New 440 MHz Repeater
On 4/29/16 the new 440 MHz repeater was installed at the Baton Rouge General Hospital on Florida Blvd. The original repeater failed after several years of service. The new machine is a Yaesu Fusion DR-1X repeater with new Celwave 6 cavity duplexers. The installation team consisted of Matt Anderson (KN5KNZ), Buddy Brown (N5BUD), Keith Davis (KE5LVT), Jerry Hunt (W5AJD), Jon Reise (WA5JBR) and Ken Shutt (W5KQ). Initially, the existing antenna exhibited high SWR (>3.0) so the output power was limited to 5 watts. The repeater appears to be operating satisfactorily with range similar to the old machine. The antenna feed line was later replaced and the repeater is operating at 25 watts output.
slightly edited report from Ken (W5KQ)
