Logan5

I have had the 50' telescoping mast leaning into my target tree for 2 days now. so far so good. I have also placed the electronics box near the fence on cinder blocks for now. I want to keep if out of her view. I am heading to HomeDepot to get some conduit for my outlet. Should have this thing back up and running any day now. The new Comet antenna is in, but has the shortest radials I have ever seen. Shouldn't they be longer than 5 inches? I noticed during assembly that the use coax between the top elements and the bottom half, unlike the uvs200 where you have to insert a brass rod into a set screw. it is about 2X as thick fiberglass and not as floppy as the uvs200. it came in a bright white, I may consider painting it a flat grey primer color. any suggestions?

Not sure what went wrong, but the peltier cooler did not work, however at this point the Uniden repeater has operated in 95deg. temperatures for over 3 days. so I will devise a cooling fan in the mean time. by my calculations this cooling plan may draw much more power than is practical or the equipment I am using is old and malfunctioning. My Motorola repeater is much more tolerant to high temps, so I will save this active cooling idea until a future date. at present my concerns are getting a 117V outlet near my box on a property that is under complete renovation. I also do not want to be the source of a stop work order. Oh well, what to do.

one pic shows the cold plate and the other shows the heat dissipation side with cooling fans.

this is where the heatsink will connect to the thermoelectric cooler thru the bottom of the box. I will be using 1" foil film backed foam insulation and aluminium foil tape for vapor barrier. I have two options for the cooler. the big one will need a thermostat and the smaller cooler may have to run 24X7 to maintain 77deg. F. The door has a nice formed rubber seal and you can hear and feel the quality of the manufacture. It weighs about 50lbs nice and solid

UPS just delivered the BOX, here are some pics

Well if that is the case, I will just have to use the yagi or the UVS200 untill someone gets me the CA-712EFC.

indeed, CA-712EFC 139.99 with free shipping. American radio supply charged 30 for the shipping but refunded since they did not have in stock and their supplier did not have a firm source for delivery.

Just ordered from Hamradio.com aka Ham radio outlet. same price and free shipping.

well so much for my new Comet antenna, I just got home and found this e-mail in my box. Thank your for your interest in our items. However, the CA-712EFC is currently out of stock and the supplier does not have a date at this time as to when they will be available. I have refunded the 169.95 back to your account. Super bummed.

you are so lucky it's the power supply and not the radio. Safe travels both of you.

I know right. like I drive thru Alabama once a decade give or take. By truck everything is far from here, 8 to 9 hours just to get out of the state. Spent over an hour at the beach today, testing temporary repeater set up with the 10.2db yagi and enjoying 5 to 6 foot waves in 82+ deg. water temperatures. been less oppressive heat this summer. Again thanks William, you save me much effort.

Well that was easy.

Thanks again William, That 9db Comet antenna is perfect. Pricey, but that is exatlly what I was looking for. I respect your recommendation as I have found you are usually correct. now to figure out how to pay for it. lol.

Thank You William, I have considered a single band antenna and your advice is what I was looking for. yes the UVS200 does not have the best SWR. should I give up on gain antennas and go with a unity? one e-bag seller has a "COMET CA-712EF 440-450 MHZ VERTICAL BASE/REPEATER ANTENNA" but it only goes up to 450. do you have any recommendations? when I install this antenna I wish never to have to pull it back down. lol.

I took FTL600 off line last week due to my move, only to find out that I will have out of town myGMRS guest in 2 weeks. Well guest from myGMRS are second priority only to Emergency communications. So I have a lot of work to do! I spent a few days planning my new setup with my final tower in mind. So I could set my budget. so on flea-bay I found a new Hoffman 24HX24WX16D steel outdoor enclosure and a 36watt thermoelectric cooler. the seller had 199 on the box and I offered 175.00 so I feel like I got a good deal. I am going to use a 40' black olive tree to secure a mast to, should put my UVS200 6 to 8' above the average tree line. I will have room for several 19" rack style repeaters in the future. I spent a few bucks but with my long term goals all is money well spent. I would also like to obtain some LDF4-50a for the feedline, but the LMR400 will do in the meantime. picture of progress to be posted as I go. any and all suggestions encouraged.

Wow This has turned into a great thread. I also like less publicity. lucky here in south Florida, there are very few who attempt using a GMRS repeater. yes there is much garbage on 462.xxx but none of it affects my repeater using PL tone. I do not mind licensed guest in fact I encourage it, but I do not want unlicensed users of any kind, nor do I want licensed users that do not respect other repeater users or do not operate with some common sense. I am in no way a stickler, but rude is rude. I am sitting here listening on 462.xxx now and someone is crossband repeating a 6 M signal from anchorage ak.

I am in Fort Lauderdale Florida. I only go north for the summers as I do not like the cold at all. I visit, NYC, North Jersey and Rehoboth Beach Del. almost every summer. However I from a farm in Virginia.

exactly the opposite here. lol Our furnace kicks on all of 9 days a year, usually late December and early January. I am sure 95+ deg. summers would kill the repeater.

this is fine up north, however here in Florida, it get's up to 98deg. in the day and only goes down to 97deg. at night for several months during the summer. I would need active cooling to prevent equipment damage.

I know, I thought it was funny. Mine too, you as well my friend...Jim

This looks like Long island, He should get amazing propagation across the water. What are all the different antennas for? I notice 2 antennas mounted upside down. is he running lmr400? the cable looks small? is he already divorced? or is this his request for a divorce? hahahaha

The UV5R is not part95 cert. and as far as I know, no Baofeng radios are. However as I have always believed, Part95 cert is in the programming of the radio, as seen with the powerwerx made by Wouxum, this shows us that a radio once properly programmed is technically compliant. not certified until the manufacture applies for the certification. I myself also use Baofeng radios, since they are half the cost of similar part95 cert. radios. and 4 watt's is better than 1 or 2 watts. also versatility, Many Part95 cert. radios that include FRS are no so versatile. The GMRS service allow up to 5 watt's and removable antennas, FRS does not. I have my UV5R programed for GMRS freq's only and when I am in my truck, I use an external antenna to prevent radiating my 4 watt's back into my head and my body. For less technical users I like the BF888 it has 2 watt's, comes with a gain UHF only antenna and works 2X as good at twice the range of a Motorola bubble pak radio, and only cost 19.99 shipped. I go to the airport once a week, the BF888 hit's the repeater at 7.6 miles as easily as the UV5R and the UVB5. for those of us not made of money, the value of these radios far outweigh the certification issues, However the use of non part 95 cert. radios is likely against the charter that allows GMRS service, even though the wording seems vague I am sure these radios were never meant to be allowed and against your license to use them. However with so many Hotels and taxi cab drivers illegally using and also using non part 95 cert. equipment, The FCC will unlikely ever get to prosecuting actual family use of non cert. equipment. I say use equipment that is affordable and well within the spec's for technical part 95 certification, use good radio operating practice and you'll be fine.

Yes sir, and SILVER Rustoleum paint on the enclosure would decrease the inside temp by a few more degrees even still. I would love to just use passive cooling, but Summers here in South Florida it gets up to 99deg. during the days and only goes down to 98deg. at night for many weeks on end. Humidity is usually as high as the temperature or higher. I am sure most radio transmitters will fail under these conditions. If the enclosure is insulated with the 3/4" foil covered foam board, I could easily use a 30 to 40 watt peltier junction to maintain an internal temp under 75deg. since thermoelectric cooling runs on direct current, no need to run 120 volts to the enclosure and no expensive refrigeration unit to buy or maintain.

Cooling is something I give great thought to living in South Florida. In a few months I am installing my 50' tower and I have decided I am going with a water proof equipment rack at the base of the tower. since it get's hot as heck here, active cooling will be necessary, I was thinking of installing a thermoelectric cooling unit on the bottom of the box and a thermostat on the inside of the box. I had also considered blowing cool air through the conduit from the climate controlled garage. either way a repeater/transmitter will not last long without active cooling here in South Florida. I am looking at this enclosure http://www.ebay.com/itm/400266155977?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649 I went with the larger size to contain standard 19" rack equipment. it has a removable bottom plate that will be easy to modify with the thermoelectric cooler. I will use "Type N" through box connectors on this same removable panel. I may also add an aluminum sun shield on any area that get's direct sun. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I was ask a few days ago why we purchased a waterfront home, since I was so passionate about "Man made global climate change" and was sure the seal level would rise over a foot in the next decade. I simply replied, We purchased a waterfront home to have "front row seats"