back to bike ride Wilder to Heery

2 truck:




The truck was a decommissioned fiber-splicing truck, turned into an ARES communications van, complete with a
portable UHF repeater on 443.050(+) tone 136.5

We were intending to use the repeater to coordinate the ride, and it seemed to be working fine at Wilder, but
the receive was discovered to be deaf when it moved to the central checkpoint for service.

There was no warning and we hadn't made any backup plans, but after a few cell phone calls everyone found their
way onto VHF simplex, which worked pretty good although a few HT range problems were also encountered.

The truck was going to set up at the checkpoint on the middle of the route, but it sounds like they took a
railroad crossing a bit too fast and it shook loose some gear. (might have misaligned or damaged the cans?)
Looking at the truck, the batteries certainly took a bounce.

It was later determined that the coax broke free from the antenna. Hopefully the transmitter and PA weren't
damaged by high SWR.

2026.05.02 12.23.47	2026.05.02 12.23.56	2026.05.02 12.26.02	2026.05.02 12.26.05	2026.05.02 12.26.11	group photo

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