K1IW Photo
The 223.94 repeater, N1BHI/R, is located on a 300' tower in Hopkinton. Andy Morrison, N1BHI (SK), secured an arrangement with the tower owner. The repeater has a large coverage area, with a range that extends down to Providence, RI.
The repeater consists of a 250mW Motorola Micor Exciter. This goes through a 6dB pad to an intermediate power amp (IPA), which boosts power to 17W. At this input level, the 100W RF Concepts final amplifier, puts out 50 Watts. The receiver is made by Hamtronics. An Aerotron transceiver serves as the link radio. An SCOM 5K controller ties everything together.
On the tower, you can see the link antenna at the bottom of the third white section down from the top, and the 220 antenna near the top of the third red section from the top. The 220 radiator is at about 150 feet. Ground level is about 500 feet amsl, so that puts the antenna at about 600 feet.
N1NOM Photo
Installation of the repeater took a day and a half! On Friday, Andy and Bryan, with the help of Ed, N1NOM, moved the machine from its former location in Marlborough to Hopkinton. On Saturday Bryan, Andy and Wayne N1XXI, finished up the job, making everything neat, and fixing some antenna feedline problems for our host, Tenneco. Here, Bryan, W1BRI, rolls the machine into place.
After many years without so much as a site visit (we believe it to be on the order of ten years), HOP went down in late July 2009. Bob, K1IW took the entire repeater to his garage. After diagnosing the failure, Bob gave the intermediate power amplifier to Bryan for repair. In the meantime, the entire cabinet was gutted and rebuilt. The exterior was given a new paint job.
The repeater was returned to service on September 9, 2009. At this time, a new lightning protection system was also installed.
