The repeater’s antenna has been replaced. The old Diamond X50NA (probably about 4 dB gain) has been replaced with a commercial Hustler HD6-43050 antenna. The Hustler is spec’d at 6 dBd, but the performance curves at our frequency place it at about 7.5 with an expectation that it’s probably better than spec and the Diamond is worse than spec.

Old antenna = 2.5 lbs, new antenna = 21.

Old antenna = 5.6’ length, new antenna = 14.5

Old antenna = 200 watts max, new antenna = 500

And about 6x the cost of the Diamond.

Reports seem to indicate that there is a definite improvement with the new antenna.