I have been running a Davis long range repeater, fortified with a 17dBi gain antenna and 34dB gain mini-circuits amp and passive BPF. It has been working very well since I upgraded the preamp/BPF and antenna.
Yesterday, I was doing some electrical work out in the garage and I had cut power for about an hour. The preamp is powered by a 15V linear power supply that is fed by 110VAC.
When I reconnected the power, the temperature reading was strangely higher. (the Marina normally runs several degrees cooler, being next to Lake Huron)
The Marina has a VP2 set to channel 1, and my repeater is set to "A" and "1". The Marina anemometer recently died (hopefully the Harbormaster has the replacement on order). At first, I thought that the anemometer magically fixed itself, until I realized that I was not looking at the Marina data but something else. From looking at the data on Weatherlink, I was able to determine that a friend's VUE was the source of the data. It is about the same distance as the Marina ISS, but at about 120° to the left. From the
antenna pattern, the gain in that direction should be quite a bit lower. I have never had my receivers synch to his VUE before. I have an Envoy8x, a meterobridge PRO and a VUE console that I dedicate to the Marina data. Apparently, the repeater synched to the VUE instead of the Marina VP2 when I turned the power back on.
I suppose that this was some kind of "capture effect" and it synched with the VUE's FHSS sequence. Perhaps, there was some signal anomaly that made his VUE stronger. Dunno. I just disconnected power this morning, waited for the "dashes" and not finding Station 1. After reconnecting, the data is clearly from the Marina with the lower temp and dead anemometer. Strangeness.
To top it off, I suddenly see a "Station 8". I have anemometer transmitters on #3 and #4, a T/H station on #3, ISS on #5, 2nd rain gauge on #6 and a temp probe on #7. No #8 on my side. Maybe someone saw all these stations active and fortunately used #8. I might assimilate them into the Borg if I can find out where it is.
Just to close out on this,I discovered that I had one of my VP2 consoles set to re-transmit. It took me a while to find this out and I didn't remember setting this, but apparently I did at some point. It (or I) must have assigned channel 8 in the process.Greg H.
