Hi all,
We have a puzzling problem with our two 2m repeater networks.
They all use Mitrek's on 2m and Maxtrac's on UHF for linking; each network has
a handful of satellite repeaters, all on diff. 2m freqs of course. All
satellites use one of two UHF freqs for simplex linking to their hub repeaters.
All it takes to swing a satellite repeater from one network to another is to
change the UHF link freq. With the Maxtrac's, that's easy (or should be!).
In one instance, we've struggled greatly to do this successfully. After
reprogramming the Maxtrac at the repeater site, the UHF linking signal sounds
fine on HT's, dual band transceivers & a consumer-grade scanner _at the remote
site_.
But from the hub repeater, the VHF output signal, coming in from this
newly-linked repeater ONLY, sounds garbly, like AC ripple or overdriven PL tone
(we don't use PL).
At the linked repeater site, we've changed antennas, power supplies & link
Maxtrac with no improvement. As our repeater sites are rather remote (in the
middle of nowhere, hours driving away from one another, and/or up mountain
peaks), we've not had a chance to listen to it at the hub site. So we don't
know if the UHF signal is arriving there ok or not, or whether the VHF output
signal is somehow being corrupted.
The puzzling thing is that A) the newly linked repeater worked perfectly with
the 2nd network and B) all satellite repeaters use the same UHF link freq &
they all work FB.
I wonder what we're missing (duh!)? Any thoughts? Thanks!
--John WB0EQ/VE6
