Hello SEARC Members,
I just wanted to let our membership know how hard a group of volunteers from our club worked last Saturday at Nicolai.
It was an ambitious amount of work we had on the list but this was our only opportunity with the rented lift to get the tower work done. At least 12 volunteers show up at Knappa and made the journey to the summit of Nicolai Mountain with tools, supplies, chairs, food, water, and enthusiasm to learn and work on our repeater system. The three major work tasks were completed as follows.
1) We were able to mount a new antenna above the 50 foot level on the tower (current antenna is only 15 feet), then run the special hard feed line down the tower to the building for future connection to the repeater.
2) At the same time a team of volunteers removed the 2 large solar panels and adjusted the mounts to add 2 additional panels. We now have double the solar charging capability at this “solar only” site.
3) Late in the day we were able to remove all the microwave equipment, cameras, and network cables from the tower that were demolished by the winter ice storm, and by someone with a shotgun. We then installed 2 new cameras and a microwave dish, that links the site to Wickiup. Several members participated in a quick class learning how to install the special ends on the network cables that were run up the tower to the newly installed equipment. Making network cables is now an important skill at our sites.
A few of us will go back up and tidy things up, make some final connections, and work towards getting everything back on the air before the snow blocks us out.
It was just amazing to see how everyone jumped in and completed a list of work we had wanted to do for a couple years. The view was spectacular, the weather was great, and there will be lots of pictures to share.
I’m am proud to be part of a club that has members ready and willing to help when we ask. There will be more opportunities and its nice to know we have a few more people with some experience working at the repeater sites.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It was great!
73
Dave Neys, W7PDQ