Does your rig have a relative output meter in it?  Adjust the tuner for max output power...

Did you try turing on VOX??

Huh??

So, out of the hundreds of millions of sockets in use out there, what percentage of these sockets might have caused problems?  And if they are such a problem, why do thousands of manufacturers still use them?  Oh, I suppose if one submerged the board in water, the socket might likely fail before the chip actually does, but I don't usually submerge my circuit board in water. 

I have never had a chip socket fail....

I have a full service manual for R-2001D.  It's not for sale but I might be able to help with specific information.

email me at mycall at sparkarc dot org

Personally, I would use a 555 timer chip.  While you might need a pilot relay to switch the 110 volt side, you will have enormously more flexibility setting your delay on make and delay on break timing.  They are cheap and easy to design into circuits.

There is a wealth of information out there on the web on how to apply these into circuits.

Several things come into play here.  Theoretically, a beam on 2 meters has the same characteristics as an equivalent beam on 10 meters IN FREE SPACE.  In the real world, propagation between the antennas changes radically.  Height above ground IN WAVELENGTHS will change the pattern quite a bit.  Reflections off of ground and surrounding foliage, buildings, towers and other structures affects the signal path and will vary with different frequencies (wavelengths).  Behavior of "backscatter" will be different for different frequencies.

To add to that, feedline loss as well as atmospheric absorbtion will attenuate signals at higher frequencies more than at lower frequencies.

As for ground affecting take-off angle, antenna modeling is a nice tool to use to get an understanding of the effects of height above ground, but in the long run, experimenting with different antennas, bands (wavelengths) elevations, etc. will give you more of a "feel" of how each works in the real world.

Hope this helps.

Tom, check out this site...  Expensive but high quality...

http://www.tessco.com/products/productHierarchy.do?subtabId=33082

This just sounds to me like more whining in an effort to take away the work needed to advance...

This country is already suffering because the most recent generations don't want to work at anything, they want EVERYTHING handed to them and they want everyone to be treated as an equal....

Well get this;  everyone will NEVER be equal, NEVER.  What makes one more valuable (or better, or any other term you would like to throw out there) than another is the amount of work expended to better one's self.... If you want to be equal, then work for it!!!!!!!  There are NO shortcuts, get to work you dumb %#@&^%*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did already.

I don't bring my wife to hamfests anymore, but when I did I kept her on a short leash....  I didn't want her biting anyone and have to deal with a lawsuit...

Check out these mechanical counters...

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/productIndex.shtml?from=Search&newSrch=yes&operator=keywordSearch&search_type=keyword&action=Go%21&QueryString=mechanical+counter

IF you can get 20 feet or more of vertical separation on the same tower and keep your transmit power low, you will likely be just fine.  I would think that with your main repeater only 5 miles away, 5 watts will do ok without a chance of desensing your commercial radio there...

A circulator is not intended for use with a transceiver, rather it is for use on a repeater or transmitter only.  If installed on a transceiver, it won't allow signals to go from the antenna to the receiver.  Also, it is intended to operate on one single frequency.  Further, a good circulator (NEW) price is in the $500 and up range.

I would say to try your installation first and see if it interferes and go from there.  There are several ways it can interfere and each would need a different approach toward a solution.

de Tom NJ1K