SOUTH DAKOTA AMATEUR RADIO COUNCIL
SOUTH DAKOTA
LINK SYSTEM
NEWSLETTER
Issue Number Two
Issue Number Two
Brian NØLCL is very busy with work and was not available
to visit the site. I was also gone for 6 months on a Pacific trip
returning in June. On Thursday August 1Øth Brian-NØLCL met me at the Humboldt
site. With his service monitor he soon determined we had a strong signal
right on the input of the UHF receiver. After some trial and error we
determined it was an oscillating 45Ø pre-amp in the UHF
receiver. I secured a ARR 45Ø pre-amp from AAØF and went back on Friday
afternoon and changed out the pre-amp in the receiver and ran a test and things
were working great into Humboldt from both Wessington Springs and Turkey
Ridge. I have learned no to celebrate prematurely on this problem.
Sure enought a check an hour or two later showed the audio was low on the
Humboldt VHF on Signals from WS and TR so we are still not 1ØØ% but certainly
progress is being made thanks to Brian.
Subsequently there were low audio reports on Saturday night August 12th coming
from WS into Humboldt.
Today Sunday evening August 13th the audio has been good coming into Humboldt
from both WS and TR over about 1 hour of solid useage. What I am asking
is that if people from out west or people who can get on TR
would get on so we can determine if the only problem we have left is low audio
and how often that is happening. I want to confirm we don't have complete
signal dropout like we had before. It would appear we probably have to
replace the UHF receiver at Humboldt or find a problem along the audio
line. AGAIN being an intermitent I think we are just going to have to
substitute until it goes away.
Fourth: Howard KGØR, Don AAØF and myself
worked on the Rapid City UHF equipment a few days ago and were successful in
getting it all operational again. However the CPU card for the controller
which was
lost at WB6GHA has to be replaced so Howard KGØR is working on that and
hopefully Howard will also be able to build some complete back up controllers.
This is something we have needed for a long time.
Fifth: A new EPROM changing the call to KDØS has been sent to Pierre for
installation along with a PAR filter to try and cut down the paging intermod.
Sixth: There is a severe VHF antenna problem from the ice storm last fall at
Garden City so I am making arrangements to get this problem fixed. It
takes a commercial, bonded tower company to do the work on this tower so it
takes some arranging but it is actively being pursued.
Seventh: The VHF antenna at WS is bent from the ice storm from last fall and
work is being done to secure a new replacement
Eighth: KDØS and WØRTD have been to the Reliance site and found the building
had tipped from the wind and an unstable power supply. Eldon installed a
ventilation system in the building and they were able to get
things working better but plan a return visit.
Ninth: The VHF site at Murdo is not working well but the UHF link is
fine. KDØS and WØRTD are planning a Murdo visit.
Ten: KDØS, WØSD and NØOII are actively working on being able to modify
commercial DB-224's to the ham band.
Summary of link status: When the problem is not occuring on UHF receive at
Humboldt the link it working from TR to Terry Peak so in reality the link is
working quite well. It should not be to long until the UHF site is
returned to Rapid City and put back on the air then the link would work from
end to end. As I said we do have some serious VHF issues at Murdo and Garden
City.
Lastly we are desperately in need of money. As John WB6GHA always used to say ham radio ought
to be free but it just don't work that way as there are a number of things that
cost money to keep the SDLink operating. We have secured a good deal of
surplus equipment but it costs money to get this stuff fixed, we have
power/rental bills and we are going to need some antenna's due to all the ice
damage and we are in need of heliax. The Pierre Club has contributed $2ØØ
to the SDlink, which could not come at a better time as the need for several
hundred
dollars is crucial. We have also gotten some items from Emergency
Management, which is very helpful and very much appreciated. If clubs and
individuals could make contributions please do so. Please send the money
to AAØF or WØSD Call book address and make checks out the SD Amateur Radio
Council. They are tax deductible. You can be assured that a lot of
effort and time is being expended to continue to improve the
operation of the SDLink. By all means get on and use the link as that is
what all this work is being done for and the activity will be very beneficial
in discovering and fixing our remaining problems.
Thanks Ed WØSD
HUMBOLDT SITE TO BE MOVED
We have gotten word that we need to move off the site at Humboldt as the owner wants the site removed. Thanks to LeMar Van Heuveln, W0VH of Vantek Communications we are moving to his tower that is nearby. Although the site is going to be free with no rental or power charges moves cost money. We are going to need some new antennas, lots of heliax for the antennas and a new UHF repeater since we are having issues with the present one. If you have been considering a donation to the SDLink or if not this would be a good time to consider making one.
‘The VHF antenna will be about 100 feet higher than we presently are and will be in the clear on top of the tower so the coverage will be better than the present site.
We have had to buy a new VHF antenna for Garden
City, we have to pay SF Tower (they are treating us very well) but it
still costs a lot of money to change out the antenna. We have needed to
buy a second new VHF antenna. Even at cost thanks to Burghardts and SF
Two Way these antenna cost nearly $500.00 each. We also had to buy a new
Astron supply as we try to get sites back on battery and will likely have to
buy more as we
want to get Garden City on Batteries and Murdo on batteries. Howard-KG0R and
Don-AA0F have been doing some splendid work on the controller situation and
Howard has a couple of new CPU cards put together which was a serious matter as
the last one was not able to be found at WB6GHA after his death. We want
to also thank Jim KD0S and Eldon W0RTD for continuing work on Reliance and
Murdo.
With the completing of the CPU card burn in of the Rapid City UHF repeater and link equipment should begin next week. Thanks to work by Don-AA0F, Howard-KG0R and myself the Rapid City equipment has been repaired and ready for the burn in test now that the CPU card is completed.
WB0MZB, W0OE and myself secured a DB-224-E partially homebrew from an old packet site west of Wessington Springs and another partially homebrew DB-224-E from the Wessington Springs site for parts to fix damaged antenna's and secured on good phasing harness for a DB-224-E, See if you can keep Saturday September 9, 16, 23 or 30th open to help with the Humboldt move. As soon as I can schedule what Saturday it will be I will announce it here.
Anyway many 100's of miles have been traveled, a great deal of money had to be spent and a good deal of work is planned and a huge number of man hours have been put in be a "FEW" people. It is hoped you could contribute and pass the word that contributions are badly needed. They can be sent to Treasure Ed Gray W0SD 43804 257th, St. Salem, SD, 57058. They are tax deductible. We want to thank the Pierre Club who voted a $200 donation on the hope that other clubs would also contribute. They said that in no way
should mean that it should be just club donations. We have to have individual donation for the SDLink to financially survive.
One more mention of the fact that we need a commercial UHF antenna for Humboldt.
Ed W0SD
Consider Serving on the South Dakota Link Repeater Committee
This Newsletter Last Updated on: Wednesday, October 07, 2009
This SD LINK SYSTEM web page is to share information about the SD LINK SYSTEM which is operated by the South Dakota Amateur Radio Council INC.(SDARC) which is a non-profit corporation under South Dakota law and has 5Ø1 (C)(3) status with the Internal Revenue Service.