Repeater Issue 01/28/2019

Submitted by K3EEZ on Mon, 01/28/2019 - 08:15
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Repeater Operations

This morning on my commute to work the repeater seemed to be transmitting noise continuously. At one point this ended and I put out my callsign. That was answered by Larry KB3QWC. This again kept the repeater open transmitting noise for several minutes. I assume this was because the noise on the repeater frequency did not have a CTCSS tone or at least not the correct one. I noticed the noise was on both the 147.105 and 444.440 sides I did not hear it on the 147.075.

I listened on the 147.105 input and did not notice any perceivable signal strength on my meter until I was in the vicinity of Sands Road Park. Then it dropped off again.

AE3D - Tue, 01/29/2019 - 08:28

John Williams (K8JW), did a few diagnostics from home.  According to John, the problem appears to be a defective linking transceiver.  When it was turned off, the problem went away, but of course, we lost the link between 147.075 and the other two repeaters.

As John explained it to me, the linking transceiver was overheating and then began generating noise.  When the repeater timed out, it cooled down just a tiny bit, and was OK for a minute or so, then it reheated and the noise resumed.

John does not have time to go fix it immediately.  We have a spare linking transceiver to install, it just take stime to do.   So we are going to have to do without the 147.075 being linked for a few days. 

We are sorry for the inconvenience.

K3EEZ - Wed, 01/30/2019 - 07:45

No need for apologies, I was just posting as an FYI, not as a complaint. Sorry if it came off that way.

I did hear John troubleshooting the problem on the way hame and he said the interference was getting into the N/S county link from sources in Baltimore and further North.