Wonderful response from VU2EDJ repeater after servicing!

Brought down my CP22E antenna which had developed an angle between the two collinear 5/8 lambda elements beyond the phasing coil. Main purpose was to see if I can get access to VU2EDJ VHF repeater which had been serviced in detail by the local team as reported by VU3UQI on X, with a lot of nice pictures. Details of the VU2EDJ repeater repair as mentioned is worth reading for anyone using the repeater. Quite a lot of effort has gone in to the repair, leave alone the expense of components. So I was keen to regain access to VU2EDJ repeater located at 41.3 km from here. Access to VU2EDJ repeater will greatly improve my range of VHF communication to the North of my region.

After lowering the CP22E antenna, the angle between the two collinear elements was corrected manually. The antenna was suspended on a nylon rope from a pole so that I could work on it without sitting or bending down. The mounting CPVC pipe was removed by unscrewing the clamps at the base.

This is the replacement mast, a three element adaptor used for wall painting, used to attach roller brushes for painting higher up in the wall, whisked from the home store! The segments are telescopic, with latches which can be locked in position. Hence if I want to reduce the height of the antenna with onset of thunderstorm season, height can be reduced significantly by opening the latches and sliding back the telescopic elements. I have been using a similar mast for my dual band VHF/UHF Moxon Yagi meant for Low Earth Orbit satellite operations and found it very convenient to use. It is sturdier than the previous mast which was a one inch diameter CPVC pipe, yet not as strong as a galvanized iron pipe. Advantage is that I can handle this alone while I need the help of another person if I want to install the GI mast, which is also longer and heavier.

Carefully fixed the base of my CP22E antenna to the telescopic mast and tightened the screws. Extreme care is needed because of the radials which can cause personal injury inadvertently as I could not get hold of suitable end caps for them. Taped the joints for whatever protection it might give from rainwater in the rainy season. Previously used tapes had all worn out and were removed prior to that. Screw on the earth wire attached to the base of the antenna was cleaned and tightened once again. Earth wire had been grounded earlier using a four foot copper clad iron earth rod driven down in the garden below. As it was between the plants it would get automatically watered daily as well, which would improve the earth conductivity!

Mounted the mast with antenna on the first floor parapet and fixed it well at several sites. It is well supported by the parapet fence, rain water gutter, and end of the lower part of the sloping roof and I hope that this position will be reasonable stable against wind loading. Now the CP22E antenna is about 7m from the ground, but still below the level of my water tank, a landmark I use to compare the height of my antennas. Couple of turns of HLF 200 feedline have been fixed as a possible common mode choke on the mast. I do hope that it will reduce the common mode current on the outer aspect of the coaxial shield and reduce the entry of radiofrequency energy into the shack. Grounding of the base of the antenna is also useful for this and possibly for minor lightning protection, I presume. I have used 10 sq mm insulated copper wire for the ground connection, which was the thickest I could source from the local shop dealing with electrical wiring components.

Went inside and checked the SWR using my cross needle meter. I am using 10m of HLF 200 cable from the antenna to the SWR meter. One meter HLF 200 patch cable connects the SWR meter to the SO 239 on the radio. Tested on low power in my IC 2730A radio and found the SWR to be below 1.1, suggesting a good tuning of the commercial antenna, which has not worsened over the past nearly two years of use. This was my workhorse antenna for good number of LEO satellite contacts when I started LEO satellite operations nearly one and a half years back. I have worked both V/U satellites and U/V satellites with this antenna. It had an SWR of around 2.25 on UHF amateur radio band, working as third harmonic of the VHF amateur radio band. For those not familiar with satellites, they have cross band repeaters. V/U satellites have uplink on VHF and downlink on UHF, while the U/V satellites have the other way round. International Space Station has a V/U transponder and it is the easiest to work. You talk on 145.990 MHz and hear back on 437.800 MHz.

Finally I checked access to local VHF repeaters. VU2CSR repeater at 3.8 km had full segment reception in my IC-2730A radio as usual. VU2MJJ repeater has been down for the past few days and I could not get access. Surprise came on VU2EDJ repeater at 41.3 km. Earlier I was getting VU2EDJ repeater with just two segments of signal strength on the meter in my radio. This time the signal strength meter showed solid eight segments of display. That is really wonderful and I am sure that servicing of VU2EDJ detailed by VU3UQI on X is really effective. Congratulations to the team at VU2EDJ, including VU2SJP and everyone who has contributed for the wonderful work and to N3SDO’s help mentioned by VU3UQI. Hope to have many contacts using VU2EDJ repeater in future. A link to the pictures of repair posted on X is included in the description of the video.