ZS6HZ
Member
Hello all, and thank you for reading this. It's a long post, but if you read it through, you might be able to solve my very vexing problem.
I am in the Congo, in a town called Goma near the Rwanda border. The repeater is mounted on a hill that overlooks the entire town, and in my twenty-odd years of radio experience I would have sworn that a repeater up there would cover the entire area with ease. The furthest comms distance is only 5 miles from the repeater.
I'm using a DR-3000 that is set to Rx on 151.600MHz and Tx on 157.600. We get coverage throughout town, except in one key area about 2 miles from the repeater. In that area we can access the repeater from a vehicle radio, but not with a portable.
THIS IS THE STRANGEST SYMPTOM. In this area, a portable radio can hear other repeater users, but can't be heard when it transmits, BUT when the PTT button is pressed, the radio doesn't give the long tone that it would if it was not accessing the repeater. The portable MUST be accessing the repeater but the repeater is either not receiving the portable properly, or not passing the audio from the portable.
My original diagnosis was that there was a lot of local noise at the repeater site and the repeater was being de-sensed. I installed a cavity bandpass filter on the receive frequency to eliminate any noise, but it hasn't helped at all.
I am now baffled, confused, and ready to tear my hair out..
I've swapped the repeater itself, the duplexer, the antenna, and the antenna cable. I've tried the newest DP-1400 portable in case the problem lay with the DP-4401's that we're using.I've swapped the repeater frequencies.
I am at my wits end now, and I HAVE to solve this problem before the weekend. ANY info or feedback will be highly appreciated.I can provide copies of codeplugs, GPS co-ordinates etc. ... anything that you might need to help diagnose the problem.
Thank you, in advance...
Marc ZS6HZ
I am in the Congo, in a town called Goma near the Rwanda border. The repeater is mounted on a hill that overlooks the entire town, and in my twenty-odd years of radio experience I would have sworn that a repeater up there would cover the entire area with ease. The furthest comms distance is only 5 miles from the repeater.
I'm using a DR-3000 that is set to Rx on 151.600MHz and Tx on 157.600. We get coverage throughout town, except in one key area about 2 miles from the repeater. In that area we can access the repeater from a vehicle radio, but not with a portable.
THIS IS THE STRANGEST SYMPTOM. In this area, a portable radio can hear other repeater users, but can't be heard when it transmits, BUT when the PTT button is pressed, the radio doesn't give the long tone that it would if it was not accessing the repeater. The portable MUST be accessing the repeater but the repeater is either not receiving the portable properly, or not passing the audio from the portable.
My original diagnosis was that there was a lot of local noise at the repeater site and the repeater was being de-sensed. I installed a cavity bandpass filter on the receive frequency to eliminate any noise, but it hasn't helped at all.
I am now baffled, confused, and ready to tear my hair out..
I've swapped the repeater itself, the duplexer, the antenna, and the antenna cable. I've tried the newest DP-1400 portable in case the problem lay with the DP-4401's that we're using.I've swapped the repeater frequencies.
I am at my wits end now, and I HAVE to solve this problem before the weekend. ANY info or feedback will be highly appreciated.I can provide copies of codeplugs, GPS co-ordinates etc. ... anything that you might need to help diagnose the problem.
Thank you, in advance...
Marc ZS6HZ