Bevan VK6VX and myself made a site visit to the Katanning repeater site out at Fairfield on Monday 17 September 2007.

We inspected the site, our equipment in the rack and the antennas on the tower. We removed all of the equipment from the rack (repeater, link transceiver, packet TNC & user port transceivers) & cleaned up around the rack as it had become home & haven for rodents. They obviously liked the warm heatsinks of the radios and the PC as these were well & truly stained. They have also enjoyed feasting on the interconnecting packet/data cables and even the plastic foam on the front of the FM828’s!

The repeater was replaced with the FM814/815 unit that we acquired from the Geraldton ARG last year was installed. The cavity duplexer no longer appears to be at the site (They were in a picture taken 8-10 years ago) and the repeater has been running on split antennas. There were 7 unmarked coax cables running to the amateur rack in the hut and 7 amateur antennas up on the tower. We were able to narrow the VHF from the UHF antennas by the use of a VSWR meter, but where they sit on the tower will be a job for another day! In the end, we picked the two VHF antennas that had the best S meter readings from VK6RMS & VK6RAA repeaters and plugged them into the repeater.

The old repeater and packet gear was loaded into Bevan’s van and we left the site around 2.00pm. On the way home I was able to trigger the repeater with 300mW around Tambellup (35km) and it is full scale into my home QTH on the collinear (approx 60km). Bevan is able to key the repeater from his QTH at Kendenup, about 80km and I have keyed the repeater just before Mt Barker, about 95km, and out at Frankland, about 60km.

I have sorted through the gear brought back from the site. Some just had to go to the tip and from the other stuff that is salvagable I will have to check with Gary VK6GS what belongs to him and what is WARG equipment.

The next job will be to remove some the antennas from the tower that aren’t being used any longer, use what antennas we can for the voice repeater, otherwise work towards replacing the antennas & coax feeders that need it.

Bevan has all the tickets, accreditations & permissions to climb the tower, but we will probably be needing the services of a second climber for safety and support. We hope to arrange this over the next few months.

Hi All,

Anthony here, gradually getting back on deck. A quick update on my visit to Roleystone site a few days ago, plus a few other things:

Firstly, I will be unable to attend the WARG meeting this Monday coming, please put me down as an apology. I should be on the net this Sunday; my contributions there and via this email will have to suffice as a technical report in my absence from the meeting.

Roleystone: following the net last Sunday 26th when problems with VK6RAP 2m RX performance were widely reported, I was able to attend the site after work on Tuesday 28th. I checked for intermod/interference but did not note anything specific at the time. I then opened & checked all coax connectors in line with the repeater diplexer/TX filters/RX filter & preamp – I tightened two connectors which were somewhat loose on their coax, and cleaned others as required. Antenna SWR was also checked and no problems were noted. At the conclusion of this work on air checks with VK6’s MRS/CS/PMY & others seemed to indicate the repeater performance was improved, and to date I have seen no reports to the contrary. (Please let me know ASAP if there are still problems – some urgent investigations/repairs may be possible before Sunday’s news broadcast).

This is very much an interim fix – the poor state of some coax interconnecting leads at Roleystone has been discussed before, and I have previously mentioned the desirability of upgrading all these cables (using RG214 double-screened low-loss coax, we have a qty of this kindly donated by VK6MS) and tidying/re-mounting the various cavity filters in the repeater rack. As more problems could occur or be worsened due to the continuing poor state of these cables, I suggest this work be organised sooner rather than later – although not immediately, as we need to obtain connectors for the RG214 and do a little pre-planning. I suggest we aim to organise a working bee in late September/early October, would appreciate any comments people have on this proposal, what times you are available, etc. (I still have to confirm my availability for these weekends, on-call work schedule could interfere…)

News TX: just before Hamfest I repaired a WIA news TX (which I got from Dennis) and returned it to Neil. It tested OK on my bench, but I see a reference in the August minutes that there is still a problem with it, maybe I overlooked something? I am happy to take the unit back for another look, unless the problem has been solved already? if anyone has more info on this, please let me know.

Mt William: Mac VK6MM has advised he has fitted a temporary Yagi antenna to Mt William to get the digipeater back on air (following the failure of the main repeater antenna, the main digi antenna was swapped to the voice repeater to keep it on air). Also note the problem with Mt William is not simply finding a climber – the Mt William mast has a large antenna/cable load, and the whole structure is aging to the point where there is an increased risk of structural failure – anyone proposing to climb Mt William would have to have sufficient experience to weigh up the risks to their own safety – makes it a tricky problem to solve, we need to investigate further and see what is possible. Mac is the one most familiar with the site.

WARG test equipment (the IFR1500) – last I heard, VK6XRE had our newly obtained communications service monitor? (If not please let me know where it might be). It would be useful for the Roleystone working bee proposed above, to enable checking of cavity filter/diplexer tuning. I would like to have it for a short time beforehand to refresh my memory of IFR operation. I can collect it if required, with a bit of notice beforehand. Please let me know.

There are a number of other things I promised to do before I went away – if they aren’t mentioned here, I haven’t done them yet! Watch this space for more info…

BR & 73,
Anthony VK6AXB

The Cataby 2m repeater on 147.200 appears to be off the air. It has been like this since about 3 weeks ago, and it coincided with some rather hefty weather they had up here.

I’m up here once a week – and am happy to go up and have a look. I have access to a 4WD through work, and it’s only about 10km away from the accomodation I stay in each Wednesday night.

If anyone has keys it would be appreciated if I could somehow grab them.

Alternatively, if anyone else wants to come up and have a look, feel free to do so!

73? Blake
VK6FBNZ

21.08.07??? Visit was arranged with the Quarry Owners for 10 AM

Those in attendance were Cliff VK6LZ, Geoff VK6NX, Max VK6XME, and Don VK6DUK.

We met the new Quarry Manager Cliff Kelly and explained the Group and the History of Tic Hill.??? He was most co-operative and interested.??? (We also left a cake for the staff morning tea)

He escorted us to the site, this was necessary as we had to sign the Visitor?s book at the main office and Safety rules dictate that visitors are escorted through the mine workings.

In the event we were unable to gain entry to the Radio Bunker due to a vandalised top padlock which could not be removed.

22.08.07??? We were again escorted to ?Ticky? by Cliff Kelly who stayed to see what was installed inside out of interest.

Those in attendance were Cliff VK6LZ, and Don VK6DUK.

The faulty padlock was removed (courtesy of angle grinder and generator supplied by Don)

The six large 500 aHr wet cell batteries each measured 2.25 Volts, but as expected the electrolyte was at minimum level since last top up was February 2006 when batteries were installed, these were topped up with commercial distilled water to maximum and took 22 litres.

In the process a Power lead had to be loosened to allow access to the filler cap which resulted in the 70cm repeater powering down.??? It was decided not to power it up again until next visit so as to allow the batteries to recharge.???? Vaseline was applied to all connectors.

The 4WD club?s (car) battery was also checked and found to be below plate level so was also topped up from distilled water already on site.

A supply of 60 Litres of Distilled water was taken to the site, which leaves 38 litres for future top ups.

It was noted that the Solar Panels were providing 4 to 6 amps on an overcast day but that the regulator green LED was only illuminated weakly, it was decided to leave the spare regulator on site and do the change over on the next visit as time was moving on.

The two meter repeater VK6RTH which had audio problems was removed for service.

The Bunker was cleaned up, a new padlock was fitted to the top of the outside gate, and the site was vacated at 13.45 hours.

The repeater was subsequently delivered to Tony VK6YAG for repair.? It was found to have a corroded plug/socket on the audio board which Tony replaced and returned the unit to Cliff VK6LZ at the WARG Meeting.??? (Not sure if anything else was done)

04.09.07 ??? Visit was arranged with the Quarry Owners for 10 AM

Those in attendance were Cliff VK6LZ, Don VK6DUK, Mark VK6UHF, and Eddie VK6KEG.???? After signing the visitor book and giving the Manager a cake for his trouble, we were again escorted to ?Ticky?.

The Battery voltages were checked at 2.2 volts each.? The coax from the cavities was checked at 2 to 1 SWR and the Antenna (Dual Band) was checked at 1.3 to one SWR.

The replacement Solar Regulator was fitted and both LEDs came on, the input from the solar panels was measured at 2 to 5 Amps (the WX was Cloudy and Raining).? It was found that the Power from the batteries was down, this was caused by four of the battery links being loose and required tightening.

The Two metre repeater VK6RTH was refitted and turned on, and an on-air test was carried out with VK6YAG.

The 70 Cm Repeater was then booted up (requires on air DTMF Codes) and tested on-air.

A serious water leak has developed with rain coming down the coax/solar power pipes and running onto the bench – this will have to be addressed on next visit.? (The log book which was in a plastic bag will also need replacing)

Note until we have obtained the required climbing gear, no tower climbing is allowed due to insurance problems.

Cliff VK6LZ

NOTE:? ACCESS TO VK6RTH SITE IS STRICTLY RESTRICTED

The site is designated as a ?MINE SITE? and as such comes under Health & Safety Legislation.??? There are also Insurance Ramifications for both WARG and Hanson.

All visits MUST be co-ordinated with the Quarry Management, and Visitors MUST be signed In and Out in the Visitors book in the HANSON main Toodyay Road Office.

All Visitors must be escorted (Convoy) through the Quarry workings, this means that visits can be made during the Quarry working hours on weekdays only. (No Weekend Access)

In Practice to save calling for an escort we have been allowed to EXIT only, through the old workings and back gate after phoning the manager to sign us out on leaving.? ut beware heavy trucks coming the other way.

Currently access is by Four Wheel Drive only for the last 100 metres due to a large wash-away deep ditch.????? Two Wheel Drives need to be parked at this point.

I have (February 2006 when delivering the batteries) taken my 2 WD over the ?ditch? but it is now much deeper, perhaps we could get permission to fill it in with surrounding large rocks when we have established good relations with the new manager (keep supplying cakes).

DO NOT ?ROCK THE BOAT? BY VISITING UNANNOUCED PARTICULARLY AT WEEK ENDS AS THIS COULD LOOSE US THE SITE

Currently Hanson is experiencing vandals at week ends and after hours, in one recent case, the site security apprehended a group trying to start up some heavy equipment, they are to appear in the Midland Court House shortly.