146.920 Glass Mountain Repeater Repair Trip
N5HYD, W5ATO, N5NYM
28-MAY-2016
Little or no power in mornings. Suspect weak battery.
Arrived on location to find one solar panel torn from its rack and laying on ground, link antenna to WTC torn off its mount to the tower leg, and link antenna to Wink had been twisted from its aim to the north to aiming east with the tip of the boom against the guy wire. This all looked to have been done by very high winds from about a week previous.
Electrical inspection revealed two of the older solar panels were not generating power and they were removed to be inspected closer on the bench to see if they can be repaired. There was no physical damage to them. One side of the 100 watt panel frame had been torn from the panel, still bolted in the mounting frame. The wires were torn from the butt connectors, but the panel was un-broken and still generated power. Field repairs were made to re-mount the 100 watt panel in the mounting frame and it was reconnected to the power circuit.
Jumper cables were used to recharge the batteries from the truck while repairs were being made. After repairs, the charging system and the batteries all seemed to be in good working order. More permanent repairs will need to be made as soon as practical.
The one destroyed antenna was removed, the other antenna was re-aimed, and coax was switched to connect the remaining antenna to the WTC link radio. The Wink radio has been left off-line until the next repair visit.
The 146.92 repeater is still working and linked to the system and should work normally, the only exception is the temporary loss of the 440 MHz Wink Link radio.
