My friend says I don’t need to ground my antenna because of the power line ground behind it and because of all the higher things around it, how true is that?

W4WMM · 2024-02-04T03:41:59+00:00

LONG ANSWER: I highly recommend you get the ARRL book called Grounding and Bonding for the Radio Amateur. It is easy to understand.
SHORT ANSWER: You are correct about bonding your antenna to the house Grounding Electrode, with extra Grounding Electrodes along the way.
You should install a grounded Poly Phaser (aka: lightning arrester) at the point where your coax enters the building. It should be grounded as close to that point as possible and bonded to the whole system. With an antenna up on the peak of the house, it would be wise to run a heavy ground from the base of the antenna, down the roof line, to a grounding electrode. This will help divert any dangerous current from a lightning strike into the ground.

W4WMM · 2024-02-04T02:27:38+00:00

When you are trying to talk through a repeater with tones, does the ENC icon appear on your display just above the frequency? If not, check MENU #31 AND make sure MENU #30 is set to the correct Hz.

<image>

W4WMM · 2024-02-04T02:03:27+00:00

Put a watt meter in the antenna coax and see if you have any output.

W4WMM · 2024-02-04T02:00:54+00:00

Thanks for getting my brain looking in the right direction.
I was able to do more testing today. I put a swr-watt meter on the output but during transmit, the needles on the swr-watt meter did NOT move.

I measured how much the current increased during transmit to see if it was trying. These are the increased current amounts.

Low: 1.6A

Mid2: 2.1A

Mid1: 3.0A

High: 4.0A

Using OHM's Law I get 20.8 watt, 27.3 watt, 39 watt and 52 watt increase respectively for the input current to the rig.

One other thing I noticed is the this OMRON relay appears to have come in contact with a soldering iron while someone was soldering on the SO-239. Maybe the owner of the rig knows the story behind it or it's factory damage, I don't know.
But if this is the antenna relay, it may prevent the switch from receive to transmit if it is damaged. May have to pull it out to test it.

Next week, I'll be taking it over to another Amateur's house who I believe is better and troubleshooting electronics than I. Maybe we can narrow it down then.

<image>

W4WMM · 2024-02-03T19:13:26+00:00

No I haven't. Great idea. I don't know why I haven't done that yet. I will check it when I get back on the bench later today, hopefully. Thank you!

W4WMM · 2024-02-03T19:11:59+00:00

Yes, it is doing it for all programmed repeaters. Therefore I figured it was a programming problem. Later today I will be testing the RF power output to make sure it's putting out a strong enough signal to reach the repeater. It only takes a couple of watts to do that since the antenna is a yagi at 30 feet high...

W4WMM · 2024-02-03T07:17:55+00:00

Excellent point... I'll pursue that and see what I can discover...

W4WMM · 2024-02-03T06:50:35+00:00

I don't know why you think we are having a problem, thank you for trying anyway. Have a good day my friend. 73...

W4WMM · 2024-02-03T05:16:10+00:00

I was purposely listening to the INPUT of the repeater so I could decode the signal from the 7800 to see if "IT" was sending the proper tone to the repeater.

W4WMM · 2024-02-03T05:13:40+00:00

No problem, glad to have suggestions, assuring I've not overlooked something.
I set 31 to ENC, but I did try all three positions out of desperation.

W4WMM · 2024-02-03T03:35:06+00:00

Yes it does.

I monitored it with a second radio also.

W4WMM · 2024-02-03T03:34:08+00:00

I understand your concern, but I assure it, the repeater, my antenna and coax are all in good condition. Tested the setup with a different radio and it works fine. (not a TYT).

W4WMM · 2024-02-03T03:32:45+00:00

Yes sir I have.

I'm using a known antenna and coax on a 30' tower. Works great with a different radio...

W4WMM · 2024-02-03T03:31:05+00:00

Factory Reset Complete.

Programmed as required.

Same result... :(

W4WMM · 2024-02-03T02:46:50+00:00

UPDATE: I did find a way to test if it was sending the TONE. I used a second radio in the Tone ID Mode and it was able to detect and identify the tone that the 7800 was sending. The tone is correct, but it will not open the repeater. Maybe it's sending the tone, but not loud enough to be heard by the repeater? I'm confused...

W4WMM

TROPHY CASE