Emergency Trip to Scotts' Hill Repeater Site 3-8-2014

Keith, KE1THR, made a winter trip to UARC's Scotts' Hill repeater site to disconnect a suspected bad backup battery and possibly save the repeater from being off the air until summer.

Keith and a colleague headed off on cross-country skies from the Brighton area and made the trip in about an hour.

(Click on any image, then click again or press “Control +” (depending on your browser) for a higher resolution version.)

How the building looked as Keith and Chris arrived. (The building only has one door.)

After some serious shoveling, it was possible to start working on the door lock.

Which battery is the culprit? Only 9 to choose from.

Keith wields the magic load tester.

No luck finding a bad battery; let's look at the two power supplies in the bottom of the rack. (Turns out the upper one had a tripped breaker and the lower one is wimping out on voltage. It probably has a marginal capacitor.)

You've heard that repeaters have cavities (very high-Q filters)? This is what they look like.