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VE7IRN and VE7LGN repeater update
Lat week (March 21 and 22) Myles, VE7FSR, visited the VE7LGN repeater on South Forge Mountain near Logan Lake, and the VE7IRN repeater on Iron Mountain near Merritt, to check on things and address some issues. Simon, VE7RIZ, and Myles had previously discovered that the VE7LGN repeater was not working properly, or was working very sporadically -- and over the past few weeks the UPS at Iron Mountain was generating an error that could not be resolved remotely over the IP net.
Taking advantage of some recent snow, VE7FSR took his test gear up to South Forge where he confirmed that the battery bank voltage was still at ~9-10 volts and he also determined that the wind generator was not charging. Realizing that there wasn't a quick fix, he carefully packed up the Daniels repeater, repeater controller, and VHF and UHF duplexers and brought them down the hill. Myles and Lee, VE7FET, will use these components (and some new stuff) to build a replacement VHF repeater and UHF link package that will be brought up this summer when the batteries, charge controller, and solar panels are replaced.
Myles also had some unexpected fun helping a HVC Security Guard (who came up to see what Myles was doing) by giving the HVC truck a pull when the guard got his truck stuck in some crusty snow next to Myles' Jeep.
The UPS fix at VE7IRN was a lot easier, only requiring the UPS to be shut down, the battery temporarily removed, and the AC power disconnected long enough for the error to clear and for the UPS to reset itself. Everything else in the building seemed to be working fine (and no unwanted critters!), so the VE7IRN repeater and APRS digipeater should be OK until the snow melts and we can get up there to finish the work we didn't get to last summer. There was about 4 inches of fluffy new snow at the top of Iron Mountain and the view towards Merritt was spectacular (when it stopped snowing and the sun came out!).
On the way home one of the snowmobile trailer tires tried to catch fire (exciting!), spewing a huge cloud of smoke and scattering hot chunks of rubber all over the old Merritt Highway near the turnoff to Roche Lake. A quick swap to the spare tire and it was back on the road for home.
