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The repeater, after some recent storms, began producing intermittent noise bursts, especially with weak signals. Diagnosis of the repeater revealed that the problems were "up the tower" somewhere. The most likely culprit was deemed to be the coaxial jumper which connects between the end of the hard line and the bottom of the antenna. Thanks to Peter (WB9KHR) for helping with careful fabrication of a new 3-ft. jumper using double-shielded cable and high-quality silver-plated connectors (PL-259 at the hard line end, and a type N at the antenna end).
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Peter (N0XZN) climbed the tower to install the new jumper. While inspecting the antenna and feed lines, he discovered that a ground-plane radial was making intermittent contact with a tower leg. He was able to loosen the radial clamp and rotate the radial assembly so that the radial would no longer touch the tower. Peter also discovered that a mounting bolt on a guy-wire mounting bracket had impacted the PL-259 at the hard line end of the jumper, possibly compromising the integrity of the weather seal, and possibly making intermittent contact with the shell of the PL-259. He was able to more securely mount the end of the hard hard line to move the connector away from the bolt. Peter was able to inspect the SO-239 receptacle at the end of the hard line, and it appeared to be in excellent condition. Joe (K0OG) inspected the jumper and found that it was of low quality, and could be prone to failure. This jumper was a factory-made jumper used at the time of the antenna installation.
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The combination of all these repair actions appears to have solved the noise-burst problems. Thanks to Nathan (KD0DMH) for providing transportation to the repeater site, and support during the tower climb.
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Photographs by Joe (K0OG).
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Photo album created with Web Album Generator