The 147.330 repeater was originally located on a water tank on Wasserman Rd on the West side of Hamilton. Moisture and chlorine were the biggest problems at this site. During the winter months the metal shed would frost up on the inside. At first light the frost would melt and water drops would then soak the equipment. The repeater was in an open faced rack and the duplexers sat in the open on the conccrete floor, which were also getting soaked from the dripping frost. Copper traces on the controller board were green from the chloine and black mold had formed all over the board due to all the moisture. The aluminum hardline connector inside the building was "loose" on the cable again which is a problem with freezing and thawing once water gets into a connector. It goes in as water and freezes. The expaaanding ice collapses the hardline outer electrical jacket. Once the ice melts, the connector is loose enough it could fall off in your hand. Loose feed line connectors generate noise on the receiver and gives a high SWR on the transmitter.

Here you can see the water spots left by the high moisture at the site. This was after it had been cleaned up! The black mold took a week of serious scrubbing to clear it up. Other problems existed due to the loose hardline connectors. This repeater was replaced.

Being in an open cabinet also lead to other problems. Over 300 deceased lady bugs were removed from the chassis not including the several hundred that were flying around inside of the transport vehicle once they got warm! A variety of tiny "critters" and their nest were found inside.

With all of these problems it became clear that: 1 - We had to find a new and better location for this repeater that would protect it from the environment 2 - The entire repeater would need to be completely rebuilt or replaced-either way the controller had to be replaced. 3 - We needed a cabinet to house the entire system in, lockable and as bug and rodent proof as possible. 4 - We had to fix the hardline and antenna problem to prevent damage to the rebuilt or new system.

N8TVU built a Micor repeater and put it in a GE base station cabinet. This was the only way to get enough room front to back and side to side to accomodate the duplexer and back up battery. The 100 watt Micor power amplifier is in the very top of the cabinet (the heat sink can be seen just below the mesh grill). Two 6" 110 volt AC fans (one left & one right) provide more than adequate cooling of the amplifier. Below the Amp is the Micor Exciter, the tray that holds the CAT-200 controller and voltage regulator, below that the receiver, Astron RM-50M BB power supply, duplexer and power distribution. This repeater was relocated at the Butler Technical School/D. Russel Lee Vocational on Rt-4.

The repeater committee obtained a grant to have commercial climbers install a Hustler G7-144 on the schools tower at about the 140' level. This antenna had an upper support arm added to it to help prevent wind damage and to give it upper support.

The back up Ultima deep cycle battery sits on the bottom of the repeater case between the duplexers and outter wall. A Deltran Battery Tender is connected to the battery to maintain a full charge and keeps it ready to go.

A pair of #8 cables delivers the power from the back up battery to the input terminals on the power supply. This repeater runs at about 60 watts out. The battery can provide 25 amps @ 155 minutes. Since the repeater draws about 10 Amps, we are hoping to get about 6 hours of transmit time before needing another power source. During emergencies we normally run ZERO HANG TIME which should also help increase the life of the battery.