Com 6k repeater controller.
The original 6k, in use 2 repeaters ago (what a way to measure time!) in
Clayton, was almost completely destroyed by lightning in 1996. I tossed
it to the side and almost wrote it off for trash....until I ran across a
ham on the internet who had another 6k with problems. After purchasing it,
I was able to build one working unit from the two failed controllers. These
are fairly expensive units, costing over $600 when new...so I felt it was worth
the effort to repair (if possible).
Two Digital Voice recorders were pulled from salvage and repaired for
storing the longer messages planned for the repeater. These messages will
inform users of VE Session info, describe the TEARA repeater network,
remind users of the Nets and Meetings, etc.
DC Blowers were added to the repeater to additionally cool the Power
Amplifier, Voltage regulators for the power control circuitry, and
power rectifier assembly. These are areas where we've had heat related
failures in the past, so we thought we'd be a bit ahead of the game to
add additional cooling. DC blowers were chosen, to provide cooling
protection during periods of time when the repeater may be operating on DC
backup power (no AC power).
Backup batteries were purchased and installed on the Digital Voice
Recorders, to retain the voice messages during power outtages. In the
past, volatile memory was used in this aplication, and consequently
caused me to make a lot of unnecessary trips to Clayton to reprogram things.
The audio interfaces from the DVR's were completed, as well as all of the
associated controller interfacing. These messages will play at predetermined
intervals, including the initial ID period. A control unit is being designed
and fabricated as of this typing, that will sequence various messages
to the transmitter, and provide an interface for a digital voice clock
(for time of day announcements) and the UHF link radio.
A Radio Shack talking clock is being
gutted and modified to provide remote time of day announcements over the
repeater. The repeater will automatically 'speak' the time of day at the
top of the hour. In addition, users will have an access code allowing the
time of day announcement to be requested at will. Another talking function
being interfaced to the repeater is the initial ID'r. The initial ID is usually
the first message to be played when the repeater is 'awakened' from sleep.
This is being built from the electronics originally used in a talking
greeting card by Hallmark.
Click =>HERE<= to see
pictures associated with work done on April 6 and 9-11.
The following activities occurred on April 4/5, 2001....
This is another "heads up" on another large amount of work completed on the
147.39 repeater... on Wednesday night, 4/5 (also early AM and lunchtime
4/5!), another major leap towards the completion of 147.39 was made. In
recent days, I've been testing the rx sensitivity of the repeater's receiver
when in "repeat" mode. The receiver is very sensitive, but would often
become desensitized when the transmitter was online. Lots of testing was
performed on the duplexers, transmitter, exciter, etc, in an effort to
isolate the problem. Finally, it became apparent that the transmitter was
intermittently generating wide band noise and exhibiting some instability in
tuning.
Late in the night of 4/4, I decided to replace the transmitter's PA (power
amplifier) assembly. On 4/5, Steve KD4WIW and I met to formulate a plan and
decide what we'd use for the PA. We were all set to pull the entire RCA
transmitter (exciter) and PA, and replace it with a 100 watt Motorola Micor
(requiring the modification of the Micor, a lot of hardware and electrical
modifications, etc) when we were able to locate an exact replacement RCA
Series 1000 power amplifier.
Steve, Tim, and I began work last night around 7pm, and by about 11:30pm, a
new power amplifier was installed and tuned. The wide band noise problem is
now non-existent, and the repeater rx/tx performance in "repeat mode" is
what we were hoping for.
Now that the RF troubles seem to be resolved, we're moving forward to
complete the interface of the various peripheral devices (the remaining
voice messaging equipment, voice clock, weather radio, ac power detector, dc
blowers for emergency power cooling, and UHF link transceiver).
The repeater is online at my shop for continued testing and work. Please use
it as much as possible, to help me "shake out" any more bugs than may exist.
The recent use has been invaluable to me, and was one reason the wide band
noise became so apparent. Signal reports have come in from KB4ZMB, AC4UD,
KQ4MS, KE4PUV, KD4UAI, K4CMH, N1GMV, KG4ENL, KD4WIW, WA4MJF, KE4VNX, WB4VOD,
and others. Thanks for the help!
I've taken many photos of the ongoing work, and will post them on the
website ASAP for your viewing enjoyment :-)
Click =>HERE<= to see
pictures associated with work done on 4/4-5/01
The following activities occurred on April 2, 2001....
Lots more work was done to 147.39 today, in light of the scattered showers
and such. Boy, this has been a busy weekend for repeater related work! Steve
KD4WIW, Tom KE4NGH, Tim Richards (fellow Vulcan rider who is interested in
ham radio), and I spent the day working on the repeater.
Modifications were made to the last voice message recorder, bracketry was
fabricated for the message recorders and they were installed, permanent
mounts for the controller were fabricated and installed, the receive preamp
was mounted to the cabinet, lots more wiring was completed in the cabinet,
rx and tx ports were installed through the cabinet, a new ac power
distribution system and duplex receptacle installed inside of the cabinet,
terminal strips were installed for various accessory connections, binding
posts were installed for the battery backup connections, a new double
shielded cable was fabricated and installed between the preamp and repeater
rx, an audio delay board was installed in the controller, etc.... There is
still a bit of work to do, but things are moving along pretty well.
I took some photos, to be posted on the website in a day or so. The repeater
is running on a test antenna, a bit higher up now. Please have a check and
see if you can hear it in your various locations.
Click =>HERE<= to see
pictures associated with work done on 4/2/01
The following activities occurred on April 1, 2001....
4/1/2001
BULLETIN! Much new work was done at the
Zebulon site in April of 2001. Wanna see it? Click =>HERE<=
to check out part of the picture archives on this work.
Steve KD4WIW, Tom KE4NGH, Tim Richards (prospect for the amateur service!),
Jay KQ4MS, and I were doing tower work all day today in Zebulon. We climbed
up and down the Zebulon water tower waaayyy too many times to be fun,
hehehe. I'm sure I'll be sore tommorrow! We climbed up to 150 feet, pulled
up a lot of gear, swapped out a defective UHF antenna on the 442.400
repeater, removed a 220mhz antenna, rerouted a bunch of stuff for the
KQ4MS-3 APRS node and W4RAL-7 Packet BBS node, eliminated a triplexer that
was causing a little trouble, installed some new jumpers and replaced some
leaky connectors and vapor seal, installed 2 new antennas (for the 29.620
and the 53.07 repeaters), about 400' of feedline, secured a bunch of cabling
all over the tower (and I do mean ALL OVER!), cleaned up inside the repeater
cabinet and pulled a bunch of needed service on the voice and digital
systems (along with MUCH rewiring), and called it a day long after dark.
Things are progressing on the 147.39 repeater. I've gone through the
duplexers and repaired/returned them (the lightning hit damaged one of the
cavities). The receive preamp is rebuilt once again, and now installed. Much
of the controller programming is now completed. 4 new voice messaging
systems have been readied, and one if currently running on the repeater in
test mode. I spent most of the day on Friday, working on a desense problem
caused by wide band noise generated by the tx, but now have that corrected.
Tim and I tracked down an intermittant problem with the tx on thursday
night, and a good bit of mechanical work was done preparing and mounting
hardware in the cabinet. The system is beginning to resemble a repeater, and
is now very stable on frequency. Probably, Sunday night, it'll pop online
from a higher "test" antenna at my qth.
Click =>HERE<= to see
pictures associated with work done on 4/1/01
Some of the posts prior to this were not actually bulletins, but rather bits and pieces
of history I found from newsletters and such to try and fill in some of the blanks. Much of the
earlier work was not well documented...
3/23/2001 - The 147.39 repeater in Clayton was
patched with some old mobile MastrPro stuff to limp us by, while I
complete the
new repeater. It's not so good, but it is working...sorta...
2/25/2001 - The 147.39 repeater in Clayton has
finally bit the dust. Damage seems to be beyond repair (looks like a
blow
torch was used in the cabinet when it had an internal fire in the HV
supply. I'm running wide open to get the new repeater finished and
installed.
1/7/2001 - The 147.30 repeater in Wilson has gone crazy. A winter electrical storm damaged the controller, and
the processor had to be replaced. All is back up and running now.
11/18/2000 - The 442.400 repeater in Zebulon is choking on a rogue carrier on it's input. Fox hunting is underway to
locate the source.
7/12/2000 - The 147.30 repeater in Wilson is back up to speed, and the receiver sensitivity issue was
traced back to a defective outboard rx preamp.
7/3/2000 - The 147.30 repeater in Wilson took a lightning stricke and is having problems. Have to schedule
time to get to the site and make repairs...
4/6/2000 - The 147.39 repeater in Clayton had much work done today to resolve the TX noise problem that has begun to
really drive us crazy. So far, so good...
4/1/2000 - The Zebulon site got a lot of work done today. New triband antenna installed, defective
440 antenna removed, and replaced the 220 rptr antenna with a new 10m ant for the 10m repeater receiver.
3/23/2000 - The 147.30 repeater in Wilson had a new PL decoder board installed. Kevin KT4BN took
care of the chore and got the repeater back up and running nicely.
3/2/2000 - The 29.62 repeater receive site dropped offline due to a controller failure. The keying device in
the controller's output board was replaced, and it is back on the air.
9/8/1999 - The 147.30 repeater in Wilson went off the air. It turns out that a contractor working in the
elevator shaft accidentally hit a circuit breaker and shut the power off to it. After a 90 mile round-trip to the site and a
breaker reset, all was back up and running.
8/31/1999 - The 147.39 repeater in Clayton had lost output and was very weak. The tubein the PA was replaced,
output tuned up, and all is back on the air.
6/25/1999 - The 224.800 repeater took a lightning hit and destroyed the controller. It is offline
awaiting repairs.
10/1997 - The 29.62 10m repeater receive site has been moved from Lizard Lick and is now operational at the
Zebulon site.
8/1997 - The 224.800 repeater has been moved from Lizard Lick and is now operational at the
Zebulon site. Thanks for Jay KQ4MS, Steve KD4WIW, and others for the antenna installation.
7/1997 - The 442.400 repeater has been moved from Lizard Lick and is now operational at the
Zebulon site.
6/1997 - Efforts are underway to begin relocation of all equipment from Lizard Lick to the newly
approved and readied site at the old Zebulon in-town water tower. Antennas and hardline are installed, and a new battery
backup system is being built & installed in the cabinet.
3/1996 - Work is being done to get approval to use a water tower in Zebulon as a site to relocate the
Lizard Lick repeaters to. All looks favorable, but more engineering details are to be supplied and more town hall meetings to
attend to get all approvals. The Lizard Lick site is for sale, and loss of it is almost inevitable.
9/1995 - Monthly meetings are beginning with the Town Of Zebulon to hopefully get approval to
outfit the old IN-Town water tank for repeater antennas and set it up as a repeater site.
7/1995 - The 147.30 repeater in Wilson received a controller firmware upgrade, a custom built power regulator
module installed, additional blowers installed, and a UHF link radio system installed. It is finally linked full-time to
Clayton via the 442.40 UHF repeater in Lizard Lick.
6/1995 - The 147.39 repeater #2 in Clayton was set to require a PL of 88.5 to access it, full time. A
message was included in the voice ID'r to make users aware of this. Much local opposition arose and many felt this
was an attempt to "close" the repeater...it was not. It was a technical way of stopping the non-stop kerchunking caused
by splatter from wide band military data bursts being transmitted from Ft Bragg on 148.00 (only 10khz above the 147.99 input)
6/1995 - The 147.39 repeater #2 in Clayton was was knocked off the air yet again (!), by another lightning
strike. This damaged the power supply and PA, but spare parts were available and it was back on the air quickly.
6/1995 - The 147.39 repeater #2 in Clayton was was knocked off the air for a day due to another lightning
strike. There was only a fuse blown, and it was repaired quickly.
2/1995 - The 147.39 repeater #2 in Clayton was was supplied by Tom W4SIS and readied for installation.
It was an old MastrPro repeater with a tube-type PA, and worked well. It was tuned up, put on freq with new crystals, and
a controller installed. The Clayton site was back up!
1/1995 - The 147.39 repeater #1 in Clayton was struck a death blow by lightning. It was a total loss.
Even the cavities had the coupling loops blown off of them.
7/1994 - The 224.800 repeater was placed on the air at the Lizard Lick site. All was running well and
coverage reports were coming in.
5/1994 - The 29.620 repeater was placed in operation at the Lizard Lick site. Vertical separation and
lower power of 1 watt were used to get it on the air. Split site operation will be a necessity for this repeater
to operate correctly.
5/1994 - The 147.39 repeater in Clayton received a much needed tune-up when the transmitter began
generating wide-band noise that would desense the receiver.
3/1994 - The 442.400 repeater was placed on the air at the Lizard Lick site. All was running well and
coverage reports were coming in.
2/1994 - The 147.30 repeater in Wilson had an external Astron power supply with blowers added to
support the Aerotron amp that was installed.
1/1994 - The 147.30 repeater in Wilson had a power amplifier from an Aerotron transmitter grafted
in, and it was back up and running at about 50 watts.
12/1993 - The 147.30 repeater in Wilson had the power amplifier to blow up, literally days before
the TEARA Christmas party in Wilson. A temporary power amplifier was connected and it was back up and running at 5 watts,
11/1993 - The 147.30 repeater in Wilson is troubled with controller bugs, duplexer problems,
antenna problems. We worked at that site several nights/week and every weekend. All was finally resolved.
8/1993 - The 147.390 repeater in Clayton blew the power amplifier, again. It was repaired, and forced air cooling
was added to the PA heat sinks.
7/1993 - A repeater site in Wendell (Lizard Lick) was procured and readied for installation of a
few member owned repeater systems. Plans are to install a 440 and a 220 repeater, and part of a 10 meter repeater.
6/1993 - A remotely controllable squelch circuit was added to the 147.390 repeater in Clayton, and this
greatly helped in controlling "kerchunking" due to tower noice.
5/1993 - The 147.015 repeater in Wilson was finally co-ordinated with the call sign of WA4UQC and
changed to 147.30. The co-ordination required an antenna pattern adjustment to null the signal to the south, and to use a
PL of 88.5 for access.
3/1993 - The 147.390 repeater in Clayton blew the power amplifier and was repaired.
11/1992 - Another VHF repeater was assembled on 147.015 and installed in Wilson. Plans to link it back
into the original 147.39 repeater are ahoof. The frequency of 147.015 belongs to Kirk KK4YP, and efforts are being made to
coordinate a frequency for which to permanently operate this machine on.
6/1992 - KK4YP, WB4IUY, and a few others installed a new UHF repeater in Thanksgiving. It is located
about 10 miles east of Clayton at about 235 feet on a commercial tower. The frequency is 444.0 and is one of the wider
coverage UHF repeaters in the eastern part of NC.
2/1992 - Several night time investigation sessions were pulled at the Clayton site to
determine the problems with mixing on the 147.39 repeater that only seem to happen late at night. Tower rectification
was found to be the problem...rusty tower section junctions...
