The Man Who Maintains Everything
So, do you ever use the Holland Amateur Radio Club’s 2 meter repeater?
One of the more significant pluses of this repeater is that it receives your signal from four different locations, determines which one is the best, and sends that to the two meter transmitter. This takes a lot of work, and one man alone is responsible for 98% of the work on the repeaters for over the last 30 years.
One of the receive sites is called the “North Site”. The antenna and equipment are located on top of the grain silo at the SW corner of US 31 and Van Buren. Sometime in the middle of August, 2011, this receive site went off line, along with my 6 meter beacon. I called Laryn up and we decided to go on a field trip.
And this site is a trip.
First, a perspective. This is a view looking up toward the top of the grain silo.
The north receiver antenna is at the very tippy top of this structure.
Here, the camera has zoomed in closer.
The camera is now zoomed in tight.
You can now see the top two dipoles of a 4 dipole antenna.
Here is a different perspective.
This is a look at the south upper structure, which supports the antenna.
This picture is taken from the concrete roof level, only 140 feet above ground.
Here is the man, Laryn, K8TVZ walking along a catwalk, some 150 feet above the ground.
Where is he headed?
I tell you, Laryn goes to great heights to work on the repeater system.
Here he is testing the “sturdiness” of the antenna, now up some 160-170 feet.
Here the camera zoom is pulled back a little bit.
This gives you a great perspective as to the height and “air openness” of this antenna.
Amazing view from up here.
This gives you an idea of why this site hears so well. This is from the concrete roof, up 140 feet, looking east.
Here is a candid shot of Laryn testing the receiver.
He’s up 140 feet, and what could be better than a sun setting picture at a repeater site?
But Tom, what was wrong with the north receiver? It looks like a worker plugged
a high power device into our multiple outlet strip, and that popped its breaker.
So using just one finger, the breaker was reset. The electronics are now happy.
I do have a request for all the users of the K8DAA repeaters. The next time you hear Laryn, K8TVZ on the repeater, please thank him for over 30 YEARS of volunteering his time and considerable expertise to making this lakeshore repeater one of the best in the area.
And yes, I did get “dragged” along by Laryn to accompany him on this repair trip. It was a trip
very 73 , de tom K8TB