Mountain Top Node Status
Saturday, 21 June, 2008, 18:54 PST

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The 2m and 70cm ports of the packet node stack at Spout Springs are a bit "under the weather."

Although both ALW:WA7V-7 and ALW96:WA7V-9 are technically operational, the RF performance of both nodes have been seriously degraded since about the middle of May.  Since they share a common duplexer, feedline and antenna, the problem is expected to be found in one of those components.  Interestingly, this doesn't seem to be associated with a severe weather event, of the sort that occurs routinely throughout the winter months.

Furthermore, an abundance of snow (including an additional surprise 14"+ snowfall on June 10) continues to prevent a leisurely drive to the radio site by automobile.  Just before the most recent snowfall, it was reported that N7ERT encountered about 4' of snow at the gate which is roughly 2 miles from the site.  Because of the lateness of the season, I've held off visiting the site until I can drive up there.  Besides, I didn't really want to trudge up there through the snow, even if it was on skis or snowshoes, and then have a tower climb to look forward to.  ;)

My current guess is that I'll be visiting the site in early July to determine the problem.  The repair may not happen until a subsequent trip is made on another date, depending on what is needed to fix it.

73, 

WA7V

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