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At Annual Training this year, we had a mission to support by setting out an administrative Retrans station. I sent the team out after PCCs and PCIs; they had everything they were going to need.
An hour after they were on site, the Retrans wasn't up. I got a call and we went through some basics on the phone. Eventually I asked for a photo of the setup which you can see in this post.
As soon as I saw the pic, I knew what was wrong. Can you spot what I saw?
An hour after they were on site, the Retrans wasn't up. I got a call and we went through some basics on the phone. Eventually I asked for a photo of the setup which you can see in this post.
As soon as I saw the pic, I knew what was wrong. Can you spot what I saw?
Signal
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 6
Suspended Profile
MSG (Join to see). I may not know much about these newer generation fancy radios . . . but it seems to me the RF cables run too close to each other . . . wonder whether there is a chance for some kind of unpleasant feedback . . . or interference . . . between lo / hi signal levels? I also wonder whether that big honking metal locking bar might cause some ground loop issues. Also, hard to tell, but the switch on the antenna coupler / impedance matcher on the left appears to be midway between two positions . . . maybe it needs to be set on receive or transmit or bypass? Warmest Regards, Sandy
CMDCM Gene Treants
CMDCM Gene Treants
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Retrans cable is upside down/backwards, the cable is designed to connect in a specific manner and that cable should not have the curve obscuring the keypad. I've been out almost 13 years and can still set up and troubleshoot a radio in my sleep if I needed to.
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MSG (Join to see)
Outstanding!
We got a winner.
The dogbone has a natural bend in it and that bend should place most of the cable outboard of the radios on the right side. This way the cable is not in the way of the keypad (I swear, they really do think this stuff through--most of the time). Putting the cable on this way destroyed it--ripped the contacts from the internal U229 connections by twisting it too far.
We replaced the cable and rocked on with the mission.
We got a winner.
The dogbone has a natural bend in it and that bend should place most of the cable outboard of the radios on the right side. This way the cable is not in the way of the keypad (I swear, they really do think this stuff through--most of the time). Putting the cable on this way destroyed it--ripped the contacts from the internal U229 connections by twisting it too far.
We replaced the cable and rocked on with the mission.
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SFC (Join to see)
These cables are generally labeled A radio and B radio but judging from the picture they couldn't make this out. Easy mistake by the inexperienced. I can't call myself truely experienced but I have had to cobble a couple of retrans setups together.
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What gorilla was able to connect it that way? How could you do that and still get the radio to work after?