[aprssig] Digipeater Hick-up - KPC3+ Goes Deaf?

[Herb Gerhardt]

I run the SOMTN digi in Western Washington and I had a similar thing happen
to me a year ago.  It would digipeat some stations but not very many.   I
went up on the mountain and checked the antenna.  Yes, it was damaged but
not bad enough where that it should be the cause my problem. I then did a
hard reset on the KPC3+ TNC.  That did not solve my problem.  I then
replaced the TNC and that had no effect.  After listening to the garbled
output of the digi on my TH-D7A, I finally disconnected the audio plug from
the radio to listen to the incoming packets.  Well they were there but as
sick sounding as could be so I  replaced the radio.  The audio on the new
radio sounded great, so I reconnected the audio plug and left the
replacement radio up there.

My old radio was an Alinco DR-140 and the component connected to the
incoming antenna lead was fried.  I presume it was from a lightning strike
on the tower.  After replacing that radio, the digi has operated flawlessly
ever since.  So, I would suggest you listen to the audio that your digi puts
out and also the input that your digi radio hears and see if it is garbled
or not.  If it sounds garbled, replace the radio.  Depending on the amount
of distortion, your digi might or might not digipeat an incoming signal.

Mountaintop troubleshooting sure is fun.  I have learned to always bring a
complete spare digi with me when making a mountain trip since the price for
just the fuel for my rig costs almost as much as a new radio or TNC. I hope
the users of your digi appreciate the amount of effort that is required to
keep the digi operating for yours and their benefit.......

Herb, KB7UVC
NW APRS Group, West Sound Coordinator
Our WEB Site:  http://www.nwaprs.info

> -----Original Message-----
> From: aprssig-bounces at tapr.org [mailto:aprssig-bounces at tapr.org]On
> Behalf Of Chuck Kimball
> Sent: Monday, July 27, 2009 8:53 PM
> To: aprssig at tapr.org
> Subject: [aprssig] Digipeater Hick-up - KPC3+ Goes Deaf?
>
>
> Anyone else experience a problem where the KPC3+ appears to go deaf?
>
> I've had a couple of instances where a digipeater appears to go deaf.
> Saw it last summer, so I replaced the TNC, and it seemed to be fine for
> quite a
> while (Until the antenna got damaged) during the winter.
> When the antenna repair was made, it was thought that the digi was not
> working.
> Brought down, was fine on the bench, went back up on the Mountain,
> worked fine
> for the past 10 weeks or so, and then I noticed tonight that there were
> people in the
> area but nothing passed by the digi.    Checking - it looks like it's
> been deaf for the
> past week.  Nothing passed by that digi.
>
> Trying some troubleshooting, I tried a remote connection to it, and it's
> too far away to
> get reliable path from home, but did get a challenge password.  That
> indicated that it
> wasn't the receiver, and the digi was hearing.  Never got a prompt back
> (too far away)
> but, shortly after that it did pass a couple of packets from other
> stations.
>
> During the week it was transmitting fine, and all the expected id's and
> power telemetry
> packets went out.
>
> I think I was seeing something similar with another a similar TNC once
> before on
> another station.  It was being used as an Igate, so in the nightly
> restart of UI-View
> I added a reset to the TNC and that resolved the problem.
>
> I've got a dozen digis out, and have only seen this at the one site (2
> TNCs now),
> and possibly one other site.     Most of my sites are high altitude, and
> Colorado does
> get quite a bit of Lighting.
>
> The digi in question is KENDAL  and is at 13,010' AMSL.  (I'll be hiking
> in the site
> the end of next week, so I'd like to make any changes to take
> with me then).
>
> Any Thoughts?   Anyone seen anything similar with the KPC3+?
>
> Thanks
> Chuck   n0nhj>