Watt's New
The Watt's New articles serve to keep you abreast of what has been going on around the C.A.R.L.A. Network. Feel free to browse our archive of past Watt's New articles as well.
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CARLA 12 Operational
Last updated on February 3, 2012 by The C.A.R.L.A. Team | Permalink
CARLA 12 is Out of Service and non-functional. A site vivt is planned this week. No ETR yet.
Update: A failed power supply was replaced and the system is now back in service.
CARLA 8 & 29 Links are Operational
Last updated on January 28, 2012 by The C.A.R.L.A. Team | Permalink
The main links for CARLA 8 (Lake Tahoe) & CARLA 29 (San Luis Obispo) are back in service.
CARLA 8 & 29 Links are OOS
Last updated on January 21, 2012 by The C.A.R.L.A. Team | Permalink
The main links for CARLA 8 (Lake Tahoe) & CARLA 29 (San Luis Obispo) are down and Out of Service.
CARLA 8 is still operational and linked to the Nevada ring via the back-up RF link.
CARLA 29 is isolated but operational. The Northbound link traffic is actually working but inbound link traffic is not. The problem seems to be at CARLA 4's site.
No ETR as of yet. Further troubleshooting and isolating is ongoing.
CARLA 16 Operational
Last updated on January 15, 2012 by The C.A.R.L.A. Team | Permalink
A field teams visited CARLA 16's site (Vacaville/Sacramento) today and worked on the PL issue along with a couple of other items that needed attention.
The dual PL operation has been restored (Local & Link) and the repeater is now working on a new antenna scheme.
We would appreciate any drive test reports from the field especially compared to what it was doing previously on the corner reflectors. In particular, we could use some data from the greater Sacramento area and north towards Marysville and in particular Beale Air Force Base. If someone wants to drive out to BAFB please contact us and we'll get you the area we have done a lot of our testing from for comparison.
Thanks,
The C.A.R.L.A. Team
Link audio repaired
Last updated on December 29, 2011 by The C.A.R.L.A. Team | Permalink
A controller at the Primary Hub site on Mt. Vaca has been replaced and audio paths have been re-aligned so levels across the link back-bone should be back to normal.
CARLA 16 OOS
Last updated on December 29, 2011 by The C.A.R.L.A. Team | Permalink
Repeater is out of service while controller issue is being addressed.
System 17 Transmitter failure (In Service)- Update #2
Last updated on December 4, 2011 by The C.A.R.L.A. Team | Permalink
Second Update-
CARLA 17 (Sonora) has been restored to service by our field operations team today and upgraded with a new controller and a replacement 400Ah battery plant which it is running on right now as the power in some parts the greater Sonora area has been off for most of the week. PG&E crews are working in the area but there is no ETR yet for commercial power.
Update-
A trip to the site has revealed that the MSF-5000 has failed. We also discovered the batteries at the site need replacing.
The entire repeater cabinet and batteries have been removed from the site and will be rebuilt at the CARLA Labs.
Please note that CARLA 17 will be off-the-air for an extended period while the repeater is rebuilt.
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Original Post:
We have had several reports from users in the area of System 17, Sonora, over the last few days, indicating a problem
hearing the system. Remote diagnostics indicate that the transmitter is completely offline. The receiver seems fine.
A repair team will be scheduled to further diagnose and correct the problem. We will post an update once the problem
is resolved.
CARLA needs YOUR support!
Last updated on March 10, 2011 by The C.A.R.L.A. Team | Permalink
It's that time of the year when we reach out to those benevolent individuals for any financial assistance and/or donations to help keep CARLA up and running.
Our expenses and investment in equipment and supplies keeps getting larger as each year passes. It is way too much for us to maintain at the current level. Each year we see maybe 5% of our total expenses donated from users in the form of financial support & new or surplus equipment donations. As great as that is and as much as we appreciate it, that still means we are footing 95% of the total expenses required to run, maintain & continue to build out this network. It may come as a surprise to some but, that equates to $10-20k out of pocket e-v-e-r-y year and we simply can not sustain this level of financial obligation without more help. This means the network may not grow as much, some systems may sit in a degraded state longer and there will be larger gaps between needed visits and improvements. It may even mean giving up some sites that are costing us more than we can afford to maintain for what they serve.
There are a few individuals who donate in other ways like use of a site, personal resources/equipment, skills, assistance on projects, etc... All of that helps greatly. You know who you are and we can't Thank You enough! Without the generous help and support from those people we'd be even "further in the hole" and unable to provide what we do now.
We strive to keep this network as one of the most reliable and viable ones out there for those times that it is really needed. We don't require a membership fee or dues to use CARLA and it has always been an OPEN system and we will continue to keep it that way but, it is not easy to do and that's where any financial help we can solicit will help to maintain that level of service that people have come to expect (within reason of course).
If you appreciate what we have in place and enjoy using it or just want to know it will be available to use when needed, please consider helping us out in any way you see fit. If you are unable to do anything at this time we understand. If you are able to later that's great but keep in mind we are not requiring it of anyone, but rather this is a chance for us to solicit the assistance of those that can and want to help out but could use that little nudge or reminder that we need your help.
There is a link to the support page at: http://www.carlaradio.net/support/ . There are "suggested" donation amounts which are completely arbitrary as some people offer more and some less. It's entirely up to you. Some people have found it easier to purchase a commonly used piece of equipment for us and donate it. That's worked out very well in the past.
This year we have plans for several new endeavors on the horizon. We hope you can be a part of it in one way or another and enjoy all that it will offer. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions, suggestions or ideas. There is a contact form on the website that can be used to get a hold of us at: http://www.carlaradio.net/aboutus/contact.php .
If you know of any friends or people that use the system or would like to support it please forward this on to them as there are plenty of individuals that utilize CARLA in some form or fashion but aren't part of the Yahoo Group reflector and don't realize they can help out.
Remember, "When all else fails...Amateur Radio"
We look forward to another successful year in 2011.
Thanks again.
The CARLA Team