CURRENT AND HISTORICAL SSRA PROJECTS

9/24/2020
It appears that the Tri-Cities repeater has failed after about 5 1/2 years in service. The controller reported that there was a COR lockup on the repeaters receiver and strangely, the correct CTCSS tone was still present. The associations backup spare repeater was collected from storage and installed in the failed repeaters place. Total time from repeater failure to replacement was less than 2 hours. The new repeater was booted up and was place into service within minutes on the evening Social Net. Prior to the repeater failing, a noticeable “whispy” noise was being heard on the repeaters output, and may have well been an early indication of the pending failure. The repeater will be returned to Yaesu for repair and upon its’ return, it will become the new spare backup repeater for the SSRA.

 8/1/2020
The link radio in Tri-Cities has failed and given up the smoke, literally! A day prior, the link was having a few issues, which gave us warning that something was happening. The failed radio is a Yaesu FTM-100. The association also has a backup FTM-100 which was placed into service immediately.  The failed radio was returned to Yaesu a few days later for repair. It was determined that a main board had failed and the replacement cost was over $400. It was decided to not repair the radio and it was returned to the SSRA. Alternate options are being explored to another radio product to serve for the link.

7/14/2020
With the help of Rob W2RY, another trip to the Oregon repeater was made to install the amplifier. New 10 guage wire had been ordered and received to supply power to the amplifier. The amplifier is a 100 watt PA from the old GE MSTRII repeater that had been in service for many years at the Spout site. The amp was wired into the power supply and the new custom coax jumper the association ordered were installed. the repeater is now at 5 watts output, which will accommodate a 100% duty cycle. Installed directly onto the repeaters output coax jack are 2 attenuators. First, a 10 watt, 10db attenuator receives the repeaters 5 watt output and in turn attenuates it down to 1/2 of a watt! This 1/2 watt is still TWICE the power the amplifier expects for drive. Therefore, a second attenuator is installed immediately after the 1st 10bd attenuator. This 2nd attenator is a 3 watt, 3bd attenator. Attenuating the 1/2 watt down by half results in a 250mw output power, which is the power the amplifier is expecting. Lots was learned about attenuation by Tracy Bales W7BSD.

So now the amplifier is being driven by 1/4 watt of power from the repeater. This is now amplified to 75 watts for the final output power.  Technically the repeater is only at 5 watts, giving it a very light duty. The attenuators drop that 5 watts down to 1/4 watt to drive the amplifier, which in turn gives the final output of 75 watts. While at the site today, the link between Spout and Tri-Cities was changed from C4FM modulation to analog. Audio quality greatly improved and DTMF tones are now correctly passed through the system to the Tri-Cities repeater.

7/8/2020
A dummy load was purchased from HRO in Portland. This dummy load will we connected to the Alinco 2 meter radio that is serving as the link radio for Echolink. The Echolink node is connected to this 2 meter radio which is RF linked to the repeater is is installed next to. The 5 watt output of the radio in such close proximity to the repeater was causing some RF hum and occasional RF bombardment of wiring. The radio now is feeding a dummy load, which still radiates slightly. The repeater has not problem hearing the Echolink radio. The radio previously was using a small rubber duck antenna, however it was still too much gain so close to the repeaters receiver and wiring. The dummy load has been very effective in keeping RF out of the area around the repeater.

6/13/2020
New attenuators were received today for the Oregon repeater location. The SSRA uses Yaesu DR1X repeaters for both installations. Duty cycle on the repeater is getting heavier, with the addition of additional nets, and traffic. The lowest power setting for 100% duty cycle on the repeater is 5 watts, which is not going to provide the service/coverage for the Oregon repeater. The association still hold parts from an older GE Master II repeater, including its power amplifier. This amplifier requires a 250Mw drive to produce up to 110 watts of output power. The repeaters 5 watt output far exceeds the 1/4 watt drive, so attenuation of 13 Db is required to drop the power to the 250Mw. Two BIRD attenuators were purchased. One will drop 10Db, while the second will attenuate the additional 3Db, for a total of 13Db of attenuation. The amplifier will be installed soon at the Oregon repeater location and the repeaters output power will be lowered to 5 watts, while the amplifier will raise it once again to near 80 watts.

5/30/2020
The Tri-Cities repeater was taken out of service this AM to facilitate a relocation. The repeater was moved this Saturday morning to a higher location and a new higher gain antenna was installed. The repeater is now also in a climate controlled environment with hard-wired internet and is attended nearly 100% of the time. New coax and terminations were installed for both the repeater and the link yagi antenna. A huge help from Ken and Myria KC7KEN/N7CCR helped this relocation succeed and the repeaters down time was minimized.

5/29/2020
Another service trip was made this Friday morning to the Oregon repeater site. Stephen was Joined by Ken KC7KEN and Myria N7CCR, 4 snow fields were found still blocking our path to the site, but after slowly breaking ground and making a trail through them, we could continue. A fell tree was also cut and removed from our path. At the repeater site, our work scope changes slightly, as the link radio was found to be operating. The Comet X50 antenna attached to the link radio was found to be damaged. An infinate SWR was measured on the same. A new replacement X50 was on hand and installed low on the tower to serve as the link between Oregon and Washington. The controllers audio library was updated and the settings were copied for later use. The shack was cleaned up and new mouse decon was placed.

5/17/2020

An attempt to access the Oregon repeater site was made on this Sunday morning. The snow at the site was still too deep for us to gain access to the repeater. Planned work was to include the replacement of the link radio that serves ties the Oregon and Washington repeaters together.

11/27/2019

A trip was made to the repeater site to reinstall a new lock. The US Forest Service advised us that the locks on the radio sites gates had been cut and the chain of locks had been removed. Each facility, including the SSRA, was advised to travel to the site to reinstall their own locks on the gate for future access. This trip was made the day prior to Thanksgiving, and a second lock the SSRA had on hand was installed.

10/2019

The SSRA received a huge help this month from the Grande Ronde Amateur Radio Club members Tyson KI7FXJ and Mike KK7MA. These 2 extended a large helping hand in going to the Oregon SSRA repeater site to remove the repeater antenna from the site, placing it into secure storage in La Grande. This antenna is the one that suffered the fall from the top of the SSRA tower in February of 2019. he antenna had been stored at the site, waiting for a work plan to reinstall it.

2/19/19

After a very busy few weeks of gathering the needed tools and personnel, a trip back to the Spout Springs repeater site can finally be performed. an extremely dangerous amount of snow has fallen over the last few weeks, breaking records dating back over 100 years! Davis Cannon and his father have again volunteered to climb the hill again to install a temporary antenna, feed-line and replacement repeater. Lynn Wilson K7LW has generously offered the association a brand new replacement repeater that he has as a spare. This is the exact same model repeater as the one at the hill now, and would be an easy plug and play unit. Lynn also had already programmed the repeater for our use as well!

Meeting in Milton Freewater, Stephen Hutchings WM7X, David Cannon N7ZSY and his father Joel Cannon N7ZSZ. Once at the base of the ski resort, David and Joel began their trek on snowshoes back up the hill. The repeater itself proved to be a little too heavy to walk into the site.The antenna, feed-line and various other tools were walked into the site. This trip proved to be more difficult with the record breaking snow that had fallen since the last trip. Once at the site, the tower was encased in about 4″ of solid ice, preventing any tower climb. The were actually no locations to put any climbing gear with the impressive ice load on the tower. The temporary antenna and feed-line were placed inside the repeater building for safe-keeping until they can be retrieved. While in the repeater building, the remaining feed-lines inside the shack where examined, and swept with an antenna analyzer. One of the hard-line coax terminations showed a 2 meter antenna! It was thought that this coax was not terminated at the folded dipole antennas that are near the top of the tower, but they are! Even the N connector was the right gender to hook up to the duplexers. This is proving to be a very fortunate day. Once the hard-line coax was connected to the repeater, it was powered up. The repeater immediately identified itself and was back in service. A couple of small programming steps were completed and the repeater went into service within minutes of returning to the air with a flurry of QSO’s. Lynn K7LW, had just completed his work day when he heard the repeater on the air. Nearly a month earlier, Lynn visited Clarence Gross K7KRF in Adams Oregon. Clarence uses the repeater often and it is somewhat of a lifeline to him. Lynn reprogrammed Clarence’s radio so that he would still have a repeater to talk into. Now that the 146.800 is back on the air, Lynn returned to Clarence’s home and had him back on the repeater within 90 minutes of it returning to service! What an excellent example of the level of care our ham community has for one another! Thank you Lynn, we appreciate you and can not be more proud to have you as a friend of the repeater.

So, fingers crossed, that the repeater will remain in service until it can be tested further. Reports are coming in that the repeater coverage area has shifted slightly, but signal strength is noticeable stronger on the higher gain antennas that the repeater is currently on. Pictures of this trip are also on the PHOTOS Page.

2/2/19

A local volunteer David Cannon N7ZSY and his family have volunteered to snow-shoe into the Spout Springs repeater site. It was discovered that the top section of ROHN 45 tower has failed. This top section has a large pipe that extends through it. The repeater antenna is attached to this section of pipe that is centered between all three legs of the tower. The pipe on the top section of the tower has broken, and the antenna and its mount to this pipe fell about 85 feet to the ground. It was reported just prior to the antenna failing, that its signal strength had diminished. It is thought that the pipe broke allowing the antenna to fall and remain either horizontal somewhat, or be suspended in the air by only its coax holding it in the air. The antenna initially could not be located, as there is an immense amount of snow on the ground and it is was buried. After some time looking, the antenna was found and photographed. The tip was deeper in the now than the bottom of the antenna, although bother were buried. The tip of the antenna under about 2 feet of snow and the bottom under about 18 inches. Initial reports are that the antenna appears to still be intact. The antenna was moved closer to the repeater building for its safety. A remote key box was accessed and the building was entered. The repeater was then turned off. To serve as a brief test of the repeater itself, a temporary antenna was attached to it and the repeater turned back on. The repeater came on the air and identified itself, giving hope that it survived the last week of being on the air with no antenna attached to it. It is suspect though for damage, until it can be proven as unaffected by the antenna event. The repeater was turned back off and the building secured. David and his family enjoyed a little recreation at the repeater site in the snow, ate lunch and returned home to the Tri-Cities. Pictures of this trip are also on the PHOTOS page.

1/23/19

SPOUT SPRINGS 146.800 MHz OFF THE AIR IN OREGON! “Hey, Where’s The Repeater?”

For some reason, we no longer have a 146.800 repeater. A few attempts of remote programming and reboots have also failed. The repeater is not transmitting and the link radio has also fallen silent. A call to Umatilla County Electric was made and commercial power has been confirmed at least to the power meter. As you know, our repeater is also on battery backup with several weeks of reserves for commercial power outages. In the repeater building, a PACKET station is  still on the air, which powers off of commercial power. A repeater failure, or antenna system is now suspect. Going to work now on assembling a crew to survey the site,and investigate what may have happened.

1/5/19

Following the donut gathering in Kennewick this morning, Bob Tolison W7RGZ and Stephen Hutchings performed a few repairs to the Tri-Cities repeater. Another link radio at the Tri-Cities site had failed the week prior. On the heals of the Oregon Spout site having lost a link radio a few months prior, the officers  agreed to purchase a spare FTM-100 radio for such failures. This brand new radio was placed into service on 1/5/19 in the Tri-Cities. The failed radio was sent back to Yaesu for repair under warranty. Once it is returned to the SSRA, it will become the spare link radio for either site when it is needed. Software for Wires X was also updated this day. Various other software and operating system updates were also performed. Thank you to Bob W7RGZ for his willingness to learn the system.

12/15/18

We are now joined by the Texas Panhandle Amateur Radio Club from Amarillo Texas! The SSRA has reached out to them and they wish wo connect to the SSRA room on Wires-X, and articipate in our local nets. As you know, any Wires-X node can connect with the SSRA at any time, but this appears to be a little more of a regular structured connection. Although both repeater systems will operate independently of each other for the most part, the nets will be different. The Texas group will connect to the SSRA in the evenings on the nights there are nets. The audio quality is excellent and they are a welcome addition to our nets. We are finding it nice to hear from other systems. We are also cross-promoting one another and in turn increasing repeater traffic on both of the repeater groups. It should be noted as well that memberships in the SSRA have also been received by some in the Amarillo Texas area. They are helping support the SSRA! Good news indeed and we hope that you enjoy hearing from our ham friends in Texas, as we make new friends outside our area.

9/17/18

On Friday 9/14, a link radio failed at the Spout Springs repeater site. The radio is a Yaesu FTM-100 and has been in service for about 3 years. A trip to the repeater site was performed on Monday 9/17 to investigate. With a borrowed replacement radio in hand, Stephen WM7X and McKenzie KI7LZO made the trip in the early afternoon. Once at the site, a blown fuse was found on the positive leg of the power cable of the FTM-100. A replacement fuse immediately blew as well as a third. The radio was then uninstalled and replaced with the borrowed radio. Thanks to Kevin K7KMJ for allowing his radio to be used. The radio was programmed and placed into service at about 1830. A few controller modifications were also performed. More mouse poison was placed in the repeater building to continue keeping the equipment safe from rodents. An external lock box was also installed at the repeater for emergencies. After leaving the site an extra set of keys to the facility was secured with a local ham, allowing more immediate response to the site for any outages we might experience.

The failed Yaesu radio will be sent into the manufacturer for repair or replacement.

6/5/18

This week will prove to be a busy one. With the assistance of Tracy W7BSD, a significant modification will occur. A tower climb is planned to install a pair of coax grounding kits. These will ground the hard-line feed-line to the tower assembly. A portion of the hard-line jacket will be removed and a shield grounding kit will then bond the corrugated shield of the hard-line to the metal structure of the tower. This will be both at the top of the tower and near the bottom. Wind blowing across the feed-line causes static build-up, and the associated noise on the repeater. The grounding kits will discharge the static to the tower which then is grounded to the earth at the base of the tower in 3 locations. Lightning strikes will also be dissipated by the same manner.

Planned work will also include the redressing of the hard-line to the brass terminators. An engineered tool will prep the hard-line coax perfectly to redress the ends. This is the extent of the coax work planned.

An additional 3 filters will be inserted into the receiver feed-line. Because of the massive RF environment present at Spout Springs, additional filtering is expected to further isolate the receiver from the transmitter. A 4 cavity band-pass filter is already installed on the receive side of the repeater, allowing only the ham band thru to the repeaters receiving radio. This is 4 MHz wide, 144 – 148 MHz. The additional 3 pass/reject filters will further restrict the only frequency to the repeaters receive frequency to 146.200. This is expected to greatly minimize the amount of desense the repeater is experiencing.

The link radio that couples the Oregon and Washington repeaters, will have a frequency and mode change. Currently, the digital mode C4FM is used to send traffic back and forth between the repeaters. The link will now be an analog emission, and be on a lower frequency.; This will improve the audio quality of traffic being received from either repeater. The audio difference will be noticeable, and the robotic, muddy quality will be gone.

The SSRA greatly appreciates the assistance provided by Tracy Bales W7BSD, and the time he volunteers to the SSRA. This is truly a labor of love for the system and we recognize him and his commitment to the success of the system.

11/24/16 Thanksgiving Morning (2:30 AM)

We realized a few hours ago that something was wrong with the Spout Springs Repeater. The repeater would stay transmitting after a remote station had un-keyed. This is not a good sign, especially when it is dark, Thanksgiving Eve, and travel plans are near. It was determined that the charging circuit in the Yaesu Repeater was NOT trickle charging the emergency backup batteries as we had though was happening. The link radio between Tri-Cities and Spout was powered with the emergency batteries. As they were slowly being discharged (dying) the link radio would at times power off entirely, as it did not have enough power to stay “awake”. This caused the controllers radio port 3 COR to go high, indicating an incoming signal from Tri-Cities. When an incoming signal from Tri-Cities is present, the repeater keys up and re-transmits the traffic on the 146.800 repeater at Spout. Someone was going to have to go investigate. Stephen WM7X drew the short straw that night and planned a late night trip to the hill. On a good day, the trip would take 2 hours. Once all the materials were assembled, the trip began at midnight Thanksgiving Eve. Roads were treacherous and the snow was deep at the repeater. It took several attempts just to get through the gate due to the snow accumulation, and drifts. Once at the repeater, Stephen began recharging the batteries with 2 separate battery chargers, while the necessary wiring was completed to ensure the batteries would get charged, and stay charged. The EZ Gate 80 charging system was reinstalled and a Low Voltage Disconnect was also reintroduced to the system. Now, if the power if off for an extended period of time, the system will not allow the batteries to go below 10.5 volts. Once at that critical voltage, the repeater will be down until commercial AC power is restored. The batteries charges for about 3 hours, and then were put back in line. The charging system then took over and the over $2000 batteries were spared! Leaving the hill, in now deeper snow and drifts was just as interesting as the tracks Stephen made in the snow were now mostly covered up. Once safely off the hill, tired and rummy from the adventure, the last repeater trip of the year was completed. It nearly did not happen that night, and plans would have been for a snowshoeing trip had this one failed.

11/07/16

With the assistance of many, the SSRA placed a new repeater on the air in Pasco! At the annual meeting in August, the association voted to proceed on a new repeater system that would cover more of the Tri-Cities and areas to the West and North, in Washington state. A lengthy effort began, and came to realization today. The new Pasco repeater is on 146.620 MHz and uses a tone of 123 for access. The repeater install is nearly the same as the repeater site at Spout Springs. Another Yaesu Fusion DR-1X repeater, controlled externally with an SCOM 7330 controller, and a Yaesu link radio, completes the install. This configuration describes both repeater locations, at Spout and Pasco. The old SSRA Spout repeater antenna that was replaced a couple years ago, was rebuilt and repurposed, and utilized at the new Pasco site. Wacom Cavities, that were once at the Spout site, were re-tuned for Pasco, and are again in service. Hundreds of feet of feed-line were donated, with fittings, for this project. A tower and the housing for the repeater are also being provided by a NON-HAM! This has been a lengthy project with many challenges. Costs have been very reasonable, as all of the labor, mileage and related costs have also been donated. Costs for the new site will reach nearly $2K for new site, and integration into the existing Spout repeater. Plans also include a higher tower, and internet service in Pasco. Pictures will soon be posted as well. Thanks to Jack Myers, Les Sousley, Steve Johnson, Tracy Bales, John Schwab, Marc Shaffer, and Andy Lord for their generous assistance in this project.

7/15/16

SSRA Member and Net controller Nate Dawson has assembled and published a FACEBOOK group page for the association. Nate has been gathering content for the page. As we complete projects and association related activities, photos/videos will then be published on the website as well as on facebook. Thanks Nate for your contributions to the SSRA! You are greatly appreciated. Take a few moments to check us out on facebook and be sure to stay up-to-date, by clicking on “LIKE”.

5/13/16  John (WB7JON) and Stephen (WM7X) fought snow drifts/banks, and fallen trees across the access road to access our repeater site. John thoughtfully brought his chainsaw to remove trees from the roadway. After getting stuck in the snow several times, we finally reached the repeater to install a new Yaesu DR-1X repeater, recently purchased by the association. This we will call the 2016 repeater. The old repeater (we will call it the 2015) installed last November was swapped out with this 2016 version. The 2016 repeater installed today has a few upgrades to it. A new firmware on the internal controller has given us a much shorter and adjustable squelch tail. The 2015 repeater will be shipped back to Yaesu in California, for its upgrades in hardware and firmware. This is being done under warranty, and the only expense to the SSRA will be in shipping. The SCOM 7330 Controller will be installed at the repeater site as soon as the old repeater is received back from Yaesu. Then the fun begins! Wires-X, IRLP and Echolink will all soon be available. Broadband internet service will usher in a wave of new features and upgrades to the association’s membership. The Scom 7330 controller has been programmed and has already proven itself in bench testing on the 2016 repeater prior to its install today. The 7330 controller will also be installed at the site once the 2015 repeater is returned from Yaesu. The association will then have 2 fully functioning repeaters, identical in every way. If one was to fail, another can be placed into service with only a a power cord and 2 coax antenna connectors to swap. No wiring, no soldering, no configurations. 

Interestingly, while at the repeater site today, we noticed that the National Weather Service Automated Weather Reporting System (NOAA WX RADIO) was being heard on the 146.800 frequency VERY clearly. Even on the repeaters input frequency, the NWS station could be heard. This points to an obvious issue with something in their operations, and we will reach out to them ASAP. The APRS (AUTOMATIC PACKET REPORTING SYSTEM) station at the repeater site was also taken off-line, until it can be properly filtered and isolated from the SSRA repeater. Again, many thanks to the association for making all of this possible! Your membership, and financial donations are what drive these upgrades. 

11/15/15 The new S-Com 7330 Controller for the new repeater has been received and will be programmed soon. Once programmed, the controller will be installed at the repeater site and offer the repeater a squelch tail, static burst elimination and the return of a courtesy tone. Weather is a great concern this time of year, and safety of the crew performing this task will be paramount. Considerable time, monies and other resources have been dedicated to this project and we will see it through to completion. Broadband internet will also soon be available (weather permitting) and offer the SSRA many more enhancements to the repeater system. Upgrades being considered are IRLP and Wires-X and Echolink nodes. With broadband, weather monitoring is also being considered. Two internet cameras are already on site and should be available for viewing by members soon. Please remember this is a hobby and it is funded entirely by your voluntary contributions. None of the repeaters recent upgrades or enhancements would have been possible had it not been for the generous help from our repeater users. Thank you for your help in making all of this possible!

11/05/15 The new Yaesu repeater has been placed into service at the Spout Springs Repeater site. It is also on battery back-up and is currently at full power 50 Watts. Although the repeater is only using its internal controller, we have ordered a new S-Com 7330, for external control and added features. Presently we have NO COURTESY TONE, and the SQUELCH TAILS are extended and a bit loud. This will be corrected when the controller is programmed and placed into service in the next few weeks. Please remember to allow some time between transmissions, in the absence of the courtesy tone. More improvements coming soon. A special thanks to Gordon KK3O for his technical contributions to this entire project!

UPDATE 10/26/15~ The Yaesu DR-1X has been received by the SSRA and has passed bench testing. An external controller was also ordered on Saturday October 24th. Once the controller is received, it will go through programming and interfacing, for it to communicate with the repeater.

The SSRA membership has approved at the annual business meeting, the application for a new Yaesu System Fusion DR-1X repeater. The application, and payment of $500 was made in August, and the SSRA application was quickly approved. On August 18 2015, we were notified that our repeater is back-ordered and is expected to be delivered in 8-10 weeks. In the meantime, we have educated ourselves on the new system and how to seamlessly integrate it into our current configuration at the transmitter location. Click image below for exciting features of our new repeater.

The repeater needs to be controlled remotely, as its’ operating location is not readily accessible. Although the repeater has an basic controller for simple functions, it falls short due to its’ location, in our need to control it remotely. As a result, we must use an external controller. The external controller most recommended is an S-Com 7330. This $499 unit is a huge upgrade from the current 5K controller on the old GE Mastr II currently in service. The new controller will offer many upgrades and improvements of features on the repeater. In addition to a voice module (for voice ID, announcements, net schedules, etc) it has capabilities to control up to 3 repeaters. The controller will be controlled as well by a link radio, generously donated by Vern WB7RXX in Ephrata Washington. Yes, a controller that needs controlled. click the picture of the controller below for more information on it.

An upgrade also planed is that the repeater building will have internet service soon! This will be one of the biggest upgrades that the SSRA has ever seen! Eastern Oregon Internet Inc. has generously offered the SSRA, an internet feed. This will greatly improve our capabilities with the new repeater. Remote monitoring, visual inspection of repeater site, internet linking and greater control over the repeaters controller will soon be available. This is a huge benefit to the SSRA and is made possible by our friends at www.eoni.net.

ECHO-TESTING! A much anticipated feature of the new controller will also add echo-testing to the repeater. No more will a station wonder how well they are “getting into” the repeater. No more will station “Ker-Chunk” the repeater to see if they can hit it. Interestingly, just because a repeater responds to a “Ker-Chunker”, does NOT indicate that they can be reliably heard. With echo-testing, a user keys a tone (command to record) into the repeater (controller actually) and then simple talks. When the user un-keys their radio, the controller plays back over the repeater what it just heard! No more will you have to ask for a signal report into the repeater or have someone tell you you are just too weak to hear. You will already know. It is a feature that has been available for many years, but the antiquated equipment we have will not support.

Weather Nets and Skywarn Nets will have greater control over the repeater. During Skywarn Nets, the repeater can “whisper” “Skywarn Net” frequently over the repeater to indicate that a weather event is occurring.

Time and/or date announcements at the top of the hour. Net schedules. Club announcements. Net reminders. And a countless other options are going to be soon available. Your repeater is going to have a voice, literally!

Building upgrades. Sheetrock was recently hung on the interior of the building. This will not only add a small measure of insulating R value to the shack, but will also assist in the rodent problem as well. Photos of this are on the home page. Click on the “photos” button.

Old Antenna. The old SSRA antenna that was uninstalled from the tower in August of 14, is in need of rebuilding. A new gel-coat of fiberglass needs to be applied to the existing fiberglass tube. It is still a viable antenna that will still serve as a backup antenna. If anyone knows how, or can offer assistance or advise in this area, please let us know. View the old antenna condition in the photos page, folder is titled “Radial Install”.