JeepZJ

I designed everything around 12 volts. Lighting, water pressure pump, TV/DVD, Electronics on the frig, Furnace, Fan over the Stove, Fans over the upstairs beds, bathroom fan. We have a small sine wave inverter in the living room and a larger one at the battery bank that we rarely use. I have been religious when it comes to adding distilled water to the batteries. My panels for the repeater shack will be on a 12/12 pitch roof which is pretty close to the optimum angle for our locale. Even then the snow has a tendency not to slide off unless it warms up well above freezing. I wont be using the repeater much in the winter so it wont be an issue. By the way I have already researched the MPPT controllers and had decided on the ECO-Worthy 20A after deciding I needed more power for the radios I ended up with.

I was starting to think he was talking about the equalization mode. My Morningstar MPPT Controller on the Cabin has that feature. So does the charger that runs off the generator. I'm going on 6 years with my Trojan L-16 batteries and they are still going strong. The Bogart TriMetric is located in the living room and helps me keep an eye on what is going on with the solar system. The lowest my batteries have ever been is 80%. What I use when the sun goes down is usually replenished by noon the next day. Only in the deep of winter do I fire up the generator. The repeater is going to be in a better location for sun than the cabin. Only enemy will be snow covering the panels.

90-100F seems a bit cool considering the summer temps would cause this to run all afternoon in July & August even when the repeater isn't used. A/C is not an option for this Off-Grid location. The building will be well insulated but it also will be in direct sunlight all day.

The 7/8 RFS cable is only .50 ft more than the 1/2" and it cuts the loss is half. I'm trying to determine why the 7/8 Commscope is $1.90 per foot more than the 7/8 RFS. Will it last significantly longer, does it transmit better......??? I have been doing a lot of research and some very experienced folks have suggested 7/8 heliax for UHF so that is why I'm steering this ship in that direction.

I'm ready to order a custom made cable. (The Antenna Farm) for my solar powered GMRS repeater shack. My pole is going to be a 21' x 2" black steel pipe attached to the side of the shack. Their is a significant difference in price between the Commscope vs RFS yet the RFS seems to have better numbers .778 db vs .753 db loss @ 450mhz. Is their some reason why I would pay $1.90 per foot more for Commscope? Also suggestions on how to get the cable into the shack considering the Min. Bending Radius is 10". Should I transission to a more flexible cable at the entry point, if so what cable should I use for this. Should there be a drip loop?

I'm assuming I only need a fan on the transmitting radio. . I am also assuming I need something that will not mess with the radios via buzzing, humming or other nasty sounds. Will a computer fan work for this task? I'm going to install a normally closed adjustable fan switch on the heat sink....what temperature should I set it to turn the fan on?

Thanks for this info. Looks like a good option.

Checked mre1032's eBay store.....no repeater controllers. I found mini-UHF connectors that have solder pins at the Antenna Farm....ordered some this AM I'm leaning towards the NHRC micro at this time. I have everything to make up the cables between the radios and the controller. store and it shows he only sell and makes cables for repeater controllers, no repeater controllers for sale.

I need some mini-uhf connectors to hook these radios to the duplexer. It came with n x pl-259 cables. I'd like the solder type pin connectors. I found some that gave a choice between standard pin and captive pin. It did not explain what captive pin or standard pin was. Can someone help me with the difference?

I'll check the ebay seller. I purchased the programing software and cable.

I've been absorbing all kinds of information on the subject, thanks for your input. I've had an off grid cabin, solar/wind powered, for seven years now. The solar system will be no problem with the small amount of usage this repeater will see. It will generally be used on the weekends, during the day when the solar will be charging. I've ordered a pair of Motorola CDM1250 25w radios. .3 amp standby and max 8 amp transmit /receive x 2 I've got a 50w Celwave / RFS duplexer, already tuned for GMRS, on the way also. I'm going to get a NHRC micro or 3.1 controller.

We are in need of communications between our hunting cabin (0ff Grid) and our hunting grounds. They are 2-10 miles away from each other with a significant hill between them and lots of other hills in the area. This is a very heavily forested area far from civilization. I want to put a repeater at the top of our hill, which is part of our property. I'm considering the following equipment for the repeater site: (2) 25 Watt UHF radios Celwave 633-6A Duplexer Comet CA-712EFC Antenna Renogy 50 Watts 12 Volts Monocrystalline Solar Panel PowerStar 12V 35AH U1 Deep Cycle AGM Solar Battery Genasun GV-5-Pb-12V, 5A MPPT solar controller with LVD 1/2" Heliax Hardline Cable What I'm not sure about is the need of a repeater controller. They seem to offer lots of bells and whistles, but do I need one with modern radios?