WRYN359

I've been looking at this cable. Let me know how you like it.

Looks very similar to what I have in mind.

It’s an RT97S. It has a DB-9 connection and you can buy an speaker/mic for it.

You can also try repeaterbook if you find none listed here near you.

It won't be, and the repeater will likely be inside the camper so I can also use it as a base station and won't always need to have an HT on when the kids are out doing their thing.

I'm going to be using a Retevis RT-97S on about a 25-30' collapsable pole for a repeater while camping. Since this is going to have to be at least partially disassembled when travelling, cable flexibility may be an issue due to repeated bending. I'm not going to be trying to cover a 50 mile area with this, just make it easier to hear over hills etc when we go hiking one way and the kids go biking a different way. I'm leaning towards a Tram 1486 because it seems to be cost effective and capable of doing what I want it to do (and probably more). For cable I've got my eye on Messi & Paoloni Ultraflex 10 that I can get premade with UHF connectors and seem to have no dissimilar metals. I figure a 50' section should be sufficient. I keep reading that LMR-400 is great but isn't good for repeaters due to dissimilar metals, and that for repeaters I should be going with Heliax 1/2". Since my transmitter definitely has and my antenna will likely have UHF connectors anyway, would the db savings from no adapters make up for the slightly higher db drop from the cable over such a short span (I don't see heliax UHF connectors and would probably need to do n to UHF adapters)? I also like that the M&P is stranded so (in my mind) it won't mind being coiled and uncoiled every week. I'm open to ideas on both the antenna and cables and. I did go through the cable loss thread as well as doing several other threads here and elsewhere, but I didn't really see the M&P cables mentioned and no one was talking about the effects of need to move the antenna on a regular basis. I also don't know what I don't know, so there may be other considerations I'm missing.

That's a great idea! Love it!

That's something else I need to figure out is how much gain I want to run. I'm thinking somewhere in the 3-6 range may be good, but I'm still new to this so I could be way off.

I haven't come up with a practical way to store the antenna during transport if it's connected unless it's got a magnetic base.

Not really, for the simple reason that I think the easiest way to do the mount for quick attach/detach without having to put excess wear on my connectors is by doing a magnetic mount so the antenna can always be connected. Then I just move the mount from the pole to the bumper for travel.

Was thinking magnetic mount though so I don't have to connect/disconnect the cable every time we go somewhere. I'm concerned that while connectors are relatively low loss, over the course of a summer' or two worth of camping the conductor connections may not be as tight even if the threads are tight and I will get excess signal loss. Maybe that's not a valid concern, which would be great because then I could use more of a base station style antenna rather than a mobile style antenna.

I have a 26' travel trailer and am planning on putting a Retevis RTS-97 GMRS repeater in it. I'll likely also use that repeater as the base station when camping so I can always have it on and not worry about having an HT on me always when the kids go off hiking/biking/whatever. They can just take an HT with them and we'll all be good. I need antenna advice. I'm currently thinking about mounting a 6-24ft telescoping aluminum pole on a pivot to the rear bumper so I can collapse it for travel but get me height when the antenna is in use. The pole has a 3/4 acme thread, so I'm thinking I can weld an acme nut to a pizza pan or some other metal disc to create a ground plane. I'm thinking about using a magnetic base mount of some sort so that when I travel I can place the antenna on the back bumper and not have to worry about unwiring it, just coil the extra coax and hang it off the spare tire or something. Then when I set the camper up I just spin on my ground plane, attach my mag mount, and extend the pole. I'm looking for alternative ideas for a reasonably priced mast (pole I'm looking at is about $60) as well as ideas for the mag mount, coax, and antenna. I figure I may need up to 50' of coax to get from the top of my pole to the repeater, so a lot of the integral mag mount/coax setups won't work. Since The coax will be moved on a weekly basis, I'm thinking I will need something stranded but again am open to advice. Thanks in advance.