The box was not moto or anything normal- I believe the logo on the box was
"Railmaster" or something like that. It was a wall mount box (That was sitting
on a shelf) about 12" x 10" x 8" that was all black and had only a power cord
coming out of it and a single N connector for the antenna. That's it, no other
controls or anything that I saw. There were two of these sitting on the shelf
next to each other, one for 452 and the other for 457, which is how they were
labeled in black marker on the box. I saw two seperate antenna lines coming to
them, so I assume there were two antennas up top- but I could not see them from
where I was. Maybe there was a duplexer somewhere but I did not see one nearby.
The tech actually came up on the repeater an hour later to check and make sure
everything was ok. You're exactly right- It's good to have someone with a map
and a magnet looking for the needle.
Tom
Mike Morris WA6ILQ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
At 07:29 AM 06/08/07, you wrote:
(big chunks cut out)
>He also clued me into what we were hearing. 452.9375 is the
>frequency the locomotive uses to talk back to the FRED (Flashing
>Rear End Device- the blinky box on the back of trains that replaced
>the caboose). The Fred talks back on 457.9375. That means the
>haystack is big- every locomotive in the yard has a transmitter on
>452, which makes it very small needle!
(cut)
>This gave him the clue we needed- there is a digipeater in the yard
>for that service. The digipeater would be the only thing talking
>that much. We went up to the control tower where the box is-
>unplugged it- and bang- no more interference! Within 1/2 hour he
>changed it to a backup box and so far so good! The litttle black box
>digipeater must have been getting squirly off and on the whole time.
>
>So let's hope that's it. It's nice to find the needle.
It's even nicer to have a co-operative and helpful needle-finder...
someone that knows where all the needles are, and has the keys to
open the doors... (your railroad radio tech)
>Tom
>W9SRV
Let's hope the problem doesn't come back.
So was the digipeater an actual Moto product or something the railroad
guys tossed together? If it was Moto, what was their name for it?
Mike WA6ILQ
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