[CTSARA] SF 2 Meter Update - Tues morning

[Jon Perelstein]

I heard from two people last night who told me that they heard the
intermittency in the QSOs that John GRB, Frank, Adam, etc. were having.
 When that happened, they each switched over to listen to the repeater
input and heard something other than the person who had been talking on the
repeater.  In other words, they were hearing an interfering signal that did
not have our PL on it.  If the interfering signal does not have our PL and
it is overwhelming the local signal, then the repeater will not
re-broadcast it.  However, it won't recognize dropped carrier (since
there's still carrier), so it won't send a courtesy tone.

Curt tells me that he was hearing very strong signals from NJ and eastern
PA on 2 meters yesterday, and that at one point yesterday was getting S9++
readings on signals from southern NJ -- stronger than local signals.

I listened to the repeater this morning and at one point heard a
conversation between Fred and someone else (N1DOS?).  The signal cut out
three times during the conversation -- as soon as it cut out I switched to
the input and heard:

1.  Some voice that wasn't Fred nor the person Fred was talking to.  The
voice was clearly chatting with someone (i.e., it didn't sound like someone
trying to interfere with us) but nothing that was said gave me a hint as to
where the person was
2.  A CW ID.  It sounded like a repeater ID.  It was overpowering the
person with whom Fred was speaking.  I didn't hear enough of it to catch
the actual call sign.  I don't think it was John's echolink ID, but I can't
say for sure.
3.  A different voice that wasn't Fred nor the person Fred was talking to.
 It wasn't the person in #1 above, but from the context of what was being
said it was the other side to the QSO in #1 above.

In each case, the foreign signal was there for less than a minute and then
faded out.  As soon as the foreign signal faded low enough, I could again
hear the local voice from Fred's QSO, and when I switched back to the
output of the repeater I was again hearing the local QSO.

All that makes me think that the repeater may be operating properly and
that we're getting an impact from strange propagation.  Please monitor the
repeater as much as you can and if you hear any intermittencies that are
NOT accompanied by courtesy tones, please listen in on the input of the
repeater and see if you're hearing the same QSO.

Thanks
Jon
WB2RYV