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Showing content with the highest reputation on 05/03/21 in Posts
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I would advocate that you conduct simplex testing first to confirm you can communicate between your intended sites before investing in repeater specific gear. The results of those tests will be incredibly beneficial. If you achieve exceptional results doing simplex, then there is reasonable chance of success with a repeater. I have considered hosting a repeater on my property, but have not yet chosen to do so. Even though my elevation is good (at or above everyone else for miles) I know from testing I would still need to get my antenna well above the trees (perhaps 100-120 feet or more AGL) to achieve reliable repeater coverage out to 8-9 miles and be suitable for reliable use with an HT. My range limitation is mostly foliage density (i.e. the trees are my enemy). The cost of the tower to achieve that elevation detracts me from moving forward. If you are considering the Retevis repeater, it is only 5 watts, so your simplex testing would need to yield exceptional results using only 5 watts of power. I say exceptional, because the Retivis will not work as well as a simplex radio solution. For my testing, I opted for a HD fiber glass pushup mast and high-gain collinear antenna on top. It was suitable for testing, and has found itself now semi-permanently installed next to the house. Here is an image taken when i was doing my simplex testing. Top of antenna in this picture is 56’ AGL. Bottom line, if you can’t simplex between the intended sites from your desired antenna elevations, using the intended amount of power, there is zero chance of repeater success. So, my advise is to keep your expectations realistic, do your testing first so that when you do decide to invest in a repeater your expectation bubble will not burst. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM1 point
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TitanRadio TR200 HT
wayoverthere reacted to Extreme for a topic
Ya, already downloaded the software so will have my buddy bring his radios with him Saturday when we're having a Jeep "garage day" and give it a shot. ...since I already have Kenwood & Wouxun cables.1 point -
HAMS Talking GMRS
SkylinesSuck reacted to kidphc for a topic
Congrats on the ticket. When ever that was. Now to fully be a ham. You will need to adopt the round plump size which can correspond with you personal knowledge base. Or conversely you can adopt the skinnier eccentric body/personality type. Personally, I choose the former rather then the later. Took me a while to figure it out why I couldn't lose any weight anymore. Wife promptly informed me it was because I was on my fat ass playing with radios or electronics instead of running around with the kids anymore. ROFLOL.. Actually, realized it was true and made me almost cry, not....1 point -
Lol... wife and I had a conversation about the flag pole antenna last night. She said she should have ok'ed it. She doesn't like the idea of the bird feeder attracting deer and pest. Her: was the feeder because you want to watch birds? Or was it always the antenna? Me: Antenna of course... Her crap should of just bought the flag pole. At least I could of chosen some flags. Trust in the fact your wife knows that it is a new radio... lol.... It has just entered the rolodex for potential memo later. I am looking at alternative mounts and antennas. The general ticket is on the back burner for a bit. Here is the conversation with a fellow ham last night. Him: So why not just a straight HF rig in the truck Me: only a technician Him: get the ticket Me: too lazy Him: Oh one of the 4 banes of the amateur radio operator. Me: 4??? Him: Yes. 1.) Not enough money for the toys 2.) Too lazy to do it right now 3.) XYL 4.) HOAA Me: so many abbreviations in amateur radio Him: QRM, 73 Me: WTF, QRM??? you are standing in front of me.. hey get back here.1 point
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Is There A Road Channel For GMRS?
Kyler reacted to OffRoaderX for a topic
We hear the same thing on the roads.. A lot of nothing and people that dont respond (probably using privacy codes).. When offroading, the official GMRS channel is 16.. This a scientific fact because is "offroading" = "4 X 4" and 4 x 4 = 16 .. so this is the scientific answer to the question - it is explained in more detail in this video made by some Youtube clown:1 point -
Is There A Road Channel For GMRS?
maddogrecurve reacted to kidphc for a topic
I would not want that for the GMRS service. The truckers that use CB end up running illegal amps not all but you would be shocked by how many will openly admit it. Quite a few users splatter across adjacent channels, rendering them useless. Or they free band into Ham 10m bands, because of course no one is using them right? Now imagine that mentality in the beloved GMRS service. Where the 1kwatt amp is splattering across all the frequencies. In the sake of getting more distance out of a service that was implemented as a hassle free close coms. The biggest problem would be the FRS/GMRS bands are in most places adjacent to license business operations or EMS/Police/Public sector bands. The service is awesome for short distance coms. The ability to walk into Target or Walmart and pickup a radio for a caravan without going through the installation of a mobile or any real training on radio operations is incredibly awesome. As far as the FRS in the campground shops. Makes sense. Kids can play with it. Mommy and daddy can keep tabs on Billy without having to stare at him. You start to see GMRS mobile units in off road shops. Where the user normally doesn't want to fumble around with an HT while being tossed around in a truck. Been there done that, no thanks.1 point -
The coax you choose is open to a lot of debate. It's safe to say that hard line, air core will have the best results, but then using a good foam filled coax will make the install less costly but incur slightly less power available at the antenna when comparing the two types. The radiation pattern from a vertical antenna can be visualized as a beach ball with the top and bottom of the ball indented. Increasing the gain of the antenna pushes up and down on the ball resulting in less energy being directed up and down but more toward the horizon. A 3 dB gain effectively increases the energy being radiated to double the input while 6 dB is a quadruple increase. I also recommend an antenna with radials as this ensures the antenna has a ground reference and sets where the "bottom" of the beach ball pattern is. The top of the ball is the antenna tip. In all cases, antenna height above ground is the primary factor for distance covered.1 point
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The range for your installation is dependent on three factors, antenna height, surrounding terrain and power. Your antenna's propagation pattern is from the center of the antenna rather than the tip. With a short antenna, it makes little difference from where you measure the height from the ground. With longer antennas, the best result is if you measure from the antenna feed point to the ground. But all that is for naught if the terrain around your install is higher than the antenna. UHF radio waves don't bend around hills.1 point
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Sbsyncro you have made a very knowledgeable observation in dealing with travel, and repeaters. But first off remember the repeaters aren’t “public” but, private property even though they identify themselves ever so often. Travel planning is a necessity in the probable use of a repeater outside your area of normal travel. Say, you decide to prepare for getting a signal report while on the road, in the area just to ensure your unit is really working as designed. Contact the owner beforehand and get (and record) the necessary information and permission to program the radio before the trip. As you get closer to the repeater setup you’ll likely want to PTT and ask for a signal report and listen for the squelch report to ensure you are actually hitting the repeater. My new radio experience has taught me to: -Safety First & pull over to a safe place and stop, -Ensure the radio is set to the correct channel, -Ensure I have the correct CTCSS or DCS tone selected, -Think about what you’re going to say then, -Transmit and evaluate the results even though I think I am close enough to be heard. You may or may not reach the repeater. Listen for hearing static after letting go of the PTT button. If you hear the static, you’ll know you have not opened the repeater with your transmission. If the release of the PTT produces a clear silence for several seconds (squelch trail), know you have been received and should wait for a response. I have learned that somedays I can hear a repeater a long way off (30 - 45 miles) but I can't quite hit it depending on my angle of approach or area of reception I am in. Too, somedays the repeater my be down for any number of issues and just available for use at the time you arrive ot use it. Safe Travels!1 point
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I'm guessing this is an unauthorized re-transmission of the sheriffs radio comms. I see they use 155mHz by you. I would contact the sheriffs dept and just give them the heads up. Their radio unit will likely foxhunt the signal and begin the process of charging the individual. Notifying them ASAP also allows them to prevent transmitting personal info which may be heard via the unauthorized repeater.1 point
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TDR is a double edge sword. It is great when you need to monitor multiple two frequencies or scan two ranges at the same time. But on an HT it can be bad when you find yourself talking on one side of the radio while audio is being received on the other. The audio from receive side gets picked up by the microphone and retransmitted on the other side, while is simultaneously distracts you, the talking operator. While I really do like having TDR, I find I have to immediately disable now if I am going to use the radio for its intended purpose, two-way radio communications. I have been caught off guard multiple times in the middle a communications when suddenly the speaker starts reproducing audio from another channel. I wish my radios had the option that would enable muting of the second side when the PTT button is pressed. A user preference setting.1 point
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New GMRS Licensee - Confused about repeaters?
WRVX790 reacted to rdunajewski for a topic
Welcome! 1) The Midland radios have the ability to enable the 8 extra channels for repeater use. These will transmit on 467.xxx MHz and receive on 462.xxx MHz, whereas the simplex (direct) channels will transmit and receive on the same 462.xxx MHz frequency. In addition to the frequency a repeater transmits, there is also the CTCSS tone (also known as PL tone) which allows a repeater to selectively repeat transmissions from one group of users when others may be on the same shared frequency. On more advanced radios, you would set up a channel for each repeater in the radio's memory, where they would each be one of the 8 repeater channels (i.e. 462.550 MHz), but the CTCSS tone would vary for each repeater. On the Midlands, you need to manually change the tone to use a different repeater. So in the example above, you'd tune to channel 15R (repeater channel) and set the tone in the menu to whatever the local repeater on Channel 15 (462.550) requires. If you go to a new area where there is another repeater also on 462.550, you would stay on Channel 15 but change the tone to whatever that new repeater uses. 2) A repeater will extend the range a single radios has by many miles, depending on the height of the repeater in elevation. If two radios are nearby but suddenly cannot communicate due to the terrain or distance, a nearby repeater located in a tall spot (a tower, a tall building, or a mountain top) will allow those radios to communicate by retransmitting the signal at higher power and at a higher location. UHF frequencies are almost line-of-sight, where two stations can communicate if there is an unobstructed view between antennas. By putting the repeater antenna high up, it will be able to "see" a much larger area and thus extend the mobile units' coverage over the greater area it can "see" from its height. So a radio with a 1 mile range can suddenly get 15-30 mile range if there is a repeater in a good spot high above the average terrain height by having the repeater retransmit its signal at a higher power and elevation. Repeaters have a limit to their range based on this elevation, as the visual horizon distance changes with regard to height above the ground. Since the Earth is curved (flat-earthers will be disappointed), the further away you go from a station, you begin to curve below the horizon and eventually the Earth itself will block the signal. The only way around that is more height, and that's how satellites can have such wide coverage. They are essentially a repeater at an extreme altitude and thus they have visual line-of-sight to a much, much larger area than a tower on the ground could ever have.1 point