WRZT743

Maybe I missed something but that topic links back to this topic. How does that help?

I am also looking to build solar powered Retevis repeater. For deer camp. Please keep the updates coming. So far I have my Retevis hooked up to a raspberry pi connected to a GMRS Live hub. This allows me to connect back home 250+ miles away using the internet as a bridge. I have been testing it at home and it has been doing very well. Now I am working on building everything into a waterproof box with built in battery. I only need it to run for 2 week at a time max but it I can keep it going longer via solar why not.

I ordered my thru https://www.retevis.com/ they have better prices than retevissolutions.com and it was to my door in 6 days. Ordered on Jan/9/2024 6:46pm CST delivered on Jan/15/2024 10:37am CST

I hunt in the norther parts of the UP of MI. Cell service dies off before we make it to our campsite. I also was looking for some line of communication back home. My plan is the use a mobile linked repeater to connect back home to a HotSpotRadio node($298). -HotspotRadio is plug and play. Great for new guys and gals that have no clue what a node is (like myself) For that I recently purchased the Retevis RT97S ($305 on New Years Sale) built a node for it using a Raspberry Pi 3b+ and Amazon case kit comes with heat sinks, fan, and power supply ($70) the RIM lite ($65) used the Bingfu mobile HAM 8dbi antenna from Amazon ($37). Built the cable using 2PCS DB9 Male adapters very easy to build. I received my free node numbers and OS image for GMRS Live. Total cost for my mobile linked repeater $477. I set it up at home for testing. I only have the antenna on my garage so say 12 feet maybe 14 feet high. I am in a city and many houses, buildings, and trees are much taller than my antenna. I still can hear the repeater 5 miles from my house. Using a mobile radio with the same antenna on my truck i can talk back to the repeater at 5 miles with Baofeng handheld its more like 3 miles with the ABBREE AR-771 GMRS antenna. Plan now is to leave a truck with the repeater at the highest spot possible that still has cell coverage. Have the repeater, hotspot, and node all plugged into solar with its own battery. Not only will we have local radio coverage for about 5 miles around the truck. We can use a WiFi hotspot to connect the repeater node to the network. Back home HotSpotRadio will be connected to the network. Creating a internet bridge for the radios to talk to back home 250 miles away as the crow flies. I will let you know how it works next time I go to camp. Total cost for everything $775 not a bad price if it saves a life. Even once!

feel free to chat here.... I plan on having a mobile as a base station in my house but also wanted to listen while in my garage. So I took what I already knew worked in my truck and put that antenna on the garage. I did not want to buy another power station to run a mobile unit for the little I will be in there. That is why I used a handheld comes with power cable. I was amazed that I was hitting repeaters as far as I was and as clear as I was being told it was. Wanted to share, that's all not saying it the best set up just saying it was CHEAP and WORKS.

Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying...

Low- 2 watts Med- 4.5 watts High- 8 watts

I can test when I get home

So this is how I set up a garage radio station very cheap key word CHEAP Baofeng UV-5G Plus $35- https://www.baofengradio.com/products/uv-5g-plus-5w-gmrs-radio Commountain Heavy Speaker Mic $20- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MX4J3W8/ref=sspa_dk_detail_5?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B07MX4J3W8&pd_rd_w=FkIlh&content-id=amzn1.sym.386c274b-4bfe-4421-9052-a1a56db557ab&pf_rd_p=386c274b-4bfe-4421-9052-a1a56db557ab&pf_rd_r=7TFA91RXNWDQRYP7RH6R&pd_rd_wg=HOOT3&pd_rd_r=25bf468d-0588-4e66-8c45-ea93606e0b2c&s=gps&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM Bingfu Vehicle Antenna with Ground Planes $37 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CLKLHHNP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Program Plug and Play for the most part Total $92 Contact made to repeaters 15 miles away no problem. It can get better, the antenna is good with the factory setting but it is tuned for 440.xxx We want 462.xxx-467.xxx for GMRS so I purchased some 10G black solid copper wire from my local home improvement store and trimmed it to the perfect tune for 467.400 my SWR is 1.02 - 1.03 I am happy with that. Tune the Antenna with a NanoVNA NanoVNA $50- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08132DJLS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details I will take picture of the set up tomorrow in the daylight.

I some how missed his response saying he fixed the problem. OffRoaderX - Just wanted to say thanks for all your videos, they have helped with allot of my own questions... FYI Your sense of humor is great.