The Repeater Build Team made good progress today on the Temporary TO replacement radio, but not as great as hoped!    It took much longer than expected to get the rails mounted in the correct position.

Today's work completed the installation of 10-32 threaded rack rails, a 60 Amp Astron Power Supply, Palomar Controller and Mastr II Repeater in the cabinet.   Alternate mounting methods for the 2 sets of Orion's and the Repeaters' Duplexer will require mounting spacers to provide the proper set back from the cabinet door.

Monday I will purchase some 4" aluminum channel from my favorite raw material warehouse in the San Fernando Valley.   It will need to be cut and tapped for mounting the remaining equipment behind the mounting rails by the 4" width of the channel.

Even though we didn't make the progress I had planned, we are well on our way to having the radio done in time for installation at TO by 17 March.   It will remain at TO until the the current radio is rebuilt in a larger cabinet with the Palomar Controller.   It will then have a 2-Meter Remote added, the controller replaced with a COT or RLC Controller and then moved to Big Bear its permanent location. It should provide a dramatic performance improvement over the existing BB radio.

Weather permitting, the next work party will be Sunday December 30th.    The planned activities include mounting the remaining equipment, firing up the repeater and making the first audio level adjustments   If time permits we will also bring the Orion's on line.

Subsequent work parties will add fused power distribution, cooling fans and coaxial interconnect cabling.   The last step is final adjustments of Audio Response, Frequency and operational Burn-in before being moved to TO.

The Temporary Radio will be on display at the Winter meeting and hopefully operational.