Hi all, The repeater-builder website mentions rebuilding a Stationmaster that has developed noise by taking it apart and resoldering the sections. I have a Stationmaster that has developed that noise so I brought it down the hill. The replacement antenna cured the noise, but it's not the same class of antenna so my coverage area is not what it was nor will that antenna survive the winter. Now comes the project of actually rebuilding the broken antenna.
Upon starting to take it apart though, a big question came up. Are there Stationmaster models that can and models that can't be rebuilt? I don't have the model designator of mine. The antenna predates my association with the site (in the context of maintaining it anyway) and the label is largely faded away. I can read "Phelps Dodge" and "Super Stationmaster" but that's about it for the label. The antenna is for 2 meters and is 21 feet, 6.75 inches long from the bottom of the metal base to the top of the metal topcap. The thing that worries me as far as being able to take it apart is that there seems to be something like epoxy between the radome and the metal base. There's a black substance at the junction of the radome to the base and upon taking the three screws out of the side of the metal base I can see the layer of metal, the layer of the black stuff, the layer of the radome and then the inner metal that the screw goes into. Can someone who's taken these apart tell me if that black substance is indeed bonding the parts together and I'm stuck looking for a new antenna, or with all the screws out and just a little more force will it indeed come apart? Thanks for any pointers and 73 rj kb6ytd
