Updates to the Zebulon System

3/17/2008 - The new Zebulon repeater site is now up and running. The 442.40+ repeater, a commercial repeater, and 2 of the packet nodes (W4RAL-7 on 147.54 & K4RTP-7 on 145.77) are now on the air. Work is underway to get the 29.620, 53.07, & 224.8 repeaters in the cabinet and running again.

The pic on the right is the re-installed cabinet from the old site with a fresh coat of paint, 3 new blowers, a new battery backup system, dual chargers, full-time 12vdc supplies, and part of the equipment installed. The battery backup supplies 175 A.H. of power, with the ability to dump over 1000 amps at surge.

Steve KD4WIW designed and installed a stainless steel top-hat on the cabinet, to keep water off and hopefully reduce the possibility of a leak that could allow water to enter from above the equipment. The cabinet is sealed at all openings, with the exception of three outward-blowing fans at the top and bottom, and 1 filtered inlet near the bottom of the cabinet. Feedlines are brought around and in through the bottom of the side-mounted enclosure seen on the RH side of the cabinet in this picture.

Below is a pic of the backup batteries...

Below are pics of the packet nodes, commercial gear, 440 repeater, and one of the link radios on my workbench...

Lastly, for now, here's a pic of my faithful helper... Bridgette!

4/1/2001 - Click on the image above for a larger view! Remember to click your [BACK] button to return here. The above picture was taken on 4/1/01, at the Zebulon site. You'll see Tim Richards on the left of the tower, and me (WB4IUY) on the right side. In this photo, we were preparing the new 440 mhz antenna for installation on top of the tower mount. This antenna replaced the old Diamond vertical that had become somewhat noisy. The Zebulon site is actually the old water tower in the center of town, and we installed a Rohn tower on the catwalk. The top of the Rohn tower was fitted with a custom 'tophat' with 3 arms and an additional antenna mount in the center. This allows a total of 4 antennas to be installed. Currently, there are antennas installed for the 29.620 (10 meter) repeater, the 53.07 (6 meter) repeater, the 144.39 and 147.54 APRS and Packet BBS nodes (both 2 meters), and the 442.40 (70cm) repeater. The 440 and 2 meter antennas are fed via 2 runs of 1 5/8" hardline, while the 6 and 10 meter antennas are fed with 9913.

Here's a picture of Jay KQ4MS and Alisha assembling a monster-sized antenna for the 6 meter repeater. The weather was great (for an early day in April) and we were able to replace the 440 antenna, remove the 220 antenna, install new antenna for 6 and 10 meters, and install/route/secure two new runs of feedline for the 6 and 10 meter antennas. In addition, much work was completed inside of the repeater cabinet...including removal of a defective combiner, rerouting of much dc and control wiring, repairs and maintenance to the DC power system, and debugging of the APRS PA.