Jeff Liebermann said the following on 5/23/2011 8:46 AM:
On Sun, 22 May 2011 20:56:52 -0500, John
wrote:

You may be right, Jeff. But he may not have 120ft redwoods around and,
after all, this is a temporary fix until his yagi comes in.

Ummm... I don't think the yagi is on order.
http://www.k7jep.org/node/107

This is the repeater I am trying to access, 146.780, K7JEP. I have been
playing with Google Earth and getting coordinates so I can go over to my
neighbors property and stand on the ridge between our properties and see
if I can see the repeater and my house. Hopefully that will help me
locate the suspect trees.


#Begin speculation();

His area has a variety of repeaters available:
http://www.k7jep.org/node/107
I would guess(tm) N7JCT 145.230 on Schweitzer Mtn. Idaho.

This repeater is 59 on signal. I have direct line of site with no
obstructions.

http://www.repeaterbook.com/beta/repeaters/details.php?ID=64&state_id=16
Plugging the coordinates 48.367500 -116.628326 into Google Earth gives
me a view of the area. It seems to be in the middle of a ski resort,
that has been cleared of most trees and is full of trails. Plenty of
trees both up and down the slope, but not around the probable location
of the repeater. I can't identify the trees from the photo, but my
guess(tm) is Lodgepole Pine at about 60ft. The location is not at the
top of the hill and also has hills shading the view for about 270
degrees. I don't think this is going to be a foliage penetration
issue.

KML file for Google Earth:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/kml/N7JCT possible location.kml
JPG for those without Google Earth:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/kml/N7JCT possible location.jpg

Blundering forward, N6SXR is shown as getting his snail mail in
Sandpoint ID a distance of about 7 miles. However, there's quite a
bit of dirt in the way, which will be a problem.
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/kml/N6SXR to N6JCT.jpg

Addresses here are not all they seem. My physical address is 14 miles
north even though the postal idiots label it in Sandpoint. Approx
location... lat 48.494070 lon -116.447788. You'll see my crazy driveway
and the house. The J-pole sits about 30' above the house. Plenty of
trees in sight.

At 7 miles, it should be possible on VHF, even with 450ft of dirt in
the way. My guess(tm) is that there's something wrong with the home
made J-pole, coax, radio, or all the aformentioned.

Again, this is a guess(tm) of both the repeater and it's location and
just might be totally wrong.

#End speculation();




--
'Captain' Kirk DeHaan
N6SXR

"Beam me up Scotty, there's no intelligent life here"