RAM - Teller 2-Meter

RAM - Teller 2-meter

Teller Repeater -- Site and Details:

TX: Kenwood TKR-720 -- 25 Watts
Antenna: VK2ZOI Flowerpot - half wave -- 2dbi gain
Address: Teller Airport, Teller, Alaska
Duplexer: Wacom WP-639, 4 cavities
Controller: IRLP
Coordinates: 64-14-25 x 166-20-22
Repeater is on the right-hand (gray) building

Site Courtesy State of Alaska

We love Refrigerators!

The refrigerator hulk contains the repeater, duplexer, IRLP controller, Internet Router

There are 4 cooling fans. One fan on a thermostat exhausts hot air from the fridge if it gets too hot. It is set for 45F. The other three thermostats cool the power supply and transmitter PA heat sinks.

The repeater is capable of 50 watts, but we have it set at 25 watts for reliability and the capability of heavy duty IRLP.

The boys put up the Antenna

This was the hardest part. We bolted unistrut to the building, and the antenna clamps to the unistrut.

The antenna mast is aproximately 31 ft tall, and the antenna itself is just under 4 feet. The mast is off the ground a bit, putting the tip of the antenna 20 feet above the roof peak, per FAA standards for airport antenna structures.

Left to right is Dan Kowell AL7RS, Don Erickson KL2ZF, Ken Shapiro KL1YJ and Timmy Erickson, 10 years old and not yet a ham.

Don's wife is having a good time!

We all had a good time. There were kids, dogs, wives, lots of food including Potato Salad, ham sandwiches, egg salad, chip, and various flavors of soda pop. All prepared by Edna Ruud, KL0OH.

Here, Melinda Erickson (not yet a ham) is also taking pictures.

Clean, slender antenna

The lower section, clamped to the building, is 1-1/4 inch schedule 40 galvanized pipe. There is a bell reducer then it it tapers to a ten foot section of one inch galvanized schedule 10 pipe. The antenna fits into the top.

The coax cable is LMR-400, internal to the pipe, and at the bottom there is a tee and a nipple bringing the cable into the building. No cable is exposed to the elements.

The Kenwood TKR-720 is put into place

Here Ramon lowers the Kenwood repeater into the shelf.

The shelf contains the cooling fans. Below the shelf you can see the duplexer (black) laying horizontal.

The old freezer compartment is below that, on a drawer and we plan to put batteries and standby power in there.

The whiskered and sinister looking individual behind Ramon is none other than Kenny, KL1YJ. He is also noted for owning the smallest radio in the club! He also has other radios, but his is a tiny thing half the size of a pack of cigarettes.

The Teller Environs

Here I am driving the Jeep. Keith Andrews, KL1CC the photographer, snapped this shot. It shows the high plateau where the airport is, and which continues for about ten miles. Vegetation is Tundra, with a few hardy willows trying to grow along the edge of the road.

The Nome - Teller Highway is 75 miles, gravel, and takes about 2 hours or more to drive it.

In the dark winter, with the wind blowing, this can be a lonesome road indeed!