On Saturday March 5, 2011, Node 27635 – WA3UQD – 145.290 PL 131.8 – Gibsonia PA (15 miles north of Pittsburgh) was overhauled and put on the WAN Repeater System full time.
Jim Hartzell – WA3UQD, Elaine Bailey, K3EMM of WestPAnet, and I did the work on the machine to get it connected to the WAN-RS. We transplanted a PLL exciter and Jim’s crystal in a 2C FM ICOM, did some custom wiring, and installed a DMK URI into the machine. The repeater is a GE MASTR II station. We also did some work to the receiver. Earlier, Jim removed the CAT controller to make room for the connection of the URI and Compaq computer running XIPAR. The Internet connection was installed last week and Jim did all of the necessary port forwarding in the router. The repeater seems to be working okay, but it suffers from what sounds like impulse noise. The existing Sinclair duplexer will be replaced by a legacy (but better isolation) Phelps Dodge 6 cavity unit after I rebuild it. Jim and I had a blast working along side one another, as is has been over 20 years since we worked on repeaters together. 27635 offers coverage in the Pittsburgh area on the WAN Repeater System. Give it a try if you are in its coverage area. Thanks!
Kevin Custer – WJ8G
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