The 146.73 duplexer is on the air!!
This past Wednesday, December 3rd, Josh McDaniel (KI4WWY) and I went to English Mountain and installed the newly acquired 146.730 duplexer on English Mountain. The power that I am able to deliver to the repeater antenna has doubled, and instead of 13 db of duplexer loss, I now have less than 2 db. What does this mean to you? It means the coverage of 146.73 has dramatically improved with this investment. This duplexer, if purchased at new list price , is over $ 3,000. Obviously, I couldn’t and didn’t pay that, but I was able to purchase a brand new duplexer for about half that price. I would like to say a very special THANK YOU to those who have recently contributed to the WB4GBI “repeater fund.” Those contributions, along with some funds from Debbie Kirby, Sam’s widow, helped to allow this purchase to happen. I hope you will check out 146.73 if you haven’t done so already. I am also working on more improvements to 146.73’s coverage, but I can’t discuss all the details right now. But I can assure you that you’ll be pleased.
The tone is still OFF on 145.47. For whatever reason, the TV interference has abated for the moment. I’m not sure why, but let’s enjoy! Remember it should be completely gone when the DTV transition happens on February 17th.
I hope to be turning my attention to the 53.15 repeater very soon. I acquired it at the same time I acquired 146.73. It is ready to go on the air, located at my home. I am probably NOT going to be able to return it to English Mountain at this time. Remember, I am paying rent for 146.73, and also the six meter antennae take up a LOT of tower space. But I have a surprise in the works that should give 53.15 as good as if not better coverage than it had before. I may also be able to get it on the air from one of my other sites in the interim if necessary.
Here’s hoping that you and your family are enjoying the Christmas season! But let us all remember the real reason for the season.
73 de Tim WB4GBI
Tim Berry WB4GBI (check out my website at www.wb4gbi.com)
Chief Engineer
Citadel Broadcasting of Knoxville, TN
WIVK-FM WNOX-FM WNML AM/FM WNRX-FM WOKI-FM
"Do you really want to know what's wrong...or do you just want me to fix it?
