LeoG

I have 10 of these, or will on Wednesday. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09V4ZDJTJ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 I also have two of these but they went from $69 to $109 which prompted me to buy the others before they doubled in price. They are on my truck and charge the battery that powers my 3KW inverter.

The only thing I've bought to circumvent the tariffs is 3 solar panels to bring my total to 10, which was my target.

For BTECH it's still a work in progress. They say they will keep updating it. It has many plugs on the rear panel that are yet to be connected internally. Not sure if a firmware update or actual tinkering will need to be done to get them active. When I got it, it was version 1 and had issues. No DCS available and wonky duplexers. A simple firmware upgrade fixed the DCS and they sent me a new duplexer without me asking. A likely found out defect. Then months went by and they did the 2nd firmware upgrade and the mic upgrade. The unit I purchase had no usable microphone, disappointing. That next upgrade fixed that and they even sent me the patch cord to do it for free. The firmware upgrade cleaned up the menu system, added a squelch. It was set at 6 (of 9) and that screwed up my reception from my house which is already a weak signal. I knocked it down to 1 and that fixed that. All I need to do is jack the antenna up in height.

It's rated at 10 watts and it usually produces 6-7 watts at the connector.

I've been running the BTECH RPT50 since early August and besides them replacing the duplexer, which had been a bad batch or inadequate for the power (ask Randy) it has operated well. It's programmable from the display, microphone or computer (Win10 or greater). Simple channel change over if you wish. Simple tone change over, takes seconds from the display. Mine puts out about 42 watts after the duplexer. The newer ones have this function installed already, I had to upgrade it so the microphone actually worked as a microphone and not just to program the repeater. The CW ID works but is rudimentary. You can program hang time, it has a courtesy tone if you wish, has a signal strength squelch which is new. No longer limited to a 12 volt system. Will accept a standard 13.8v system if you need battery backup. Takes about 20 minutes to get it setup the way you want. Quicker if you are familiar.

Ya, that's the reason I'm putting the tape on then the heat shrink. If for some reason I need to get in there the heat shrink glue is going to be adhered to above and below the joint and glued to the tape which is removable but still protected by the heat shrink. Are you saying the self fusing tape will stick hard to the antenna and connector points? I am using 3M Temflex 2155.

OK, still waiting to get this antenna up for my repeater, but I've bought a second one for the house. I had a water infiltration issue in my coax and need to replace that. Since I borrow a bucket truck to get up there I am also replacing the current antenna with the 712EFC. What I'd like to know deals with waterproofing the system because I don't plan on going through this again. The 712 is a two pc antenna and it has a screw type grommet system to join the antennas. This is a possible water infiltration point. I got some marine type heat shrink tubing (1.5") and plan on wrapping the joint with 3M rubber splice tape that was recommended here someplace. And then cover that with the heat shrink tubing. It has an adhesive in it to seal everything off. On the top of the antenna is a cap, I plan on sealing this too just in case. Just want to make sure doing this won't affect the SWR or performance of the antenna. I don't think it should but I figured I'd ask anyway. I plan on wrapping the N connectors with the 3M and the heatshrink tubing also at all my connections at the antenna and the lightning arrester.

So if the parameters were in dBd with their respected reduction in strength (dBi-2.15db) then the resultant output would still be correct only because the calculations were consistent and done with all dBd gains instead of dBi? The answer they give is in dBm, what would it be if you used dBd gain measurements?

So no one has any opinion on the calculation from Online Radio Mobile?

So we can call it 2.145 to make it more complicated.

The only time I want snow is on Christmas eve and day, 1/2" is fine. Just to make it festive. And if it snows on New Years Eve that's OK too. But the same 1/2" max. Just to make it pretty

I'm not even close to Montana but we just got our 2nd round of small snow in a week. Thought spring had come and we were done with winter. 1st one was just enough to get some on the windshield And the 2nd enough to cover some ground, roofs and cars

When they said use it like a base station it never entered into my mind that it would be a fully functional radio, not even once. I figured you could transmit on the channel it was currently programmed to. I started out with the RT97S and that's how that one worked and I just assumed the RPT50 would be the same. It's nice to have the microphone so you don't need to have an HT to communicate if you are in the same room as the repeater. They did change the firmware again but when I got my repeater I was able to load all 16 channels, I have 8 setup as analog and 8 set up with digital tones. So it's easy to switch if it becomes necessary and I don't have to break out into programming.

I'm not sure the SCOTUS would call that constitutional.

One of the worst part of our political system is playing only to the next election. Never thinking about 10-50 years down the line. Just 2, 4 and 6 years at the very best which is far short from keeping a country viable. And it's sickening that right after an election within weeks they are always talking about their next election.

Like a big sucking sound....

And of course that's with the lowest bidder too.

Their QC is probably look at one in a thousand and stamp the rest. No way every one gets tested at some of those prices. I've worked at a govt sanctioned military supplier and each part gets a thorough scouring and inspections. A $100 part turns into a $1000 part because of this.

When you only look at one aspect of the equation ($$) you are bound to get screwed in other ways.

Didn't know we were talking about the trade imbalance. That happens because of protectionism of other countries. It's harder to get into other countries import system than it is to get into the US system and their tariffs are usually much higher than when they sell into our country.

Well I'm always saying the LRG repeater, so it should be understood.

The good thing about mass production is you can lower costs and pass it on. The bad thing is if you have a production issue it runs until someone catches it.

I don't think the main reason is we forgot. The main reason is profit and greed. Environmental regulation here in the US is overwhelmingly expensive to deal with and over there they just don't care. Along with cheap labor and govt subsidies providing benefits to those who export from overseas to the US.

So since I'm IDing, no CW is required. Don't have plans on stranger to stranger use of the repeater.