Stadium Remote mystery solved?

We think we know why the Stadium Remote has occasional problems!

First, a little background. Up in the Press Box area on the west side of OU Memorial Stadium, SCARS has a 146.46 MHz receiver. This is the "minus side" for our VHF system. That receiver is connected via a controller to a transmitter that sends the signal back to the main site east of town.

This system had been tended by a fellow ham whose call escapes me at the moment, but who works for a Major Cellular Carrier and had access to the site. Unfortunately, he now works in a different part of his company and is no longer available to help us.

At the last meeting, another ham, who works for that same carrier and who has been to the site, explained to us what may be happening. Seems that when any electrical work is done on the stadium, power is turned off to the entire stadium. This would include the Press Box. Since we don't have any kind of backup power, the Stadium Remote goes away. When the power returns, so does the Stadium Remote.

We're not 100% certain that this is the case, but the information presented certainly fits the behavior we've been seeing!

Once we get the main VHF repeater replaced, the Tech Comm will be working on access to the site and will explore a fix for the situation.

73,

N5UWY for the Tech Comm