KA4VFD Latest News/System Status

New frequency, new machine

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Sat, 07 May 2011 04:08:00 +0000

The Motorola Micor has been pressed into service on 444.825 MHz, 107.2 PL. Unfortunately, the Micor will not tune down to 442.825 without some extensive modifications to the machine. Frank, WA4AKM, was gracious enough to let us utilize the crystals and channel elements out of the old "F6" machine, which is currently out of service, in the VFD/R Micor. We may re coordinate 442.825 somewhere in Murfreesboro once we locate an alternate site down the road. Big thanks to Frank and Ben, K5JBK, for helping us get this machine ready for action.

New (to us) machine. .

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 20:24:00 +0000

Hopefully, by the end of 2010, we will have a new (well, new to us) machine in service at Short Mountain. A Motorola Micor is in the works for installation at the site. It is the former 444.900 machine in Watertown, TN. New crystals and a retune of the Micor is our next item on the 'to do' list. As they say, stay tuned.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:01:00 +0000

The machine is currently down and has been down for a while. Terry is in the process of resurrecting it, so stay tuned. We had an issue with intermod occurring with the link back into the WA4AKM system, which may be partially why the machine is out of service. Bruce and Matt got the NT4UX digi back up and happening with a temporary J-pole antenna.

KA4VFD/R is BACK IN SERVICE

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 21:48:00 +0000

442.825 is rockin' and rollin' better than ever. Terry, KE4PJW, our resident repeater guru and man about town, performed the needed repairs to bring VFD/R back to life. In addition, VFD/R is linked into WA4AKM's system of repeaters (the 'F System', as some of us have called it) covering a large portion of Middle Tennessee. With the addition of VFD/R, coverage on the eastern side of Middle Tennessee, from the Cumberland Plateau to the Monteagle area, has been improved considerably.

VFD/R soon to be back on the air!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:48:00 +0000

Terry, KE4PJW, has been busy working on resolving the issues with the VFD machine and has it back working again. After a period of 'benchmarking' to ensure it will remain stable and on the air, we will return it to the site and place it back in service.

DNS Issues

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:19:00 +0000

If you came here looking for the website for the Kittrell Volunteer Fire Department, we are performing some changes on that website. In the meantime, click here to visit the KVFD website, or enter http://www.noncontactneglect.com/kvfd in your browser's address bar.

7/3/2009 - Argh, mice!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:51:00 +0000

After a trip up to Crossville on 7/3/2009 to assist Robin (K4IDC) in the removal of his beacon transmitters from a site, we discovered that the VFD machine was not responding on the trip back to Middle Tennessee. A quick visit to the Short Mountain discovered a family of mice had taken up residence inside the Uniden, causing an issue with the PTT and exciter. A quick cleanup of the machine resolved the issue, albeit temporarily (thirty minutes after we left the site, the machine stopped transmitting during a QSO). Hopefully, we'll be able to return to the site and resolve this problem. In the meantime, you can still chat with us on KE4PJW-R in South Nashville (443.450, 107.2 +) or K5JBK's repeater in Watertown (443.575, 141.3 +).

6/27/2009 - Antenna installed!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:20:00 +0000

Field Day was spent at the repeater site, installing the DB 408 antenna. KA4VFD/R is back in effect, with better coverage! The failure of the tri-bander antenna that was previously installed was due to an influx of water into the antenna and coax connector.
Fortunately, the feedline was still good and a dummy load test found it to sweep quite nicely on the analyzer (around 1.3 to 1 SWR). The NT4UX digipeater that was sharing the same feedline and tri-bander antenna is temporarily off the air until we can run a new length of feedline and install a separate antenna. We planned on utilizing another bit of feedline present on the tower for the digi, but discovered that it was cut in half. Since the heat of the day was making conditions tough to work at the site (and a brief thunderstorm passing through the area), we decided to wait on the digi antenna installation until cooler temps return to Middle Tennessee (around late September possibly). Much appreciation goes out to Robin, K4IDC for doing the grunt work on the tower. Bruce, KQ4TV, for continuing to be our transmitter shack host and expert in coax connector installation. Thanks also goes out to Ben, K5JBK and Wes, KE4TWI for assisting as part of the ground crew. Also, thanks to Terry, KE4PJW and Frank, WA4AKM for the signal reports on the VFD machine.

4/30/2009 - New antenna purchased

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:58:00 +0000

A Decibel Products S408 folded dipole antenna has been purchased to upgrade the antenna system for the repeater. This will also move the repeater off of the multi-band antenna that is shared with the NT4UX digipeater. Next purchase: a side mount kit to mount the antenna to the tower and the services of a tower climber to perform the installation. As of right now, the coverage area of the repeater is very poor, only covering the immediate area surrounding Short Mountain (which includes the Woodbury area). Hopefully, the new antenna will bring the coverage back to what it was before (and then some).