Current Events
2026
July 18, George West
Repairs
The fix-it team (HQU & LNL) went to GWS to do some minor things.
After morning breakfast tacos, we left to do the following:
1. reprogram a few things in the SRS controller
2. get the APRS weather station working (No weather)
3. check L2 (to Corpus) and why we have a weak signal ( RX signal has a lot of QSB )
We found the 'bug' in the SRS controller and put PL filters on all (3) radios. We changed out the TNC on the APRS weather station and we started to get WX data. The wind speed device will need to be replaced. It is frozen and not moving.
BAD news on both Link 1 and Link 2- -
The Anritsu did not paint a pretty picture. Both link antennas have high SWR. More checking will need to be done to see if the beams are bad or we have water in the heliax.
Walt/KA5HQU Dink/WA5LNL
July 11, Reinstall of Pandale (PAN) Equipment.
The fix it team (Walt, Bart & Dink)left SA at 4:30 am. We ran into a lot of rain in the Kerrville area. The back of Walt's SUV was full of equipment! This team needs TACOS to do the job and we have Walt (the cook) that made breakfast tacos. The morning stayed cloudy and this was great. Arriving about 8:30 am , the work started. Two metal sheets were placed under the cabinet to keep the cabinet from sinking into the plywood. With a completely empty cabinet, we could rock the cabinet to get the sheets under it. Walt got a hole drilled (low in the cabinet) to let cooler air in. Also, Walt wired up the 4 x 4 AC box with clamp. Thanks to an earlier visit by (Larry & Stan), they pulled 5-electrical boxes out and wiring so equipment could be mounted. Bart got all the radios from the car and placed them on the grill at the shack for the install. Bart kept the weather radar on his phone going to know where the rain was.
Things Done at PAN:
1. metal placed on the bottom of the radio cabinet
2. Hole punched in cabinet for cooler air
3. AC power cord clamped
4. (2) Motorola MTR2000 installed ( you need muscles/ 43 lbs ! )
5. All radios have isolators and Rx bandpass filters
6. Holes punched on CDM TX blower for better cooling
7. Filters placed on CDM blowers for noise
8. PL filters inserted in SRS controller
9. SRS Id notch filters put in
10. APRS- cover removed from CDM radio-cooling
11. Barometric pressure set
We left the site at 1:30pm under cloudy skies and were home by 5:30
73,
Walt/KA5HQU, Bart/KG5PGH, Dink/WA5LNL
June 25, Uvalde
Uvalde (UVA) /(Muffin Hill) is back on the air! After breakfast tacos this morning, the fix-it crew (Walt & Dink) left for UVA to reinstall the repeater (443.925) and throw the 'big switch'. The 'big switch' was left in the OFF position on the last visit. The repeater had NO power and we found the 'driver' may have melted some solder! Extra fans were installed on the repeater, Astron 12v power supply and CDM's. PL filters are now ON links #1 & #2 + the repeater. Cabinet door hinges were oiled per Larry's/EX instructions
APRS: WX5II-2 UVA
In the APRS cabinet, a 3" fan was installed to replace a bad fan. "AA" back-up batteries were changed on the on the weather station. Wind speed and wind direction failed about 3 months ago?
We either had a hungry hawk or some big hail that took out the instruments?
Walt/KA5HQU Dink/WA5LNL
May 2, Trip to Pleasanton
The 'Fix It' team( Walt & Dink) (after breakfast tacos) headed to PLZ to get several things done. The main reason was to pick-up a Db-4042 VHF duplexer with a Hoffman cabinet to sell at the Schertz swap fest, May 29,30. Intertie will have a very good price on this duplexer!
Things done at PLZ:
1.Rack mount switching power supply was reinstalled. It had a bad fan.
2.A big surprise, all the lights were working!!
3.Summer is getting close, so we opened a vent in the ceiling to let the hot air out.
4. APRS weather station was worked on. The buzzards had crashed the wind speed and wind direction. A new 'better spike'/NO landing bar was installed. We also found a dead back-up battery on the weather station. This will be replaced on next visit. Check out KC5L-11