Several volunteers made their way up to Crystal Peak to replace the aging, and malfunctioning WB6ZVW repeater. Dave (K7DAA), our benevolent repeater guru, along with his minions for the day, Brent (W6BWJ), Ray (KJ6VTP), Bryce (KI6HJE), and our GVARC club president, Don (KA6AUR) climbed to the top of Crystal Peak with a couple of truck loads of tools and equipment, some sandwiches from the Summit Store (I highly recommend the Turkey and Brie), and made a day of it.
The weather mostly cooperated as the forecast called for rain. Luckily we only had light rain or sprinkles intermittently while we were at the site. The other challenge was that with the low clouds, we were unable to see W6GGF to align the internet up-links. Some Googling, and some math gave us an approximate bearing and declination. With that in hand we were also able to mount the new Ubiquity Rocket M5 wireless bridge. W6BWJ and KJ6VTP will hopefully complete the up-link in the coming days.
The new gear, housed in a new cabinet, consists of 220 amp hours of fresh batteries, an RLC-DSP404 controller, Kenwood TKR-850 repeater, Echolink/IRLP computer, and Astron power supply, as well as a host of other support goodies for power control, pre-amp, and remote control.
It was a long day. I think we finally reached home around 7:30 PM. The new and improved WB6ZVW sounds great. Tune up 442.500 + PL 100 and try it out! This is a great amateur resource for the Bay Area and beyond, back on the air, and working great.
Many thanks to all those that contributed to the project, both inside and outside of GVARC. And special thanks to Scott, KB6UOO for helping us at the site that day.
New Hotness…
Old and Busted
KI6HJE gives some pointers on wire management.
Crystal Peak
Our heads were in the clouds as we brought WB6ZVW back on the air.
W6BWJ works on final touches…
K7DAA and W6BWJ give the final approval and WB6ZVW is back on the air.