> I appreciate the thoughts. Anytime I've looked at a scheme
> which allows simply swapping the TX and RX to get back on the
> air, I arrive at the same conclusions...
>
> (1) If I took a lightning hit at the site, I'd want my spares
> to have been stored somewhere else.
> (2) Once I swap the TX and RX, I still can't bring either
> home for repair without taking the machine off the air.
Understood.
> As far as the automated switchover, the 7K has three receiver
> and two transmitter ports, so I wouldn't even need coax
> relays to provide remote swap capabilities. I could just
> crystal each radio for simplex, wire both receivers and both
> transmitters into the controller, issue a remote DTMF command
> to swap them, and instantly implement a second repeater on
> the upside-down split.
Yikes, upside-down? Your co-channel neighbors will just love that!
> I think my answer is going to end up being building a stash
> of spares, and using two radios.
Yeah, I'd definately go with split radios however you end up doing it. If
you're going to assume you're going to make the trip to the site in the
event of a failure, then there's probably no need to order two sets of
crystals, just move the elements when you swap radios and net them on
frequency. These days, the cost of crystals is usually more than the cost
of the radio they're going into...which is why I've mostly gone synthesized.
--- Jeff WN3A
