OUARC Repeater Update

Your host is not only the Technical Committee Chair for SCARS but also a member in good standing (and past treasurer) of the OUARC so he ends up working on the OU repeaters, too (D-STAR on 444.7500 MHz, DMR on 443.8250 MHz, and good old FM on 146.8800 MHz).

Several weeks ago, the DMR system fell off the network. The RF side was still up and usable on the local talkgroups; only the remote talkgroups were unusable.  N5HZR and your host visited the site and were able to get the repeater connected back to the network.  

The next week, same thing.  Appeared, over the network, to be the same problem so your host visited the site but determined that the repeater was unrecoverable.  What your host didn't realize, possibly because the lightning was closer than absolutely necessary, was that the .88 FM repeater was also dead.  

Another visit was organized and it was determined that the power supply for the .88 repeater had taken a hit.  We removed the power supply as well as the DMR repeater as both would need to be repaired.  We're not 100% certain, but we are assuming that Thor played havoc with the equipment.

Forward to today and N5HZR, AG5DV, and your host returned to the site with a new DMR repeater (the other is being repaired and will be used elsewhere) which was placed in service.  We have some other clean-up work to do there so we'll be back soon.  Hopefully, we'll have the repaired power supply for the .88 repeater by then and we'll get that back on the air as well.