LeoG

The meter working was as addition. Before it just indicated it was receiving a signal. No it also shows a basic signal strength.

The signal meter works.

Well that would be nice because I'd have a 25' pc of coax that's still good.

It's only 25' so not much gain over the M&P Hyperflex 13. So .5db vs .37dB. The whole run is just over 80'. If I did that it would be more. 1.60dB vs 1.18dB but still, nothing Earth shattering. I waterproofed my original setup with two wraps of the self fusing and a outer wrap of electrical tape for the UV protection. No idea how water got in. Other than a crack in the fiberglass or something.

I tell you.. it better not leak.

Well I'm getting setup for the big swap out. Getting the Comet CA712EFC ready for deployment. Wrapped the area where the antenna joins with self fusing tape. And then marine grade heat shrink with the adhesive lining on the inside. Then wrapped the N connector after wrenching it tight with the self fusing tape. And then the heat shrink tubing again. Put silicon where the aluminum tube joins the ground plane area before I put the mounting tube on. Pretty stiff stuff. I guess that's why they call it hard line. And the completed assembly. Should be going up sometime this week.

Well, I'm not sure if you know this. But it's a fairly new repeater that's only been out for a year and they actually have been upgrading it. The no tone is an upgrade from the original which had no option for that at all. It also didn't have a squelch which is essential to a no tone system. So most likely the software hasn't been caught up yet. And it's not like they gave you the function and no way to activate it. It's a small annoyance to deal with while they are putting more thought into the machine to give it more features than when you bought it originally. When I got mine there was no squelch, no DCS, no microphone to talk into only program, it didn't have a no tone option and a few other small things. The menu system was still cluttered with another versions options which did nothing in this version and they cleaned that up. So my machine has had nice upgrades while you look at it as a basic machine because that's where they were in the ongoing development of this repeater.

You can get a microphone with a speaker for the H3. Put the clip right near your ear and you can use the mic too. It also has a VOX headset you can use if you are in need of communication regularly.

Not sure how flat Texas is but simplex might work pretty well for most. And wide range repeaters cost a lot of money to install and keep running. You could volunteer your money and time and put one up for the masses to use.

So that's great. You can program the repeater with no tone just how you wanted it. So you can't do it through the program, big deal. How many times do you plan on doing this? It's generally set it up once and walk away. Only in the very beginning do you play with everything. After you get it the way you like you'll rarely ever touch programming again.

One of the repeaters I use has better reception than transmission which is rare. I was able to contact my wife with my 20 watt mobile and when she responded I wasn't able to hear her from the 50 watt repeater.

No not yet. Either Tuesday or Friday I think I'll be doing the swap out. Borrowing a bucket truck and I will be swapping out the antenna from a generic 7.2dBi to the Comet CA712EFC and the 25' run of M&P Hyperflex 13 to 1/2" Heliax. Also going to be putting up some guy wires because I'm always worried when the wind whips up. I have 15' of mast with a 5' antenna and now I'll be putting a 10' antenna up there so more torque. And I don't want to go through all that work only to have it blown down. Not sure what will become of that cable. Not even sure that's the problem, could be the antenna itself.

That's what I'm using at home M&P Hyperflex 13. It's been water infiltrated.

See, that's cheating.

Sounds like you have a good location which is probably better than any coax or antenna. I need more punch since I am limited in height and live in hilly terrain with lots of trees. Height is might, and that's something I'll always lack. Highest up I'll get is 80' above ground at 166 FT above sea level. To the east and west of me 5 miles away are 300-400' mountains, dead cutoff