The back-up batteries were cleaned and a spare cable was identified and readied to be installed up the tower leg to mount the UHF antenna underneath our existing VHF antenna. Upon inspection, Paul ZS1S discovered that the cable connecting our VHF antenna to its antenna had never been waterproofed! Paul checked the connection and installed the waterproofing. Unfortunately, before he could install the UHF antenna, the wind picked up making further tower work unsafe and he had to come down.
While we were there we also checked the SWR on the VHF antenna and found it to be extremely high. Using his antenna analyser, Peter ZS1PGC discovered there was a very bad connection within the repeater building. Upon inspection we found a badly corroded connection and repaired it. The SWR was now excellent and the repeater works much better than before.
I would like to thank Lem ZS1LEM, Paul ZS1S, Dave ZS1SG, Peter ZS1PGC and Keverne ZS1ABU for coming up the hill and assisting that day. We still need to get our UHF antenna up on the tower and planning is in progress for that.
Addendum:
Following on from this work party, this yesterday Mike ZS1TAF, Peter ZS1PGC and Paul ZS1F put our UHF antenna back on the repeater tower and it is now working fantastically. Now that our Force 12 beam, the new rotatable 40-metre dipole and the tower at the club have all be repaired, all of our equipment is back in perfect working order. What a relief! No more freak June storms please...
Rob ZS1SA
