JohnE

the one bad battery went into float and has settled out at 12.8 V, we'll see what that looks like in a week. in the mean time I put the second bad one on the float and it came up rather quickly but no float yet. checked the standing voltages of the 3 I had done 2 weeks ago and no change in voltages, this is a good thing. going to top off the low one and see if it stays were the others are. may do some more testing over the long weekend if I can manage to borrow an extension ladder and get it up to the site. "if" that works out I will put it up temporarily on my small gen set and go do some field testing. this should give me a rough clue as to what I can expect out of it. must remember to bring enough cable w/me. and on a side note I'm rethinking the size of the shack to 8'x8' as 4'x8' just seems a little tight when I laid it out in my garage today.

been using these for yrs http://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=320918&eventGroup=4&eventPage=1 have used just about every thing that is out there commercially and still go back to this. I also have recently started using these cables and found them to better than the standard stuff I was using. http://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=465451&eventPage=1

one of the 3 batteries I set up is weak but holing ~12.5V after 2 days off the charger. the other 2 are 13.2V so I'll call them good. I took the one that dropped off like a rock on the float charger to see how that goes. next week I'll deal w/the last bad one then go from there. shot a couple of vids today but haven't had a chance to review them yet. took elevation reading also today,where the antenna currently sits is 1095' , where its going is 1210' roughly and the entrance to my driveway is 1066'. maps were made to accommodate a couple of different gain antennas and different heights. they all came out roughly the same height being the bigger factor. right now I have no plans to purchase any antennas and just use what I have around. 2 older PD 201's 1 Antennex 4607 plan on using the 201's as it is a better performer than the other.

came across this post on a ham board http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?102965-Tree-Mounted-Antennas&s=75741e21493d34694d43622b37520737&p=644583#post644583 thoughts.

thanks PG, was looking for a way to do that. the bank of 3 turned over today,going to leave on float till Friday night at that time I will separate them and let stand overnight then take individual voltages in the morning. on the bad one it came up but next morning it was at 7V so I think it safe to say that one is a goner.

came across this while looking for alternate ways to mount the antenna. http://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=448819&eventPage=2

talked w/mr solar today going to e-mail spec to maintain 500 AHr w/ ~300Ahr/168Hrs.

moving this here to keep you guys updated on how this is moving along. here are the batteries I aquired. the bank of 3 on the rigrt are on a being charged w/battery tender jr. the dates were the in service dates. these things are practally new. http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0083_zpsde43ad0c.jpg last I checked voltage was 12.3V, I expect it to turn over by morning. these were the 3 batteries that were in doubt and had no in service dates on them. as it turns out I had 2 otheres that were rundown to 6V or below. one of those is on my big charger/booster for the car set for 2A charge.. it has a a 2A,20A and a 60A settings as well as 250 boost. shot some vid at the site but wasn't happy w/it so that will have to wait for now.

checked voltages today and 2 were 6V or less. going to try to reserct them, the rest were 12.6 or better. put together a bank of 3 and put them on my float charger. will see how long it takes to flip to the float mode. going to move this to a new thread in the general dicussion forum.

I use and recommend using a double shielded RG58U type cables such as LMR 195 or an RG142 cable. I tend to use connectors from RF industries.

tossed the tower idea in favor of going to one of the trees. going to take pics/vid of the site as is right now and will post later. I need to get a better idea of how tall those trees really are, best guess is ~80'. browsed posible mouning ideas today at work today but I don't know if drilling a couple of 5/8 holes through it is such a good idea. http://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=29248&fromSuggestion=true http://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=15433&eventGroup=4&eventPage=1 thoughts..................

I got my hands on a bunch of 35AHr batteries from a PM job we're doing. most of them have an in service date of 8/13 and they were just back up batteries. have 10 so far but I think 2 are much older so I may toss those. there are suppose to be 6 more coming , keeping my fingers crossed. w/this in mind I will be able to test how much charging power I will need to keep up the charge while in use. the whole thing can be set up in my garage running on the batts.

good to hear he is OK

PM me w/pl's and I'll see if I can hear/hit it from Brooklyn, if you want.

when I bought my Kenwoods my boss asked why not Motorola's, simple answer is they don't do what I need them to do.

my only real concern is the duplexer de-tuning in the cold.its been down to -10 this yr but this was no ordinary yr by far. all of the other equipment is rated from -20 to +140 so no real issue there. as for batteries looking AGM or possibly Lithium ion, still researching that.

the truth of the matter at least here is, unless some one really pisses and moans about it nothing will be done. I've see some really crazy stuff done in all the yrs I'm doin' this, I could tell you stories.

good little machines. just a point of information though Motorola is no longer supporting the replacement parts for that radio just an FYI

I would call that a x-band link repeater. legal, I think not. to accomplish that would require 2 antennas and some filtering or the whit noise will beat the hell out of the RX on both sides. AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA ,thats great.

correct me if I'm wrong but are you speaking of the Motorola type system. I have never worked on that , now LTR is a different story. my go to plan at the time was an IDA LTR controller w/ability to switch from conventional repeater to single channel trunk over the air/IP or wireline.

key word being "legally". and on a side note when I was having lets just say receive problems w/650 I had a trunking controller all ready to go as a last resort. keeping the rif-raf out is at the top of my list. as a solo trunk I don't see it as not being legal as it is just a fancier coding system. whats the difference between DPL and trunking data really. I believe this was discussed in another thread a while back or it might have been on the previous version of this board.

it could be done through IP controllers, not really hard to do.

thanks, good links

we commonly call that a link repeater and have a couple out there. not exactly legal in the part 90 world either. it would be much easier to explain over the phone than in this venue the LINK is a bi directional repeater and will need 2 antennas. each side is capable of TX & RX. in a RICK each radio would be set up as a mobile (TX on hi side and RX on lo side) when a lo side signal is receiver it goes out on the hi side of the other radio. the hang times have to be set to zero or you lock up all 3 machines. thats pretty much it.

good info gentlemen, thanks. plan is to make a 4X8 shack and a 60' tower. undecided on weather to put panels on top of shack or the tower. if I can side arm a small wind turbine on the tower and do a hybrid system I think that would better serve me in the winter. the repeater will be set to 45W w/no CW ID. on paper it specs .8A in standby .3A w/pwr save, 12A in TX and 1.2A RX. I will have to factor in the RX pre amp also. looking to do 400 AHr b/c once the snow comes I'll have no way to get back to where it will be. thoughts.........