[KL7AA] 147.30 PARKA Repeater back up

[ron]

KL7MD Mike accessed Site Summit (Mt Gordon Lyon) today and found as we
expected a blown fuse was the culprit.

Most likely cause was simply an old fuse (15amp) and a cold day (January
is when it went dark).

Typically a fuse will last a long time until you exceed its rating,
true.  But age and stress will take it toll on the fuse as well.  Cold
days means the repeater perhaps drew more the the nominal 12 amps it
would have drawn.  Add some frost and the antenna may have initially
presented an elevated SWR.  So with a cold init on the TX and a raised
SWR would have drawn a bit more current than say it would have in
June.   This fuse was inline on the old Master II repeater that ran for
years and years and that one was using a poor antenna which would have
cause the fuse to be stressed over time.  So it gave up, in fact did
what it was designed to do.  Cannot be upset by that.

Mike replaced the fuse (with a new one) and the repeater resumed as
normal.  Before the cold returns we will address the wiring to see if it
bit of cleanup might keep this from happening again in the middle of
Winter.  With a good new condition fuse it might be 5 years before the
right set of circumstances happen again.

Site clean up will be accomplished the next trip up and we will take a
hard look at the existing wiring harness.  Maybe reduce the length or
some such.  Long harnesses means higher resistance, as it does with any
wire carrying power.

There are other things needing attention yet for that repeater system,
those will be addressed.  For now the repeater is back up and fully
functional. 

If you try .30/.90 and its not responding be sure to let someone know,
like KL7MD or KL7YK anyway.

Grubstake .33/.93 is next and a plan is being formulated now to access
that site.  Stay tuned!


Ron, KL7YK