On August the 24th, our second beacon at JP53EG Vassfjellet returned to service. As of now, LA2UHF and LA2VHF/4 are now operative on the 70cm and 4m bands for all your propagational needs.

The roof is coming along slowly as well! The lowest eye-poker of an antenna is for the 70cm band
Photo: LB0VG

After being kept in storage the last two years, a few problems must have been brewing. When we did an overview of all the beacons earlier this summer, a cloud of smoke spawned from LA2UHF after connecting the power. The current version of LA2UHF was designed in 2015 by LA3JPA and LA7VRA with a new PCB, while the PSU seems to belong to a way earlier revision – also made in-house at LA1K.

Faulty PSU… we think. Took a few photos of LA2UHF and LA2VHF, both of which looks quite similar 😛
Photo: LB0VG

With the old power supply is at the end of it’s life, LB0VG installed a temporary PSU on the top for the time being, with the intention to install a new one later when it arrives. There was also some deceiving readings from the SWR meter when initially testing the beacon. This was however quickly rectified after mounting a lighting arrestor inline with the coax run, which was planned to be installed anyway.

The new PSU is just bypassing the older module, hence the tape with “NO!” written on it so we don’t forget until we fix it. Raise your hand if you think it will look like this for at least a couple of years.
Photo: LB0VG

A new antenna has also been installed in our new mast at the summit. A donation from LA9YI, it replaced the fiberglass antenna which previously just rested on a shelf inside the shed. Both are essentially a 70cm Yagi, with the new one being easier to mount and weighing a whole lot less.

In the days of yore (2019). The junk on the floor is probably the entire maintenance budget of the QTH from 1995-2020. Literally.
Photo: LA1WUA

We’d love to receive your reports. The signal is transmitted at 432.463 MHz. Reports can be sent to vfj@la1k.no, a new mail address for everything “VassFJellet”.