ANTENNA UPDATE!
As I am sure you already know, I have been (impatiently) waiting for the new .94 antenna to arrive. I made a phone call this morning to the manufacturer and found out it should ship by the end of this week. Now, I am not “holding my breath,” as I have already heard this once before. The antenna has been tested on an actual test range, similar to the way radio and TV broadcast antennas are tested. I do appreciate that, as most land mobile antennas are built en masse, and probably don’t get tested individually. I just wish the process would speed up!
Now, on a separate note, I need to pass along a request to those of you who read the blog, and hopefully it will get out to others as well. I am very aware that someone has been interfering with one or more of my repeaters. It tends to happen when people are on the air and enjoying a normal QSO. I want to ask those of you who may be involved in a QSO when this deliberate QRM’ing starts to do a couple of things:
1) DO NOT MENTION IT ON THE AIR. DON’T acknowledge that the person is causing interference. If you can still hear the person whom you are in QSO with, then PLEASE carry on the conversation as though nothing is happening. I know that it is likely that you will not be able to hear the person you are chatting with, depending on how successful the jammer is in his efforts. In that case, either sign off, or move to another repeater…and make it one that you may have previously agreed to…because if you mention which machine you plan on switching to, the jammers will simply follow you.
2) LISTEN ON THE REPEATER INPUT to see if you hear the interfering signal at your location. Let me or someone else know if you do hear the signal and how strong it is at your location. If you have the means to determine which direction it is coming from, that would be especially helpful.
Once we determine where the offending signal is coming from, I can ASSURE you that the offending person or persons will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If they are a licensed amateur, they will be banned from ALL of my repeaters. And yes, that is enforceable. However, in the meantime, the more we acknowledge them, directly or indirectly, the more we feed their “jollies,” and they will continue to cause interference. I know its hard not to do so, but PLEASE do not engage them in any way. If you have to, sign off, or move to another frequency. It’s better to do this than to engage in a “whizzing contest” with them on the air.
I’m sorry to have to devote a blog entry to this, but the problem is growing, and it is only going to get worse if we don’t stop letting these people know that they are getting to us.
As soon as I have more information on the .94 antenna, I will post it here. I am also working on some other good things for 146.73 and 53.15. Stay tuned!!
73 de Tim WB4GBI
Tim Berry WB4GBI (check out my website at www.wb4gbi.com)
Chief Engineer
Citadel Broadcasting of
WIVK-FM/HD1 WNOX-FM WNML AM/FM WNRX-FM WOKI-FM
Chief Engineer
Vol Radio Network
"Do you really want to know what's wrong...or do you just want me to fix it?
