KE8LDH 442.5125+ is back on the air for real! After previously bringing the repeater back online, the system has been hit with a series of misfortunes. The Yaseu DR-1X in the system started suffering low transmit power problems and the system seems very deaf. N8EI purchased a Kenwood TKR-850V2 at the Falls Hamfest in April as a replacement. After installing the TKR, it was discovered that there was another problem (and possibly the origin of the DR-1X issue) – the LMR400 feedline into the house from the antenna itself had a broken connector. This was tracked down after discovering that the APRS node WW8TF-15 was also not hearing very well for a few months. Unfortunately, THIS wasn’t discovered until after believing the problem was the Comet knock-off antenna and it was replaced with a full Diamond X700HNA and the system was still unable to hear anything. So after replacing the repeater, antenna, and feedline connector the system is back and is performing reasonably.
While mobile, N8EI could make the repeater using 50W mobile from the east side of Akron from I-76. N8CD reports mid-range performance on an HT indoors in Rittman. So within the bounds of geography of an antenna that is roof-mounted at only 1200′ ASL / 230′ HAAT it’s working reasonably.
At the moment it’s running Allstar/HamVOIP as the controller as node #58015. CTCSS is 110.9 Hz however at some point it will probably get changed to DCS023. A re-conversion to digital multi-mode is not out of the question either.
