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Tripple-P 70-cm Repeater used on oil platforms
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By Frans van Venrooij, PA0VRO
Some time ago the museum acquired a large number of 70-cm
repeaters that had served for data connections between oil
platforms and the mainland.
These rigs are all custom-built to KPN specs (Royal Dutch Telecom)
by Dutch manufacturer Tripple-P. As the equipment was used
on a frequency adjacent to our 70-cm, they are easily converted
for amateur use.
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Introduction
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The rig is housed in a very robust 19" rackmount case, with
an aluminium front plate. Inside the case are the highly accessible
transmitter, receiver and (in some cases) a duplex filter.
As the transmitter and receiver are both 'made in Holland', they
consist mainly of standard high-quality components.
The repeater was most likely used to relay data signals and possibly
voice data as well. Although it is theoretically possible to convert
this rig into a fully-featured 70-cm transceiver, such is not advisable
due to the high cost involved. The rig doesn't have a microphone
connection, nor a speaker output, display and control panel.
It would be best to use this rig for the purpose it was designed for:
as a 70-cm repeater. At the rear, two serial ports are available.
One of these ports can be used to connect a standard PC in order to
upload new software for the internal processor.
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These images show the rig with the top and bottom lids removed.
Click the images for an enlargement.
The rig is beautifully crafted as we can clearly see in the
close-ups.
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More information
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More information is not (yet) available.
The rigs can be ordered from the museum in the usual manner.
Shipping them via mail should be considered inefficient, due to
their high weight. The rigs can be collected at the museum site
or on one of the many radio fleemarkets where the museum has a stand.
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Links
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