16 January:  Bacar 2010 is set to launch on 24 January from the Worcester airport at 11h00.  More details can be found at http://www.amsatsa.org.za/bacar.htm

15 January:  News from HARC:  Ch6, the Kensington uhf repeater is back up and running.  It overlooks the Mosas Madiba Stadium to the east and Makro Springfield to the west.  is is on 439.275/431.675MHz, encode 88.5.  More can information can be found here

13 January:  Meyer Koch ZS5MMK became a silent key today.  "Meyer had been a stanch member of our club having served on the Committee for several years. He had not been well for some time. Our condolences are extended to his xyl Norma and family. R.I.P."

12 January: ZS5S reinstalled the Hilton 145.6625 repeater, which had it's deviation set correctly by ZS5CID.  Thanks Craig and Shaun!

9 January: ZR5S is organised a work party to go to Gilboa to change the rx antenna and test the ac feed cable. ZU5DF tested the cable with a Mega, and all is 100%.  We changed the rx X200 antenna, which was full of water again.  Upon investigation  it was found that there were pin prick holes in the top section.  We are awaiting answers from the suppliers.
Unfortunately Gilboa tripped again just before 19h00 the same evening!

1 January:  ZR5S and ZS5ML went to Griffin's Hill, Estcourt, and replaced the receive antenna with a X200, connected the correct tx antenna (phased folded dipoles), and connected the 700 repeater with link.  Click here for some photos.
ZU5DF went up to Gilboa and reset the tripped circuit breaker - thanks Shaun!

27 December:  A work party converged on Gilboa to provide moral support for Shaun, ZR5S, who installed the new UHF repeater.  Present were the Marx family, Shaun ZU5DF, Mike ZS5ML and of course Shaun ZR5S.  It was misty, but thankfully the rain kept away.

The Shauns and Mike then traveled to Greytown, where the repeater was modified to prevent the repeater from being tone activated by accident.

The repeaters are working fine.  The receive antenna at Gilboa however is off-spec, and we suspect that the antenna contains water again.  Another work party will be needed to change the antenna.  As a result, the Underberg link battles to open the UHF link at Gilboa.

More pictures can be found here and here

Click here for a schematic diagram showing the linking of the repeaters

24 December:  The SARL has confirmed that ICASA has extended the grace period to 28 February 2010 for license payments.

23 December:  It looks like ICASA will only send out license renewals in the second or third week of January (possibly later).  License payments are due on 31 December, with a grace period of 1 month.  There are negotiations underway to extend the grace period to the end of February, but please do not bank on this happening.  Please make your payments as soon as possible, with your correct license number as reference.

The banking details are as follows:
Acc. Name: ICASA,
Bank: Nedbank
Type of account: Deposit Account
Branch: 14-62-45-00
Account No: 1462002927
Reference No: The license number

Also, the new members who have recently passed their exams will have to pay a pro-rata fee for next year.  They paid the full license fee of R27, and of this a pro-rata rate, probably from the date when they passed their exams, will apply to this year.  I estimate that they will have to pay in about R3.50 for next year,  but obviously this can only be done once they receive their licenses, as payments cannot be done with call signs as a reference number.

20 December.  Midmar hf field day results:  Congrats to the HARC/MARC team!  We achieved 4th place.  Here are first 10 places :
1st Jan Botha, ZS4JAN, 116 412 points;  2nd West Rand ARC, ZS6WR, 77 712 points; 3rd Boland ARC, ZS1TB, 71 504 points; 4th Highway ARC, ZS5HAM, 61 048 points; 5th Sandton ARC, ZS6STN, 31 120 points; 6th Pretoria ARC, ZS6PTA, 30 488 points; 7th Hibiscus Coast ARC, ZS5HAC, 24 072 points; 8th Zululand ARC, ZS5ZLB, 19 542 points; 9th Oakdale ARC, ZS1OAK, 16 632 points; 10th Bloemfontein RAC, ZS4BFN, 2 760 points.

18 December: We uplifted the Hilton repeater today, and ZS5ML took it up to ZS5CID, together with the old repeater for retuning. 

8 December:  Shaun, ZR5S, removed the old repeater at Hilton, and installed the new Kenwood repeater.  The deviation on the old repeater needs to be set - it is too wide.  The deviation on the stand in repeater also seems to be too wide.  Please don't use this repeater too often so that the DARC members are not inconvenienced by this.  The repeater will be disconnected when Shaun goes past there again.

6 December:  Shaun, ZR5S, drove up to Gilboa and restored the power.

5 December:  11 members made it to the Christmas braai.  Many had other prior commitments.  It is always difficult to find a date at Christmas time convenient to most.  The radio donated by Brian, ZR5BCB,  will be raffled at the next meeting, on 16 January

29 November: The SARL reports that ZU5DF and ZU5FHR, Shaun and Farhaadh, achieved 100% in their RAE exams.  Well done!

13 November:  The RAE results are out!  Please click here for the full results.  Well done on passing your examinations, and please call in on air when possible - we would love to hear you.

Congratulations to all of you!  you are now licenced to talk on air!

8 November:  The RAE results are out!  Congratulations to our candidates who passed! 
"As we are in the process of obtaining your call signs, we would like you to please be patient for a few more days. The SARL has been requested by the authority only to submit the call signs of those that have passed the RAE. The reservation of these call signs will then be done.
As soon as we have received your reserved call signs we will then supply them to you and you may then go onto the air and start transmitting without delay. The SARL would like to request that should you have not yet completed your HF assessment, you do so immediately so that we can complete the examination process.
Your results letters will shortly be mailed to you with your relevant certificates.
Should your name not appear on this list, then you have unfortunately not passed the examination, but you will have a chance to re-write your RAE examination in May 2010.
All enquiries on the results should be made to the SARL office at 011 675 2393 or by email to admin@sarl.org.za."

5 November:  The Hilton 6625 repeater's deviation was too wide, so we reset it with the host's help and a deviation meter.  But alas, it is now wider than before.  So, please only use the repeater when you have to, as it might cause frustration to fellow hams trying to listen in on 650.

17 October.  Held our SGM, and agreed to a new amended constitution.  Des Mullen, from Rural Metro held a talk about their organisation.  It was well received, and the possibility exists that we could help in times of disaster. 
3 of us proceeded up to World's View to assess what we need to bring along for the next work party

16 October.  Shaun installed the 145.6625 repeater at Hilton - all is working very well so far

15 October. Shaun visited Gilboa, and found all 3 circuit breakers had tripped.  Our 10A 3 stage power supply was u\s, and even though he managed to power up the uhf link repeater, it seems to have lost its finals.  He installed a temp 3A charger

12 October.  A late afternoon storm hit us.  Gilboa went off air, and the Pmb 750 repeater started making funny sounds, and is motor-boating periodically.

10 October.  Glad to report that Gilboa is still up.  Craig has been busy with repeater repairs as per normal.  The Estcourt 700 repeater is nearly finished.  The Hilton 6625 repeater is repaired, and Craig is just awaiting the receive xtal to come in the post.  We are hoping to have all these repeaters back in position within the next two weeks.
Craig and Phillip have now linked the Underberg repeater to our network via UHF - the link radio had to be taken down however on 10/10/09 for repairs.

03 October.  The power at Gilboa is still up, despite the cold and wet weather experienced.  We left the tone guard off on the 750 repeater, and only switched it back on late on 02/10, due to excessive break through.  It seems that tone guarding is definitely necessary.  Tone bursting was discussed, but is impractical and expensive to implement at the moment, as the present control boards in the repeaters will have to be replaced and new software written to accommodate both CTCSS and tone bursting.  We are still awaiting quotes for CTCSS tone boards which we can retrofit into old rigs.

Craig has finished repairing the Hilton repeater, which needed a new receiver board.  The xtal for this board should arrive within the next two weeks.  This repeater can then be reinstalled.  Craig is also busy rebuilding the 700 repeater for Estcourt, and fitting a DTMF control board.

25 September.  Shaun, ZR5S, and Mike, ZS5ML went to Gilboa to make some changes.  up there we found Brian, ZR5BCB, who had switched everything back on after he replaced his cable - rats had started eating his cable underground!  So it is possible that the rats have taken a liking to our cable as well, causing the circuit breakers to trip.
We removed the earth from our cable, and introduced a separate earth at the repeater box.  Shaun had bought a circuit breaker earlier in the day, and it was installed in the repeater box.  This will hopefully show whether the fault is in the cable or in our repeater set-up.  The surge arrestors were also removed, just in case they were at fault.  A cut-off timer, which gets activated with spikes, was left in place, however.  The uhf squelch was tightened slightly in an attempt to filter out the signals which opened the repeater yesterday

24 September.  Stanley, ZR5SEM, went up to Gilboa to reset the tripped circuit breaker.  He switched it on at about 09h00, and the repeater switched back on at 09h09 when the voltage was high enough.  Unfortunately it tripped again at 10h29.  The battery managed to keep the repeater going until 20h09 that evening, and then went to sleep once again.
After the repeater came on air, it was periodically opened by some interference.  In trying to find the source, I switched on the CTCSS tone on the Greytown repeater, which then became non responsive.  When I phone Craig, he made me aware that the repeater does not have a tone board, and this is why it will not respond anymore.  It will need a hardware fix (resistor) when next we are there.  It still transmits whatever is transmitted on the linked network, but cannot receive.  The repair might have to wait until we install the Estcourt repeater

19 September.  We had a successful meeting at the Groenekloof site, with a good turnout.  A few brought some antennas along and these were analysed with a miniVNA analyser.  Some redundant antennas were taken down, with Shaun climbing the mast.  Some photos can be viewed here

We have 14 students doing the ZU course.  Special thank to Mike, ZS5BGV (logistics and admin), Craig ZS5CD, for organising the tuition, and Evert, ZS5EFP, for helping and concluding the lectures (Craig was struck down by Malaria). On behalf of the club, we welcome our new student members, and hope to hear you on air soon.  You certainly have joined a great club and hobby!

07/09/09  ZS5S and ZS5ML proceeded to Groenekloof, and fitted the Aircraft receiver/plotter after organising an internet link there.  We took down a uhf antenna to make space for the new antenna.  The APRS VHF IGate was also transferred there.

10/09/09  Shaun met with ZS5JC, Jan Coetzee, from the Hibiscus coast,  at Groenekloof  to discuss alarming the room there.  I then joined them at World's View, where Shaun installed an IGate "repeater" to cover the CBD.  We then proceeded back to Groenekloof, and installed the X700 for the EQSO and ship plotter.  Two more old antennas were removed from the mast, with the old coax.  The remaining coax cables were then re-routed and tidied up

12/09/09 ZS5ML drove up to Eshowe and met with Willie, ZS5WI, who had looked after the two donated Polyscops.  The two heavy units were loaded into my Land Rover, together with old copies of HHN dating back to about 1998.

I then proceeded to the New Germany Nature Reserve where I attended the Hamnet meeting where we displayed our readiness wrt to vehicles and equipment.  Not every one could attend, but 10 fully self stainable stations were on show.  Not a bad showing!  The individual stations were very impressive and ranged from fully equipped 4x4s to fully equipped sedans, ensuring that Hamnet here in KZN is well prepared for most eventualities wrt to communications.  All stations are self sustainable, and do not relay on repeaters for communications, but have access to all should the need arise, whether tone guarded or not!  Some stations had their own repeaters, which could be used where necessary as on some of our regular yearly events.

19 September  MARC held their monthly meeting at Groenekloof.  It was well attended, and the topic was the testing of antennas using the miniVNA antenna analyser of Shaun and Mike.  For shade on this glorious day we used the awning on Mike's Land Rover and a gazebo, in the fenced tower area.  Shaun did the hard work again by climbing the tower and removing 3 old antennas, one of them a heavy phased uhf antenna setup.  The 6m mini loop was also lowered as it showed an open circuit on the miniVNA.  It became apparent that the matching stub had broken off.  It was resoldered using Mike's inverter and soldering iron (Eskom decided to stay away during our meeting).  The antenna was resealed with silicone and self amalgamating tape.  I climbed the tower, but ran into an uncomfortable height, resulting in Shaun taking over again to re-install the antenna.  It was connected to the repaired beacon (thanks, Craig, ZS5CID!) and is operational again.

20 September  It was discovered that the power had tripped again at Gilboa on Thursday, 17 September.  It could possibly have something to do with the wet cold front which swept through there at the same time

Recent News

• 30/08/09 Shaun and Mike, accompanied by Joost, ZS5S, left for Gilboa to sort the fault.  To our relief, our circuit breaker was still up.  The other station had tripped, together with the feed circuit breaker in the Vodacom distribution board.  Brian has been in contact with Vodacom, and power will be restored tomorrow.  We replaced the battery with a fully charged battery, enabling members to use the linked network again.
  29/08/09 The battery saver kicked in at 19h11, giving us just over 2 days of airtime from the battery.
  27/08/09 Gilboa lost power again at aprox 11h40, after exactly 3 days since it's "repair".  It was raining and this could have something to do with it - just hope it is not the cable.  The charging voltage did not drop down to 13.8V even after 3 full days of charging, and this could possibly be related to the tripped circuit breaker?  We will try and get there on Sunday to find the fault.

• Gilboa, 24/08/09 - Shaun, ZR5S, Mike, ZS5BGV, Peter, ZS5PJ and myself, ZS5ML, braved the wet conditions and thick mist, and proceeded into the permanent cloud layer, enshrouding Mt Gilboa. We replaced the top X200 antenna (water-filled from a bad joint), circuit breaker, surge protector and stays with stainless steel stays, while boost charging the battery.

• 17/08/09 - The Gilboa repeater lost power again 4 hours after it was restored.  We suspect that the surge protector might be faulty.  As a result, the network will go off air again today when the battery voltage gets too low.  Due to work commitments, this repeater can only be attended to at the earliest by Friday, possibly even later.  Volunteers are required to help with lowering the mast so that the faulty top antenna can be changed at the same time.  Please contact Shaun if you can help

• 6/08/09 - The Gilboa repeater went off air, and telemetry data showed that power was lost on 12 August, at 23h00, the battery supplying power until 20h00 on 15/08/09.  ZR5S and ZS5ML went up to the site, and found that the circuit breaker was down.  No fault was found and the system was restored, with a boost charge for an hour.
  We tested the antennas, and found that the top Diamond X200 antenna was resonant at 142MHz, and had an swr of about 4 at 145.5MHz.  So, something is wrong with the antenna. To protect the repeater, we changed to transmit antenna to the lower one, who's swr is fine.  The plan is to change/repair the antenna on our next visit.
  At 19h00, I noticed that the power at Gilboa had failed again, shortly before 18h00.  This means that another trip is needed to Gilboa.  The most likely scenario is that the battery charger is faulty.  Let's hope that it is not a faulty cable, which trips when there is enough moisture from weather conditions.  A battery charger is much easier to replace than the cable.
  Just an example to members who are not in favour of paying the increased yearly membership fees of R140:  To sort the repeater today, we had to drive 332km, at the cost of over R1000, at our own expense, labour cost is of course not taken into consideration.  Even the transportation cost cannot be borne by the club, and is thus expected yo be sacrificed by the committee member you have elected to look after our repeater sites.  I just mention this to our members who complain that the membership fees are too high...And we still have to visit the repeater again, after buying a new battery charger.

• 15/08/09 - 6 of our club members assisted with communications for the Capital Climb race.  It was a glorious day, and the communications were a success.
  The monthly club meeting was also held today.  It was very well attended and the constructive meeting was followed by 3 presentations:  The aircraft tracking on Google Earth by ZR5S, modifications to a simple Eveready FM radio to shift the frequency band into the airband section by ZS5QB, and a demonstration of the miniVNA antenna analyser by ZS5ML

• 29/07/09 - the 750 repeater is up and running again, and is working well.  It is tone guarded with a tone on 88.5 on it's input.  The Hilton 145.675 repeater has been removed from the linked network, but is still in position and is operating in stand-alone mode.  It will be taken out for tweaking once the 145.700 repeater is repaired and back in action. 
• The AGM was held on 18/07/09 at 11h00 with a good turn-out.  The new committee is Mike Boast, ZS5BGV (chairman), Peter du Plessis, ZS5PJ, Shaun Rudling, ZRS5S, Brian Lourens, ZR5BCB, Rob Billing, ZU5ROB, Mike Lauterbach, ZS5ML, Craig Dagleish, ZS5CID
• Craig, ZS5CD, donated a UHF and a VHF radio.  The UHF radio will be used as the link radio at Estcourt.  Craig, ZS5CID, will order the right crystals for this set, and the VHF could be used for Echolink.
  A big thank you to Craig, ZS5CD, for the donation.  It is especially appreciated since you are not even a club member here, but a valuable one at HARC.  Hopefully we can return a favour in the future as well. 
• 06/07/09 - Both the 700 and 750 repeaters have found a lift with Erica, XYL of Phillip, ZR5PDL.  Thanks for that lift, and to Shaun for meeting her in Howick.  Shaun also returned the power supply for the beacon at Groenekloof.  He repaired it recently at his own cost
• The 700 repeater at Windy Hill was also removed for repairs on 02/07/09.  It will be sent in for repairs together with the 750 repeater.  Once repaired, it will be installed in Estcourt on a trial base.  If the 675 performs well at Hilton, then the 700 will possible stay at Estcourt.  Hamnet is taking over the Windy Hill site with their own 700 repeater.
• 1/7/09 The Alverstone repeater (145.600MHz) has been linked to our network.  It is a split repeater.  It has a CTSS tone guard of 103.5  and transmits at 150W. Thanks Brian, ZS5BG!
• 24/06/09 The Hilton Repeater is up and running again!  Here are extracts from an email from Shaun, ZR5S, who you can see on the tower:
  "ZS5ML (Mike), ZR5SEM (Stanley) and myself, arrived at the Hilton SAPS station this morning at 09h00 as planned. We installed the Estcourt 675 repeater here on a trial basis.
  The packet digi (ZS0HIL) was moved to the Groenekloof site today as well. Try connect to it on 144.625Mhz on ZS0HIL-1. It is using a slim-jim antenna."

  "We had hoped to be finished by 13h00 but unfortunately the cables underground had been corroded through (bad idea to have a joint here sealed with tape!) and i got home exhausted at 18h00. Clinging on to a swaying mast 30m up in the gusty wind today, was tiresome.

  We routed the 60 odd meters of LMR400 through the ceiling and came to 5m short of the radio room! @#$%^&*() MARC was now fresh out of cable and we had to make a join in the ceiling. New LMR400 for the RX antenna at the top, and we kept the existing 3/4 inch Helix cable on the TX antenna (bottom). Two new Diamond X-200 antennas where fitted and we now have a much neater looking tower. The station superintendent nodded an approval on completion as the old home-brew slim-jims where falling apart and looked tatty.  We also removed about 8 dead coax runs."
• 16/6/09 The Greytown repeater is up and running on 145.775MHz.
  Shaun, ZR5S, reinstalled the Greytown repeater this afternoon (16/06/09).  We tested it, and seems to be working 100%.  A special thanks to Craig, ZS5CID, for repairing it, and to Shaun for installing it and organising the logistics!
  Craig has also repaired the Estcourt repeater.  Both repeaters have additional features: their links and time-out timers can be switched on and off, as required!
  The World's View repeater was silent this morning.  Shaun, yes the same ZR5S, went to inspect it and found the power supply to be US.  He installed one of his own power supplies for the mean time, and retrieved the repeater at the same time, as it needs to be sent to Craig for modifications - it will need CTSS tone guards to prevent it from being locked up by all the rf on the hill.  This CTSS will be switchable by DTMF tones, so that all with old rigs can still listen to various happenings, such as the Sunday morning net.
  The Estcourt repeater might be installed at the World's View site for the time being until the 750 repeater comes back.   This will give our members repeater access in the mean time, and at the same time, the Estcourt repeater will be tested in the field before being installed in Estcourt .
  A big round of applause needs to go to Shaun, who goes beyond his "voluntary call of duty", to keep our repeaters in top condition, and to Craig, for his expertise in repairing and modifying these repeaters.
  The present committee has strived to get the club back to modern technical levels.  Keeping up-to-date with equipment and technology will be ensure growth and interest in our hobby.  We are slowly, but surely getting there!  Once the Estcourt and World View repeaters are installed, we can boast of an unrivalled networked repeater network, not only allowing to be able to converse on VHF from Durban to Harrismith, but also providing excellent APRS cover.  Stay tuned, there is more to come in the future....
• The SARL 2009 Radio Technology in Action Symposium was held on Saturday 30 May 2009 at the School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal.  As usual, the tioics covered were awesome, and the event was well attended.
• Barbara Buchan, ZS5TZ,  passed away on Monday, 25 May 2009.  Her memorial was held on Friday 29 May.  Rest in Peace
• On 19 April, Shaun and Mike went to Greytown, and successfully replaced the antennas and repeater (145.775MHz), complete with UHF link. 
• We had a successful club meeting on 18 April.  thanks to Robin for the talk on old radios!
• The swopshop at John Fielding's QTH in Monteseal on 27 March was well attended, like last year.  We will be looking forward to the next one.
• Our web site is now ranked 18th when you do a world wide search of "MARC".  It seems that we are back on the map!  There are few clubs called MARC, like Montgomery Amateur Radio Club, Marc's Amateur Radio Center, The Mississauga Amateur Radio Club etc.  This study could be a subject all on its own....
• A couple of our club members attended the PIC course on Saturday, 21 February.  The course was very well presented and full of interesting information.  Now it's time to practice and the implement some of the numerous projects...
• SARL HF Field Day 14/15 February 2009
  MARC and HARC joined up at Midmar Dam for the SARL HF Field days on Sat 14 and Sun 15 February 2009.  What a success!  It is a pity that some members had to miss out this event, but there will be more of these in future where they can come along and join in the fun.
  Collin and family, Brad and family, and Mike and Gudrun made the trek to Midmar on Friday afternoon, where they set up camps and spent a very relaxing afternoon and evening at the dam.
  After breakfast, the rest of our MARC members (bar one apology) arrived to attend our committee meeting at 10h00, which we held under the Land Rover's gazebo.  What a setting - we had to concentrate not to get distracted from the great setting at the water's edge! 
  After the committee meeting, the other present members from both clubs joined in and we had some great discussions and ideas - seems that both clubs suffer from inactive members and lack of new members - hopefully this will be resolved in the future.
  The meeting finished just in time for the contest start at 12h00, and Brad and Collin took the first stint on 40m.
  Quite a few members from both Durban and Pietermaritzburg arrived, and many had a turn on the radio.  Later that evening we made a few more contacts on 80m.
  The wind picked up a bit during the afternoon, and both Brad and Collin took advantage of this by sailing up and down the dam.  The weather turned for the worse late afternoon, becoming quite windy, prompting us to erect extra tarpaulins to keep the wind out.
  Sunday morning arrived with cold wet mist, driven across the dam by a stiff breeze.  It was rather uncomfortable and we eventually turned the Land Rover around for more protection.  Brad finished off on the radio in style, and we made 81 contacts in total!
  Similar weekends are definitely in order - great settings with great company!
  More pictures can be found here
• Shaun, ZR5S, organised APRS digis to be installed in Paddock (ZS0PDK) and in Harrismith (ZS0HRS).  Thanks go to ZS4JR (Jannie) and ZR5JAN (Jan) who collected the equipment from PMB and promptly installed it the next day.  Both are communicating well with Gilboa! 
  Now the N3 is covered from Durban to Villiers, from where the Gauteng digis take over.  The N2 is also covered all the way south to possibly Port Edward and northern Transkei.  All what is needed is to get one on the north coast (Jo, are you listening:-), and somewhere in the southern Drankensberg region.  Well done Shaun!  Quite an achievement!  Hopefully the club will buy the equipment from you one day when they realise the value of APRS :-)
• The SARL HF Field weekend at Midmar dam was a great success.  Thanks to all who came along!  We definitely need more of these outings.  Click here for some pictures.
• Shaun connected the MARC 750 repeater to the President's Net tonight (25 Jan)  It worked very well.  Thanks Shaun!
• Stanley, ZR5SEM, went past Griffin's Hill (25 Jan) to have a look at our Estcourt repeater antennas.  The repeater has had an audio defect for a while, but recently it started cutting out completely.  The antennas look fine, so  we need to get a work party going for this repeater as well and sort the problem, which might be radio related.
• The Gilboa repeater is working very well after the antenna replacement, probably better than ever
• The Gilboa repeater came back on line at 19h50, 16 January!  Thanks Brian for powering it up again.  It took a couple of hours before the batteries eventually reached 12.5V and kicked the repeater back in.

• World's View "Antenna straightening"  On 12 January, Shaun, ZR5S, and Mike, ZS5ML, went up to World's View to straighten the top antenna, which had swiveled through 45 degrees in the strong winds.
  Shaun climbed up to do the job, while I stayed below, well out of harm's way.
  Luckily there was no damage to the X-200 antennas, and hopefully the tightened bolts will do the trick.  More photos can be viewed here

• Gilboa Repeater  Repair #2  The uhf hub repeater at Gilboa was starting to become a bit scratchy again, after our initial temporary repair, using the original shortened pole which had snapped.  The good thing about this was that it ensured that the temporary repair did not become a permanent repair...
  Shaun, ZR5S organised a work party for 27 December.  3 vehicles then converged on Mt Gilboa on Saturday morning: Stanley (ZR5SEM) with family, Shaun with his son, Errol (ZS5EGW) and Mickey (ZS5QB) in his vehicle, and Mike (ZS5ML) in his Land Rover. 
  It was very windy and a bit chilly on top, and we immediately saw why the repeater was not operating too well - the lower transmit antenna had settled at 30 degrees off vertical.  Shaun had brought a sturdier cross beam and new U-bolts to sort this.
  We then removed the old pole, inserted a sturdier galvanised pole with the new Diamond X200 on top, in place of the old X700, which was too long for the winds experienced here.
  While we were busy, Shaun cleaned the battery terminals and connected the new battery protector, which will isolate the battery when it drops to below 10.5V, to ensure it's longevity.
  Stanley's wife, Rachel, managed to get a fire going in the strong wind and braaied some sausage, and provided us wors rolls.  These went down extremely well - thanks Stanley and Rachel!
  We eventually left the mountain Just after 15h00 after testing the radios and antennas.
  Click here for more photos..
  Epilogue:  On the following morning, when I switched on my radio to join the Sunday morning net, I noticed that the UHF link repeater was dead.  On checking the Gilboa telemetry on the internet, I saw that the power to the repeater had tripped at 01h00 on 28/12/08, probably due to lightning (we experienced thunderstorms and rain throughout the night). 
  The APRS side was still working though, so we were confident that it was not a direct lightning strike.
  Shaun then went up to Gilboa at midday.  The circuit breakers were tripped, including the one in the locked Vodacom DB board - hopefully they can restore it on Monday.  After Shaun removed and replaced the radio cards in the UHF repeater, it came back to life.
  A special thanks to Shaun and family for sacrificing their Sunday to sort the repeater.  We can be grateful that the damage was not more serious