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You'd also want to be realistic with needs and performance desires. General rule of thumb, the crystal controlled radios were generally more efficient designs. Some have even gone as far to build controllers which cyclically power the receiver when not in use to provide a function similar to an HT's battery saver. The receiver only stays active for 100 ms of every second or so when in its hibernation state. If COR goes active, it fully powers on the receiver. Generally you are looking at radios putting out around 10W or less. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Depends on the link. You can either shotgun it (1 link radio and controller, link radio programmed as a subscriber to the other repeater) or you can use a dedicated simplex link which could be susceptible to bubble pack interference. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Midland doesn't see a market for repeater capable radios. I mean their mobile can't utilized repeaters either. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd check the repeater builder site under antenna systems. I think RFS bought Celwave but I don't know if antennas made it through the buyout. Could also be a Telewave antenna. Sent from my KYOCERA-E6560 using Tapatalk

If it is only a part time deal…the group might actually qualify for an itinerant Part 90 repeater. Be a little cheaper but not by a ton (and I'd go to P25 or DMR for expanded coverage comparable to that of wideband analog). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

AirOS is G2G. I don't see a need for aftermarket firmware. Only thing I wish was there was MAC Telnet like RouterOS is capable of. There's a lot more room in 5 GHz. Current firmware UBNT can be unlocked for 5.1-5.9 GHz out of the box while still scanning on the DFS channels to ensure that a local radar station is not being interfered with). Personal preferences, Bullets and AirGrids are only single chain aka single polarization (150 Mbps max on a 40 MHz channel and a 20 dB SNR) while everything else M series is dual chain. I love Rockets and have started playing with the new AC variants (now that full 5GHz is available). AC actually have front end filtering and have some slightly better RX. As far as antennas go, favorite brand is RF Elements. They have nice symmetrical sectors, traditional sectors and a PTP dish that all feature the camlock connector of theirs (allows for quick radio changes, even to a different manufacturer, without a need to realign). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Unlike Logan I try to stay away from the Nanostations. Ive noticed some issues when using them as SMs in noisy areas. I much prefer the NanoBridge and NanoBeam (the Lite version is my favorite for price and ease of use). Anyway, unless you have a spare receiver and a way to backhaul it to the repeater, a repeater with a different PL input on your land would be the easiest solution. PSA…for those who haven't priced them, the pricing difference between a voting/simulcast analog repeater and a P25 version is less than $500. That's why more P25 simulcast systems began to pop up commercially. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A link radio is still retransmitting a received message from a receiver. There is also an old FCC idea about only allowing links above 200 MHz. That being said, the rules don't specifically condone linking to Part 90…but you have to remember, it's been just shy of 30 years since those rules were written. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Path loss for 500 miles is roughly 144 dB. A UHF HT transmits at 36 dBm. That's a received signal strength of -108 dBm. That gives roughly 10 dB left in link budget to adjust for non-perfect HT antennas. Most likely, either a repeater somewhere was in use or a linked system. As far as the physics go, it could be done with a clear line of sight on simplex. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

NASA sent video 250,000 miles from the moon using 3W of RF. Line of sight is the biggest thing about UHF. If the OP's friend had LOS to the repeater, 80-150 miles from a handheld is perfectly capable. Also, it would surprise most to know that the radios used in aircraft are generally 10W (AM) radios. Though transmitting in the lower portion of the VHF high band it is still based on LOS communication principles. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Things that we might trying to get stickied at the top of said forums... Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

Your really just taking the power transistors and saturating them. They could pull more current (and thus build more heat) or it may not do anything. Just something you really have to watch. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Motorola has been calling for chassis ground since they phased the Twin V out of service.

Some are DPL capable. My favorite method is to use an analog output tone (avoid the tones around 135 Hz) and use a DPL input tone.

Duplexer sounds out of tune. Is it a cavity style or mobile style? Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

PL (I'm sorry but I'm a firm believer in that if you create it, your name is the proper name) was a handy device invented back in the heyday of two-way radio. It's purpose wasn't to obscure (that is what encryption is for) but to help filter out unwanted noise or at least keep it from being repeated. It works by encoding and decoding sub-audible tones (less than 300 Hz which is the lower limit of the human ear) over transmitted audio. PL is basically the key the opens squelch on radios using it. Where CSQ (privacy code 0) is just traditionally squelch dependent. Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

Not just Wouxun. Many of the Chinese companies are like that, even Hytera. Took nearly two weeks for a loca, Hytera dealer to get support for Tier 3 trunking (on a Simoco Tier 3 system). To set up he sysem, Simoco flew an engineer out for technician training. Of course it doesn't help any that Hytera got rid of most of their US support. Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

Line of sight. UHF in the 460 range is roughly LOS range plus 5-10%. Money is better spent on receivers, antennas and location versus power amplifiers. Coming from a guy who's shooting 500 mW 19 miles at 5.5 GHz and still delivering 60 Mbps over it…

Very depending dependent on site... Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

40 and 20 are my favorites for SSB. That being said I'm not big on HF. Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

UHF is a height is might situation. Antenna placement really dictates the antenna type. I run commercial quality NMO antennas with the exception of my dd which has a multi-band setup on it. Everything is 1/4 wave. My Jeep has a fender mounted Larsen NMO-27 which is cut for the CB it is attached to (old off road habits die hard) and a sprung Larsen NMOQ cut for 146 MHz (I've moved all the ranch vehicles over to commercial VHF). My old dd (which has been sitting in a field near Lubbock for about 8 months now) has a PCTEL 430-480 MHz antenna on the roof and a Larsen NMOQ cut for 146 MHz on the roof as well. Current dd has what's called a Panorama Sharkee with a V/U/7/800 whip on it. Not a fan of fiberglass antennas, especially those made by Firestik as there is some snake oil in their marketing claims. Other than that they are heavy and perform no better than other options which whistle far less going down the highway. Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

RFI builds a sweet (fully welded) exposed dipole array that's worth checking out if you have some money to burn. DB's water intrusion issues were mostly settled by 2005. Know of a 224 suffering from it currently. Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

I use it to keep the Baofengs off…and keep people using radios actually designed for channelized use. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I used a command line based program called Splat!. I never was a fan of RMO. Now my favorite is SignalPro, which runs roughly $10,000 for the license unfkrtunately. Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

Using those basic line of sight calculations is rather useless for coloroado as the terrain comes into play. I actually was looking at a site that though it was the highest spot for miles, it was in a valley an hour or so south of the OP and would cover the county entirely, but only 10 miles west, 10 miles east, and 15 north due to mountains and the gorge the Arkansas River cut its way through. The basic calculations work well in this kind of terrain. http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160320/448d567f980191559ddc4e964f70b5ed.jpg That grain elevator is 8 miles away and roughly 200 feet tall. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk