Leaderboard

After thinking about it..... a better way to put it is that there is no point in treating very short lines as T-lines. There is no benefit in treating it that way. In PCB and chassis design it's mainly the delay of the T-line that has any meaning When you design on a PC board, even at 1GHz you measure the S-paramterters on the PCB or at the PCB interface. So all the parasitics related to the packaging and PCB interface are absorbed into the S-Parameters. Matching network components are generally treated as discrete impedances - and this is pretty accurate. Everything is surface mount today and the traces are typically as short as the pads. Once we got past the matching network we would try to keep our microstrip in the ballpark of 50 ohms but in many cases you are only going an inch or two. So if your microstrip is off 15% it's probably still better than your matching network. Even at a GHz PC boards have become too small to economically use stubs and T-lines for on board for matching. You can buy an 0402 1pf cap or 1nH inductor for next to nothing. PC board space is too valuable for stubs or T-lines of meaningful length. The only way to really see this is to plot it out on a Smith chart. When the rotation is so small it just doesn't do anything. Vince

I had been listening with a little UV5R for a while. However, shortly after receiving my GMRS license. I ordered a pair of XPR7550e's from ebay, and began the long wait for motorola to decide to sell me the CPS software. I got one of the handsets programed today. Nothing fancy, just the local repeater that I had been listening to for a while. But dang. What a fantastic upgrade that hand held is. The CPS software wasn't too crazy to figure out for simple analog programing. Now I just have to do a codeplug for the repeaters for planned roadtrips.

Bluetooth mic? Also, if you find a good external speaker please post a link to this thread. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sound quality is phenomenal. Also, it seems to grab signal from the repeater much stronger. I do prefer the “heft” of it. This handheld is seriously solidly built. That UV5 felt like a flimsy child’s toy. Once I sorted out how to program in the repeaters, I started looking up and requesting access to all the repeaters from my house to Albuquerque. This forum is specifically why I decided to order the Motorola from eBay. I actually was so impressed with it, I ordered another. I do sort of wish I could program it from the front, but I think that would be a complicated mess.

There is more tech knowledge on this forum than many of the "good" ham boards. I was going to post that somewhere else and I still may

You're a Jeeper, you'll find a way!?

Keep in mind this repeater can only operate on ONE of the GMRS repeater channels at a time This is due to the notch duplexer. It can ONLY be tuned for one TX and one TX frequency at a time. If you need to change the repeater channel the notch duplexer must be retuned. That requires equipment most people don’t have or a trip to the local commercial radio shop.

Good Day John. axorlov is correct, you could do that with a human dispatcher that relays/echos the messages. That human effort and associated echo would certainly get old. If you desire a duplex repeater setup you have several options. First option is to purchase a purpose-built repeater, perhaps an all-in-one unit. There is an affordable fixed purpose unit like that sold right here on the myGMRS site ideal for just the scenario you describe. There are also higher priced commercial units available. Second option is purchase a pair of standard mobile radios, plus duplexer, antenna and controller and assemble one yourself. If you consider this option, the Wouxun KG-1000G has features that simplify this a tad over say a pair of MXT-400. The beauty of this arrangement is then have the option to use the component radios independently when repeater operation is not required. Third option is doing the same as above but instead some HTs. Some of have done this. I suspect you will find this works but will have the lowest performance of all your options. Plus your talk time will be limited. The beauty of the all-in one is that you could you can perhaps hoist the repeater and antenna high into a tree (or use a push-up mast you take with you) to get some serious elevation. Elevation pays more in range dividends than any legal GMRS power will practically get you. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM