The 220 Mhz repeater remains off the air. The antenna has been relocated to the tower at approximately 80 feet. While the antenna worked fine on the ground as many of you reading this know, as soon as we moved it the SWR became 4:1. Since it was close to sunset, we were forced to try to correct it today.
Today was almost 70 degrees, but the winds were gusting to 20+ mph. I was able to inspect the antenna N connector, determine that the center of the connector had been spread, and repair this. This brought the SWR to 2:1 on the repeater freq. Further analysis showed the antenna is just a little too long, and needs some tuning. The winds prevented us from doing this today. The plan is to work on it on Wednesday, and hopefully it will be back on the air at full speed Wednesday evening. Stay tuned.
On the other hand, it resonated on 223.5 to allow for a couple of simplex QSOs, and for us to work the Lexington repeater on 224.7. Thanks to those I was able to work today!
