RE: [Repeater-Builder] Digest Number 7357
I remember that too Ken! I miss SAROC! And for your SoCal types.. I remember seeing Dick McKay walking around the Sahara in Vegas, talking into a Motorola mic (with just the coil cord hanging down) and listening on '94. This was during SAROC in the 70's Ken _ Hotmail is redefining busy with tools for the New Busy. Get more from your inbox. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_2
[Repeater-Builder] Re: Desense has me pulling my hair out!
I know from experience that aluminum oxide is a noise generator under RF conditions. - Or course, silver oxide is conductive, unlike most other oxides.
[Repeater-Builder] second receiver splitter
Building an even splitter is no big deal for 50 ohms. I have cranked out hundreds over the years. Use a Wilkinson design. FOr two way its two pieces of 75 ohm coax, cut to 1/4 wave with velocity factor, like rg-179 and a 100 ohm resistor across the split ports. You even get a little isolation for all your work. Bandwidth is fair, isolation is better than you would expect and ease of construction is no big deal. There are web pages describing their construction and basics all over the web, like on Microwaves101.com. Heck, I built them for years without even understanding how they work and all of mine did ok. Or, I can build you one for 30 bucks, includeds the priority mail rate right now, shipped I have built this design from 44 mHz (got kind of big!) to 1500 mHz. My best experience is in the less than one foot of cable class. As you pass 800 mHz the parasitics start to get you. Had excellent luck at 100 mHz a few years ago too. that one carried almost 50 watts at its sum port. My point is, there is no excuse for using a TV splitter anymore! Get in touch direct if you need help with this. td wb6mie
[Repeater-Builder] second receiver splitter
Building an even splitter is no big deal for 50 ohms. I have cranked out hundreds over the years. Use a Wilkinson design. FOr two way its two pieces of 75 ohm coax, cut to 1/4 wave with velocity factor, like rg-179 and a 100 ohm resistor across the split ports. You even get a little isolation for all your work. Bandwidth is fair, isolation is better than you would expect and ease of construction is no big deal. There are web pages describing their construction and basics all over the web, like on Microwaves101.com. Heck, I built them for years without even understanding how they work and all of mine did ok. Or, I can build you one for 30 bucks, includeds the priority mail rate right now, shipped I have built this design from 44 mHz (got kind of big!) to 1500 mHz. My best experience is in the less than one foot of cable class. As you pass 800 mHz the parasitics start to get you. Had excellent luck at 100 mHz a few years ago too. that one carried almost 50 watts at its sum port. My point is, there is no excuse for using a TV splitter anymore! Get in touch direct if you need help with this. td wb6mie
[Repeater-Builder] Re: DTMF Decoder
I am trying to figure out whether I should throw away my old WE 247B KTU touch tone decoder. Anybody want it? Museum maybe? Put some pull ups on it and it should not be too hard to do a 12 line to hex converter, in software. You can't beat the old pot cores and precision caps for acquisition time, it ain't exactly false proof. When I was working late at night, alone up on Santiago I had a habit of turning down the HT-220 because it was barfing intermod continuously. So the guys would do cat call whistles into the rptr to get my attention with the chattering relays. Please, this thing has 20 years of service and sacred rodent excrement included. I can't just throw it away? td wb6mie 2a. Re: DTMF Decoder Posted by: Ron Wright [EMAIL PROTECTED] n9eerptr Date: Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:19 am ((PDT)) I have never played with a computer sound card other than the typical plug it in and let the various program drivers interface to it. I bet the sound card is a simple ADC and software looks at the wave form using a look up table that compares what is received and reacts. DTMF is much more complex, simple in theory, but can be complex. With varying tone levels, distortion, harmonics, etc the wave form changes drastically. Dedicated circuits and ICs do a much better job. 73, ron, n9ee/r
[Repeater-Builder] RE: EF Johnson CR1010 xtal replacement
Dang, sounded like a good idea at the time! Re: EF Johnson CR1010 xtal replacement
[Repeater-Builder] Re: EF Johnson CR1010 xtal replacement
1b. Re: EF Johnson CR1010 xtal replacement Posted by: Paul Finch [EMAIL PROTECTED] wb5idm Date: Mon Jan 28, 2008 5:23 pm ((PST)) Only one problem, with two of those things it's twice the money I have in any of my repeaters! Paul
[Repeater-Builder] NASA audio on IRLP?
Does anyone know of an IRLP reflector or node that has non-shuttle mission audio of the ISS comms on it?
[Repeater-Builder] ScotchKote - db products, etc
Leaking antenna harnesses... Man, you guys are soft. I had to put a drip loop in my DB-406 cable. Otherwise I had to dry it out after every rainstorm. I had a glass bead type N barrel connector so the water would collect and short it. When the tx signal strength started to go down, it was time to drive to Santiago and let it drip for a couple of hours. Thankfully, it never rains in Southern California. (hammond, hazelwood 1972) Scotch Kote removal... A long time ago I was able to reconstitute a hardened can of this stuff by adding as much MEK as I could. But it took a very long time, like months to soften. Of course the built in brush bristles were left in the mess but they added to the bulk of the mix. Worked just as good as the original mix. Decibel products quality contol... Didn't their plant get moved to mexico when Andrew assimilated them? Since then I have noted serious quality control problems. Bad connector assembly, lousy mechanical tolerance control and photo copied network analyzer data. Its enough to drive me to Telewave. td wb6mie
RE: [Repeater-Builder] Digest Number 5973
Same here. But I have no control head for the motran because I sold it on ebay for over 500 bucks to some nutball building himself a vintage a police car. Anybody want the motran? Free to first person at the gate in La Mirada, CA Note, it has early Cal Crystal Labs xtals in the radio so who knows where they are now, much less if they will oscillate. I am trying to think of the call sign of that old .76 - .525 repeater. Does it still exist on a new pair? All those receiver sites sure made it work good. td wb6mie Yep. Still have those rocks in my CHPTran. Jeff W6JK --- In Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com, skipp025 wrote: Anyone remember the 52.525 output and 52.76 input pair?
[Repeater-Builder] SpectraTac ACM squelch mod
Working on a spectratac package for a link receiver that will always have way more than enough signal and got to thinking. I know I have run across mods to defeat the fast gate mode and run in insanely long squelch tail mode permanently. Old IMTS systems come to mind. Has anyone ever done the opposite? I would like to inhibit the weak signal slow gate and hard wire it into fast gate only. I would like to do this in timing only and not make the squelch circuit tight. Any ideas? td wb6mie
[Repeater-Builder] Micor spectratac tone board reed question
I have a spectratac receiver I am refurbing for a friend. It came with a K-1000 reed installed in the stock tone board. Now I know this calls for a TLN-8381 reed but the k-1000 seems to work OK. Its sensitive, seems to open on 200-300 hz deviation, seems centered frequency wise. Anybody with any experience on this, should a k-1000 work ok in this application? Anybody got a 103.5 tln-8381? Should I bother worrying about it? td wb6mie
[Repeater-Builder] Re: Making room for the new guy
Here is my combination rant/contribution to thread drift... I recently monitored an exchange on my company's technical email list relating to a guy who had set up an ISDN codec system for a broadcast remote. The question was, how do I get rid of the delay? I wanted to start acting like the dog on Family Guy when one of the humans does something really stupid to him, what the hell Peter, what the hell! But I contained myself. Yes, I have read Shannon, Hartley, Viterbi and a bunch of other people's stuff that were/are way smarter than me. Bottom line here is this, my stuff, the channels I am allowed to occupy and most if not all of my equipment is gona' be ANALOG for a damn long time. Don't even try to sell me that crap and don't get it within 20 kHz of the frequencies I am using. After you pull my lifeless, charred body off of my equipment, you can do whatever the hell you want, I wont care anymore. Digital cellphones, digital broadcasting both radio and TV and digital whatever else for the sake of going digital is not about getting the message through cleaner and farther. It should be but its not. I get a reminder of that whenever I talk on my digital cellphone. What crap! There are large companies here in So Cal that consider things like Nextel walkie talkie an integral part of their emergency restoration plan. There is nothing funnier than to be in a conference room with a bunch of execs trying to talk to each other on their PTT cellphones and thinking that its great. Then there was the non-english speaking plumber crew we had to my house not long ago. They had Nextels, one guy was under my house, almost underground, right up against my foundation, trying to talk to the guy working on my kitchen sink, with the radios not much more than 6 feet from each other. The radios were spewing stuff I couldn't understand even if they were speaking english. Obviously, they couldn't understand each other either because they had to resort to screaming through the floor and stomping their feet to communicate. Lets stick with analog and fall back to simplex when we need to. Because the message has to get through the first time! There may not be a second chance. Sorry for the BW. td wb6mie
[Repeater-Builder] Re: Your old work bench - shop pictures are on ebay!
Too bad Jim Mann and CA are long gone. I remember walking through those places and being all inspired with all my dad's money I could spend at age 12. Plus knock myself on my butt trying to make it work. I also remember the angst I had ripping apart my T44 to build a preamp for my pre-prog receiver with a 6DL4 front end tube. And I still miss my 2 channel, full duplex U44BBT. Wow. Now I am 52 and just threw some of that stuff away, not that long ago. td wb6mie _ Don't get caught with egg on your face. Play Chicktionary! http://club.live.com/chicktionary.aspx?icid=chick_hotmailtextlink2 Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] RE: 1.2 gHZ range
Back in the crystal controlled 1970's I used GE Mastr II and MVP exciter boards as frequency sources for exactly what you are talking about. They put out several hundred milliwatts of RF so a combination of resistive attenuators and cavity filters and in some cases power splitters would bring the level down to +7 dBm to drive a doubly balanced mixer or 2 or 3 in a box I seem to recall that they had a fairly repeatable -6 dB or so conversion loss and about 20 dB rejection from X-L and X-R. I settled on the MiniCircuits SRA-5 after playing with a Vari-L DBM-182 which had a flat pack package. The relay can package of the SRA-5 worked much better with my point to point in free space, micro coax brass board kludge construction style of the period. It was ugly but it worked. If I needed to put it on a hilltop I could bend up a cover and solder it over it. An 820 mHz injection would bring my 1299 mHz signal down to a 478 mHz frequency where I could get free radios. For the transmitters I used varactor triplers to multiply up, deviation, frequency error and all. It blew a few peoples' minds to see an EF Johnson 558 working full duplex on 1300 mHz. They could not readily see the magic box under the seat that was doing the conversion. Yes, the 558 had a varactor output stage so it was a varactor driving a varactor, just asking for trouble. I seems I could always get them tamed down after about a day of tweaking or until the temperature changed a lot, then then they needed to get treaked a little more. I drove around with a CE 15 in the car for work so it was no big thing to pop the covers off and tweak on the fly. I even built repeaters that used a common LO signal for both the transmit and receive up and dowm converters. I would just order the crystals to land on the tx RX or link frequency in the 470 mHz radios. Fun while it lasted. got bored, had to duplex the radio since nobody else was on FM. At least with duplex I could talk to myself. I'm rambling too much, sorry. td wb6mie 10a. Posted by: David Struebel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wb2ftx Date: Mon Mar 19, 2007 11:14 am ((PDT)) Anyone help me I have a 1.2 GHz repeater, but no service monitor or signal generator for these frequencies. My service monitor, a Singer-Gertsch only goes up to 499.995 Mhz. I have tried using the third harmonic in the 420-427 range but either the service monitor is well filtered, or the signal is too weak to be picked up by the 1.2 GHz receivers... I have thought about an external tripler circuit... Any ideas on this or other possible solutions other than buying a new signal generator (too costly). _ _ Get a FREE Web site, company branded e-mail and more from Microsoft Office Live! http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/mcrssaub0050001411mrt/direct/01/
[Repeater-Builder] RE: 220 repeater receiver recommendations?
My answer would be none of the above. Get a VHF micor and have Kevin do the 220 mod to it. I cannot imagine any of the receivers mentioned coming close to that in performance. Good luck, td wb6mie Our group is in need of replacing the receiver on our 220 box and I wanted to solicit some opinions from the group. _ Find what you need at prices youll love. Compare products and save at MSN® Shopping. http://shopping.msn.com/default/shp/?ptnrid=37,ptnrdata=24102tcode=T001MSN20A0701 Yahoo! Groups - Join or create groups, clubs, forums amp; communities. Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups - Join or create groups, clubs, forums amp; communities. is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] RE:Glenayre 900 MHz T8500
The other appears to be a 75 ohm F connection. Ideas??? Its probably a satellite receiver input. L band from a Ku Band LNB. You should just dike it out and get it out of your way. td wb6mie _ Valentines Day -- Shop for gifts that spell L-O-V-E at MSN Shopping http://shopping.msn.com/content/shp/?ctId=8323,ptnrid=37,ptnrdata=24095tcode=wlmtagline Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Re: Antenna on the side of a water tower
In fact, it's normal these days that when you see banks of cell antennas on each side of a structure, each bank feeds a different bank of tx/rx; in other words, each bank is a different cell site. They are called sectors. Out here in LA, sites consist of 2, 3 or 4 sectors. On PCS 1950, each sector has 2 antennas. They use both for diversity receive. Only one is used for transmit at a time. The new ones are dual polarity, slant left and slant right. And I have seen several postings about taking a 6 dB hit in receiver sensitivity when combining antennas into a common receiver. Not true. The 6dB figure only works when splitting, not combining. Assuming the phase angles are close, you only get resistive losses through the device. td wb6mie _ Get live scores and news about your team: Add the Live.com Football Page http://www.live.com/?addtemplate=football
[Repeater-Builder] Re: Antenna on the side of a water tower
I don't think you are going to be able to model it to your satisfaction with any software you or I could afford. Perhaps you need to adopt an empirical approach, put up an antenna and see what you get. Drive test it, take field strength readings, plot and graph the real world data as much as you want. Then you can add in small tweaks in spacing, heading and gain. I would suggest starting with a low gain antenna, like maybe a 4 bay folded dipole array at the easiest to mount spacing from the tank. After you tweak that in for a while and have a feel for how it works, perhaps you could add a second antenna exactly 180 degrees on the other side of the tank. Try 0, 90, 180, 270 or totally random phase angles between the two antennas. Don't get bogged down in the math. Have fun with it. Last time I checked, ham radio is still a hobby. td, empiricist wb6mie It's hard to put into text. What I'd like to do, is get back to the more omni pattern if at all possible. The way everything is situated, if I put the antenna on the side of the tower facing through most of our coverage area, I think it will end up with too much gain in that direction, twoard another repeater to the northeast. Mostly, I'm just looking for a way to model what happens, ideally in something that radio mobile can digest, and I'll work it out from there. _ Search for grocery stores. Find gratitude. Turn a simple search into something more. http://click4thecause.live.com/search/charity/default.aspx?source=hmemtagline_gratitudeFORM=WLMTAG
[Repeater-Builder] RE: audio equalizers for repeater audio
Any suggestions as to what would be an ecomonical one to use to shape a repeaters output audio after a controller? The audio seems to set flat state but way too much on the high side. I have adapted parts of some of w2ihy's stuff to do similar things. I have also used Mackie and Behringer mixers to do rough eq like on the space shuttle feed. IHY's eq sits on a seperate board and is easy to isolate especially if you don't need the box and interface electronics. w2ihy.com td, not affiliated, just a happy customer wb6mie _ Get FREE Web site and company branded e-mail from Microsoft Office Live http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/mcrssaub0050001411mrt/direct/01/
RE: [Repeater-Builder] Digest Number 4042
synchronize the clock to GPS time... but that's a whole new topic! It would be more cost-effective to put an 120 VAC input on the controller for the purpose of picking off the 60 Hz reference. Ever wonder why your 50 year-old AC-powered clock keeps perfect time (between power failures, anyway)? Yes but old clocks use gears and are less prone to dirt getting into the counters and causing jumps. BTW Bob, I have not been able to key wr6jpl on 131.8 since before the end of the last shuttle mission. What is up? Will it be up for the next launch? td wb6mie _ MSN Shopping has everything on your holiday list. Get expert picks by style, age, and price. Try it! http://shopping.msn.com/content/shp/?ctId=8000,ptnrid=176,ptnrdata=200601tcode=wlmtagline
[Repeater-Builder] Converting a Johnson 559 into a repeater
I have done many of these in the past. With a Phelps Dodge Miniplexer they made great full duplex ham phones in the 70s and 80s. Somewhere in my garage, I have a 558 built up as an emergency repeater. Its as simple as eliminating the switching transistor that turns off voltage to the receiver during transmit. Replace it with a jumper. The purple wire also needs to be cut. That mutes the audio stage if memory serves. Then you need to dike the rg-188 off of the pin diode deck that goes to the receiver helical resonator deck on the underside. Drill a small hole between the fins of the heatsink and pass it out of the casting. Attach the connector of your choice. Getting the pin diodes out of the transmit path is optional. All of this would be much easier with a manual if you are not familar with the radio. I do it by memory mostly, if I forget where something is, I sniff it out with a meter or scope. My point is, it is a very easy radio to duplex. Even a 558 with the varactor tripler and antenna relay works very well in duplex. There may be some frequency combinations that are violations for this radio, but with low in, high out I have never run across this problem. td wb6mie I was given a mint condition EF Johnson 559 UHF mobile which I wish to convert into a repeater. I have prior repeater building experience, mostly with GE MVPs and Exec lls. Any and all info would be greatly appreciated Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] CATV Cable rating
Thanks for the link. I do not know what it is but I need a ballpark figure to design around. Its already installed but I have no idea what it is, I have not seen it yet. Its for a receiver link between two parts of a multicoupler between two buildings. The run is around 500 feet. I am figuring the resistives plus mismatch will put it about 10 dB deep. Thanks, td wb6mie You are probably asking for P3 CATV 500 cable. It is about 1.5 dB at 450 MHz. Go here http://www.trilogycoax.com/pdf/catv/spec_sheets/mc2/MC2_500.pdf to check out Trilogy 1/2 cable, which is air dielectric and has less loss than foam. This cable will work just fine for a RX application. Shorty, K6JSI San Diego Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] cable tv hardline loss question
Can someone estimate for me, the approximate loss of typical half inch cable TV hard line at 450 mHz? tnx td wb6mie Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Re: UHF Power
More details at http://wa6tdd.tripod.com and it's really worth reading. And wait for the photos to load - they are worth it as well (just for the photo of WA6ITF 40 years ago). The Jampro story is just under his picture. I think he would have been WA2HVK at that time. Although his 6 land call fit much better...I Talk Funny. Something not a lot of people remember is Burt had a transmitter that modulated AM and FM at the same time on the same carrier, intentionally. It really worked well. I had an old Collins 832 that did the same thing on 97.1 mHz but that was not intentional. td wb6mie Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] LM-386 audio buffer board
Did anybody ever cut a board for the LM-386 audio buffer project on the repeater builder web site? I am getting tired of vector boarding the things. Thanks, td wb6mie Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Re: Loss through adaptors
I have to agree on all points. In my limited travels, I have seen a lot of questionable plating and dielectric materials showing up on all sorts of RF equipment. If its black with silver underneath, I would rather dig it out of the junk box and use it rather than going to an electronics store and taking pot luck. It took me a while to warm up to RF Specialties after having been raised on products like Dage, Sealectro, Omni Spectra, Kings and a bunch more I can't remember. On a related issue...I was on assignment at the MJ trial in central ca recently. I needed to build a short UHF duplex link from my live truck to our rented space in the coffee shop which housed our ISDN, codecs, etc. I reached into the place that should have held my spare base station antenna for such things and nothing. Where the hell was it? Makes a good case for not cleaning out the truck any more. So with the intent of building a quick quarter wave UHF ground plane, I made a quick run up to the only real electronics store (that I knew of) in Santa Maria. I ask for a type N female 4 hole connector. The guy behind the counter had to find somebody who knew what that was, then that guy had to find somebody to find them. 15 minutes later I ended up paying 9.99 a piece for 4 (all they had or ever will) ug-22 like, no name, no numbers connectors and was happy to get them. The plating looked cheap but the dielectric looked like teflon...silly me. So off to my $150 a night room at the airport Raddison and my soldering iron. Needless to say, as soon as my soldering iron hit the solder pot in the center, the dielectric started to give way. It was not teflon, it was some unknown thermo-polymer with a very low melting point! I would have been better off grinding up some corn flakes and graham crackers, mixing that with superglue and machining my own. Well, I got through it. Luckily my hop was short and if I had any duplex noise, it was covered up. My point is watch out for cheap dielectric materials! They can end up costing you a lot more than you paid for them in performance. td wb6mie Yes, I saw MJ and he looks creepier in person than he does on TV! This topic interests me, not just because I personally abhor adaptors in any repeater system, but also because I see that others are equally passionate about certain cables. After spending many years troubleshooting repeater systems cobbled together by my friends and colleagues, most of which were replete with every connector series known to Mankind- and which used many adapters to mate between series- I became aware that the most troublesome repeaters had the largest number of adapters. When I began to design my own repeater systems, I vowed to abide by three simple rules: 1. Use only Mil-spec RG-400/U or RG-214/U cable for jumpers and interconnecting cables, and 2. Make up these cables with the correct connectors on each end, using the specified tools, and 3. Use only crimped connectors with silver-plated brass bodies, gold-plated contacts, and Teflon dielectric. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
RE: [Repeater-Builder] Digest Number 3562
Kevin, when I wrote that I did not understand your full intent. I always used the 2175 status tone, regardless of whether I had PL on the sat receivers, links or both. td Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:27:29 -0500 From: Kevin Custer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Operating a Spectra-TAC Comparator (Voter) without RX encoders. Thanks for your thoughts, Tony. It would appear that from your explanation, you used PL for signaling to the SQM, since the link transmitters continued to transmit for a length of time after the remote receiver lost signal. Or, did you still use the status tone and simply not use constant link transmit? Kevin tony dinkel wrote: Kevin, I did that a bunch of years ago both commercially and amateurly. Equipment involved was native motorola, ge and ef johnson. Did it on 420, 960, 1296 and the 2.5watt, 12.5kHz 450 channels. I built an add on COR Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Operating a Spectra-TAC Comparator (Voter) without RX encoders.
Kevin, I did that a bunch of years ago both commercially and amateurly. Equipment involved was native motorola, ge and ef johnson. Did it on 420, 960, 1296 and the 2.5watt, 12.5kHz 450 channels. I built an add on COR board to the link receivers and forced an SQM disable to the comparator. It seems to me that is available on screw terminals behind each sqm, if I can find my manual I will check. I made the carrier hang time between 15 seconds and a minute on the link tx's, also even on PL systems I made the link tx carriers come up with carrier only. The overall systems were still mostly PL though. td wb6mie Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 21:06:19 -0500 From: Kevin Custer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Operating a Spectra-TAC Comparator (Voter) without RX encoders. Hi, Need some opinions from folks that may be using the (newer) Motorola Spectra TAC Comparator as a stand alone voter, using RF links that don't transmit all the time. I have some theories on what to do, but I thought I would post to see what others have done. Please be as specific as you can. The comparator I have is the newer style that uses Signal Quality Modules that produce a voltage that corresponds with the quality of the signal received, not the 3 Micor squelch chips. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] RE: OT - funny interference story
I have run into things like that on 800. Just after the band was turned on the FCC had not gotten rid of all of the translators between tv channels 70 and 83. I had a receiver on 807.2375 that had an odd, week, dirty sounding carrier that would come and go. I went up with antenna, preamps, cavities and IFR one day and was able to pull it up out of the noise floor. It was video! A quick run up the band about 4.5 mHz and there was the audio carrier. I did not have to listen too long until it identified itself as channel 28 Los Angeles. It was K70DF on Strawberry Peak about 50 miles away. It was on ch 70 which has a video freq of 807.25. We were hearing one of the sidebands depending on the picture content. I worked on that one for about 2 weeks. td I am working on a weird interference problem right now for that matter, it's been going on for two weeks or so. I have a customer that I maintain a 800 MHz LTR Trunk system for. One of the receivers is getting a stable dead carrier signal 2.5 KHz high in frequency. It is absolutely coming down the receive antenna, it's a split receive/transmit site. The tower is 800 feet tall. I have no idea what the frequencies are in the building and I doubt it ATC does so I can't run a intermod study and the signal is there 100% of the time making me think it's not intermod. It's also too stable to be a transmitter in oscillation. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Old duplexer tuning question
I have been pulling my hair out (I don't have that much more to go) over an old Celwave 6 cavity 526-4 pass reject duplexer. I can get the notches to tune properly one by one but when I put it all back together it just does not seem to sum out right. Is there a procedure someone can point me to? Also, I am curious if I need to use the same high frequency and low frequency ports which would be the opposite for ham radio out here, or if I need to keep the transmitter port for the transmitter and the receiver for the receiver. I should really know all of this but the memory is fading. td wb6mie Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Re: Old duplexer tuning question
All, thanks very much for the input. I was already in the process of rebuilding the interconnects to RG-214 with crimp on RFS connectors as a punt. That old RG-8 was hard as a rock. I also think my problem with the notches is that I do not have enough dynamic range on my ifr 1600 to see the bottom. It works ok on the individual cavities but once I combine the whole circuit thats when it mushes out. I think I will get this thing knocked out in the morning. This place is getting dark and cold. Thanks, td wb6mie Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Re: Micor Channel Elements KXN1052A
Is that like the question: what is more accurate...a clock that is stopped or one minute fast? Way back when, I had an SCR-522 2 meter transmitter that had a bit too much crystal drive. So much in fact, that the crystal would heat up excessively. Of course it would be drifting to beat the band as its temperature was climbing. Nothing like wiping out 5 or 6 channels during a CQ on 2 meter AM. And that was with 30kc channel spacing. Today it would be twice as many channels. When the solder melted on the crystal can I had to switch to FT-243's. At least they could take the drive. td wb6mie Drift? You can't get it on frequency. Perhaps you could get it to drift by your frequency. Did I say that? Good one, Neil... Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Johnson 550 question
any one of y'all got a johnson 550 manual. I'm trying to get one powered up for a friend and have no power cord. I have ground on pin 1, +12 on pin 4. Where else do I need to put +12? tnx, td wb6mie Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Re: MSF-5000 Time-out timer
I use an MSF-5000 as my pre-delay ifb for kfi. It has been keyed on 24/7/365 since the early 90's and the only time out it has is one of the final xstrs gives up every 3 to 5 years. td wb6mie kpk405 kfi am 640 more stimulating talk radio I work for a TV station, and we were planning to use an MSF-5000 to transmit our program audio to field crews. However, our local /\/\ shop tells us that it is not possible to disable the time-out timer, and that the maximum time is 465 seconds. We were thinking more like 35 minutes, not 7, to transmit out the audio during an entire newscast. Any suggestions? Thank you. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] RE: Caution on Bomar Crystals
I do not think caution is in order. I have dealt with a bunch of crystal companies over the years, ICM is the most über alles. I ordered my first pair from ICM in the 60's for my Hammerlund Outercom, think I paid $4.50 a piece for them. I considered it a lot of money at the time but have come to appreciate the complexity of building one after screwing up a few ft-243 types with Bon-Ami in my bathroom. Bomar is good, KW was ok, CR Snelgrove, Tedford, and Standard (now Frequency Management?) were great. Cal pretty much stank until they fixed their process by getting a resistance welder and putting something other than LA smog in the can. I am resigned to pay the price for a good crystal whether or not there is a minimum order. I can always double up for some spares or get a few extra for rainy day projects. td wb6mie FYI on orders to Bomar Crystal. Just had a flustrating phone conversation with Bomar. Ordered 3 crystals at $10 each. Came in at $20 each plus $10 shipping. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
RE: [Repeater-Builder] Digest Number 2924
Anybody out there possibly have a schematic scanned for a system 90 single tone add on board for a mitrek control head TLN4526A4? I would settle for just the pinouts but would gladly shoot someone some funds on paypal if you could come up with some scans. Please reply direct. td wb6mie Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] RE: Mobile Repeaters?
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 2005 08:04:08 -0800 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Oh man, those radios brought up nightmare memories!!! Only one I can think of that is worse is the Johnson 557 UHF radio. So whats wrong with a 557? I think I have worked on more of those than any other radio in my life. In horrible places too, trash trucks, dump trucks, repeaters on Santiago Peak. Change out the 100k varactor bias resistor for a 10k, watch the ce 15 and tune away the spurs! The helical fixes all the sins! td kfi wb6mie Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Re: Outlet for RG214/U
Sheese!! Are you sure you arn't thinking of RG-393? td kfi wb6mie That's cheap! Last time I bought some it was around $5 / foot. Neil Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Service monitor question (was Re: Re: Cushman CE-4)
If you want to do duplex measurements here is what I would do. Look for an IFR 1000S for your primary service monitor. Then look for an IFR 500. Those things should be cheap and plentiful by now. Use the 500 as the source and the 1000 as your calibrated receiver. Acquire some directional (or non-directional) transmission line couplers off of ebay or rec.radio.swap. Then measure away. You could even get a simpler generator like an HP, dang it, forgot the number but I think it went up to 1200 mHz or so, or a wavetek that goes to 512 mHz or something similar. Yes, it is not automatic but as I recall, duplex testing with one service monitor was not all it was cracked up to be. I would not suggest an HP-608 or a Model 80 unless you can afford to keep them powered up 24/7 in a climate controlled room. Then theres the tube budget. Although, I seem to remember Skip's Model 80 did just fine tuning up the receiver in my Hammerlund Outercom xcvr back in the 70's. Or was that the 60's? Nevermind! I learned how to tune a receiver that day, RF anyway. Just learned about IF's last week. BTW, if I never said it back then, thanks Skip! td wb6mie From: wb6ymh [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Service monitor question (was Re: Re: Cushman CE-4) The CE-5 has 1 Khz steps and does not do full duplex. There are various options on the IFRs some have tracking generators. I've done a bit of googling for IFRs and Cushmans, but I guess they are too old, I found very little information other than old for sale ads. (And one guy that had a picture of himself and his CE-50 along with his other family album pictures !) There seem to be quite a few Motorola service monitors on ebay, but from what I remember they had a reputation for being unreliable. I'll bet the CE-5 drifts a little less than the model 80 it's replacing (grin). 73's Skip WB6YMH Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Re: Cabinet Suggestions
During the early seventies, I was working for a 2-way radio shop in the Los Angeles area. One very hot summer day, one of our customers complained his base station had apparently quit so I was dispatched to repair it. The base was in a unventilated two car garage on a hill top. Sounds like the old Scudder Place? Never got to go there in the 70's. Did a couple of things there in the 80's though. Got a few funny stories about the place on Apian Way just down the street too! td wb6mie Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Re: Just a couple of dB loss you say?
It was kind of a joke in the 70's,,, We all had Motracs, 8 tracks and Japtracs. td Message: 16 Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2004 01:44:39 -0500 From: JOHN MACKEY [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Just a couple of dB loss you say? In my hay-day I had the following all installed in a 1978 Camaro 8 channel scanner (to monitor local law fire on low, high UHF) Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] EFJ PPL6060 Oscillator Schematic
Somewhere around I remember having a brand new one but I am going to have to dig. I always considered them a bit of a toy but they held up pretty good in trash trucks for a plastic radio. Have you heard any predictions for the wx for Gravity Probe B monday? I would like to watch but 200 miles is a long drive for a scrub. td wb6mie Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 20:38:07 -0700 From: Eric Lemmon [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: EFJ PPL6060 Oscillator Schematic My radio club recently acquired several EF Johnson PPL6060 UHF mobile radios, and I would like to use them for 9600 baud digital links. Unfortunately, I have no schematic diagram of the oscillator circuitry to assist me in making the appropriate modifications and/or connections. _ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar get it now! http://toolbar.msn.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/ Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] Re: 633 8A duplexer
Message: 1 Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 08:27:04 -0500 From: Kevin Custer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: tony dinkel wrote: Having trouble retuning a 633 8A duplexer from 10 mHz to 5 mHz split. Insertion loss seems to be excessive. Does anybody have any experience with this model in this circumstance? You are likely trying to tune it upside-down. I thought I marked the high and low for the old freqs but I will check. Thanks, td _ Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee® Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] 633 8A duplexer
Having trouble retuning a 633 8A duplexer from 10 mHz to 5 mHz split. Insertion loss seems to be excessive. Does anybody have any experience with this model in this circumstance? td _ Get rid of annoying pop-up ads with the new MSN Toolbar FREE! http://toolbar.msn.com/go/onm00200414ave/direct/01/ Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[Repeater-Builder] GE PA deck burned resistor
I have a 19D424786G4 Rev A PA deck that I am working on for a friend. It has a burned up 2 watt resistor with a 27 pF across it. Does this mean one of the PA xstrs is toast? Can these things be gotten? Suggestions? td wb6mie _ Get a FREE online virus check for your PC here, from McAfee. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
