Moving the 147.03 Repeater

This page documents the various steps in moving the 147.03 repeater to Mt. Shrader in Johnnie.

August 3, 4, and 5, 2001.
Jerry Dries N7HYV and Dick Grady AC7EL construct a steel framework to hold the solar panels. They build it in Jerry's yard, and then transport it to Grady's garage.
August 19, 2001.
Jim Tully N7ENB, Richard Miller KD7OS and Dick Grady AC7EL mount the solar panels on the framework.
August 20, 2001.
Dick Grady paints the framework with Rust-Oleum paint.

October 25, 2001.
Jim Tully and Dick Grady finish wiring the solar panels.
October 27, 2001.
Jim Tully N7ENB, Al Skarsten KB7ZBX, Al Helberg AA7C, Richard Kaufman KE6IGM, Sam Musselman KB7VBU, Forrest Butler WA7EKK, and Foster Paulis W4HCX arrive at the house of Dick Grady AC7EL.

First we moved the solar panel array out to the driveway, facing south,


and hooked the solar array to the charge controller mounted on the wall of the garage.

and wire up the batteries.

Next we installed a 2 Meter/70 cm antenna.

Finally we moved the repeater from Bob Grigg's house and installed it in Grady's garage.


December 6, 2001.
We receive permission from from the Sheriff's Office to use the repeater site. George Johnson, Communications Technician for the Sheriff's Office, accompanied Foster Paulis W4HCX, Jim Tully N7ENB and Dick Grady AC7EL to the repeater site, where we were given a signed copy of the application letter and a key to the enclosure.

Standing by the open door of the equipment hut are Jim Tully N7ENB, leaning on the door, and George Johnson.

Inside the hut, Foster Paulis W4HCX measures for a shelf to hold our equipment.


December 16, 2001.
Sam Musselman KB7VBU, Foster Paulis W4HCX, Jim Tully N7ENB and Dick Grady AC7EL journey to the repeater site to install the antenna for the repeater. Sam took photographs and posted them on his site at http://www.pvimall.com/ham/Johnnie/johnnie_repeater.htm
December 17,2001.
Sam Musselman KB7VBU, Foster Paulis W4HCX, Willie Moore KC7DKC and Dick Grady AC7EL disconnect the solar panels and load them onto Willie's 4x4 pickup truck.
December 18,2001
Foster Paulis W4HCX, Jim Tully N7ENB, Jim's son Charlie Tully and Dick Grady AC7EL disassemble the remainder of the repeater and load it into Grady's 4x4 wagon. Then with Willie Moore KC7DKC we journey to the repeater site to install the antenna for the repeater. We installed the repeater and put it into operation.

Unfortunately, nobody brought along a camera. Yeah, I was supposed to bring my camera, but somehow I left it behind. At a future day, someone will go up there again and phograph what we did.


January 26, 2002
We have been experiencing sharp static noise on signals which are weak at the repeater input during windy conditions. Sam Musselman KB7VBU, Jim Tully N7ENB, Jerry Dries N7HYV and Dick Grady AC7EL went up to the repeater site to try to fix the problem.

Jerry brought along a repeater test set. The repeater's output was noise-free when fed with a weak clean signal via cable from the test set. When Jerry transmitted a weak over-the-air signal from the test set, there was noise on the repeater output. We substituted another antenna (on Grady's automobile) and cable, connected to the same point at the repeater input as the test set had been; again we got noise. This showed that the noise source was local, probably somewhere on the hill-top. We were not able to establish where the noise was coming from. We will have to return with directional antennas to locate the source of the interference.

While on-site, Grady took some photos. This is the repeater hut. Our solar panels are in front of the hut. The Sheriff's Department's solar panels are on the top of the hut. At the extreme left is the pole holding his and our antennas (see below for a better photo of the antennas).

The antenna for the amateur repeater is on the left side of this wooden pole. The antenna for the Sheriff's Department repeater is above us and on the right side of the pole; in this photo, only the base of the Sheriff's repeater can be seen; the radiating elements are higher.

This is where the various cables enter the repeater hut. The grey corrugated cable is our antenna cable. The black smooth cable is our solar-panel power. The black corrugated cable is the Sheriff's antenna. The light-brown cable is the Sheriff's solar-panel power.

This photo shows part of the road we take to get to the repeater location. At left center is the final section of road, across the ridge-top. In right center, the arrow points to the road down in the valley.

This is one of several mines in the area.


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