gortex2

So in theory yes it would work and I have done similar for SAR work. In actual use it didn't work well at all. Most simplex repeater modules receive the audio, record it then re-transmit the audio. The issue we ran into is that delay time. If in an area where others can't hear the input of one use they don't know you are talking and you don't know if they are due to delays. While it did work ok for general messages "CREWS REPORT TO COMMAND" it was almost useless for routine conversations and use. At the end of the day we built a small pelican case 5 watt repeater that does what we needed. Guess it really depends on your needs. If you plan to have conversations I don't think its efficient. If its for a "i need help" scenario then its probably going to be OK. The other possible solution would be to put a small but efficient repeater at your future in laws house. Done right its not going to look bad and would work well.

As other stated it depends on the use. For a antenna used as a control point i have had great luck with the PCTEL Fiberglass sticks. I run the MFB4600 on my motor home and also at home. If your talking to mobiles or another base only then i use my DB404.

Also what are you using for the ground plane ? the plastic top doesn't help at all and a mount in steel plate would work much better.

What 1/4 wave are you using. I have always run the Motorola whip and have had ambulances come in with the whip bent completely flat but still in the chrome nut. I know of a few folks that run VHF on a side by side and run the same 1/4 in VHF. I just can't imagine ripping a 1/4 wave off without other damage to the quad.

Well first thing to do is swap out that hocky puck antenna for a 1/4 wave. A standard whip is only 6" tall and will increase your range dramatically vs the puck antenna.

NMO27 on the roof is your best bet for your application. Its easy to remove and cap when not needed or in garages. Flexible and works really well. Heck 90% of the time on the interstate i run a VHF 1/4 wave on my CB for RX only. Works fine for 1-2 miles around me. If i need more range i throw the NMO27 on the mount. (run the vhf for car wash)

The FR4000 does have some receiver issues. Mine has been to ICOM at least 4 times so far. Seems to have more issues in warm weather, but happened once in the winter. I'd do a full PM on the base and make sure its on frequency and doesn't have desense.

Actually APRS is not dependant on either 2mtr or 70cm repeaters. In the US the primary channel is 144.390. There are many places that APRS actually does work that a 2m or 440 machine may not. One advantage is you dont need to change the frequency. The new Vertex FT2D radio has built in GPS and is ideal to hike with. I have the FT1D and use it specifically for APRS while hiking or traveling. Granted there are still holes, you still need good batteries and a decent antenna but its another tool in the tool box.

I have a small mobile duplexer in my motorhome repeater. I have it tuned for the center channel (625). I can go up or down and not affect it to much. I rarely change it more than one channel away as not many folks are on the channels when i am.

I do the same thing at one of my GMRS sites. I had a commercial LMR system (452.xxx) and combined our .650 repeater via a duplexer and isolators. In all reality if you look at a real transmit combiner all it is is a filter of some kind, alot of times the same exact filter that a duplexer is made of. My RX combiner is the same as I filter 457.xx and 467.xx only.

I think Corey hit the nail on the head. You get what you pay for. I see this in my field for work daily. Customers put in a radio system on cheap then complain. It doesn't matter if it a garage GMRS repeater of a full blown countywide TLMR system. If you cheap out on features, option, subscribers, shelters, etc stuff will not meet your expectations. I have some cheap GMRS mobile radios and use them for what they are, being a cheap radio I can throw out. My go to radios cost over $5000 each but I use them for public safety along with my hobby stuff. There are alot of reasonable priced part 90 radios on the market and with some education can be very nice GMRS rigs.

I run a Larsen NMO27 on my work truck. If done properly it will outperform most antenna's. I have a 4' fiberglass on my personal vehicle and the Larsen is night and day. Its an NMO mount and done properly will last for years.

Corey is dead on. I spent many thousands of dollars on each repeater system i have online and have money sitting in new repeaters waiting for towers. It is not uncommon to spend upwards of $10,000 if buying all new gear. My last repeater that went online was a MTR3000 ($6500.00), Duplexer ($1800.00), 7/8" Hardline (175' @ 2.50'), DB408 - ($800.00), plus connectors, hangers, cable pulls, ground kits, ground wire. Yes we can all do this stuff for a lot less but it really depends on what you want out of the repeater. If you start your post with "Currently running on two Baofeng 5R with limited range" then its not a repeater that we should be putting in a database nor one that will benefit you or others. The goal is to have a repeater that is beneficial to the end user. Since I moved south I have 2 repeaters, antenna's and hard line. Neither are up yet as i want it to be worthwhile. One is waiting on a tower for my house and the other will be on a 400' tower if i can ever work out an agreement with the owners.

It seems to me this has come up a few times over the last year . I always used the donation approach. I have alot of money invested in repeaters, antenna and cables. If folks want to donate great, if not its on me to cover the costs. I didn't put them on the air to make money, I put them there to use. If others can use it and can afford to help with electric or repairs great. If not its up to me. What your proposing is a LMR system. I for one dont believe in not letting folks use it if they can't afford it.

So I'll throw something out on this topic. I agree the rules say not moving, etc. I have a repeater in my motor home. Its not used while i driving down the road because there is no need, nor do i have an antenna system that can stay up. Once i get to the campground or race track I set up my fiberglass stick, fire up the generator and i am on the air. To me this is a fixed location. Back in my early SAR days we also did a similar setup in our incident command post. While that had a mobile antenna for ease it also was only used once we got to a mission. Both my applications allow a decent install and to date i have had no issues with radios, power supplies or duplex failing me. SAR has since moved our repeater to public safety channels but is still used. So as you said what is the definition of fixed ? A non moving repeater is fixed in my case.

All my vehicles have various APX mobiles as I am in public safety also. For strictly GMRS I also run the MXT115 in my fathers car and on my golf cart. I do run an XTL5000 at home, but also have a CDM1250 next to it that sits on my repeater channel. The CDM and 1225 are ideal GMRS radios.

Welcome to GMRS world. The tower stuff is a challenge and can be a handshake deal to a lease with a million dollar insurance policy. All depends on how hard you look. One thing I have noticed since I moved to the south is the amount of buildings with an old tower out back with no antenna or a damaged antenna on them. Alot of old car repair places, tractor supply and manufacturing buildings have them. Back home we found a warehouse that had multiple antennas on the roof. I was able to manage an agreement with the owner to use the UHF antenna for GMRS in trade for cleaning up the radio room and helping with some small projects. It worked well until he sold the building. The biggest issue with any tower owner is going to be access. The other thing many look for is done right work. Not saying it needs to be a $10,000 repeater but don't show up with 2 baofengs in a tupperware container. When doing the install use common sense and do what you can to make it correct. Proper cable, connectors, grounding is all key to a good working unit and a good looking unit. Another location I had one I was responsible for my own power. $35.00 a month i could do split between some buddies. I wouldn't even try to talk to American Tower or an of the big tower folks unless you have a few grand a month to burn a hole. Look for those like above.

So here is my take on this as this has come up in the past. I run my repeaters with the travel tone and other tones. If a user wants a specific tone in the past and wanted to donate to the "repeater" fund I gave them another tone. More of the community tone aspect. Rarely did anyone ask or pay but I suggested when possible. My entire reasoning is the power bill. It was $35.00 a month and I had to pay it. I didn't care who used what but if i could recoup a little of that money to help offset the cost I tried. I went round and round with a ham club in the past about a similar item. They basically wanted to be in the shelter on the tower and not help out with anything yet they charged all there members dues yearly.... By no means did we kick anyone off or block users for not helping. I think anyone with that mentality should not own a repeater. As others have said in the past a repeater on a good tower can be very costly for the party that owns it.

The biggest change was 24 channels used a channel number only, if you want an alias then it was 20 channels.

As you quoted a rule "wireline". My understanding is that is TELCO line to a transmit site. I know many GMRS systems that use Microwave on a voted system.

DB404 is my go to antenna for repeaters in the UHF band. If I can squeeze out a few more dollars its the DB408. I have some that are over 25 years old and still going strong. They seem to hold up well with snow, ice and rain of CNY. I plan to order 2 DB408 for my new tower in VA as soon as i get the base set.

Was a member of REACT for many years in CNY until they basically ceased to exist. Late on we started to play with GMRS but our area was so large and no one wanted to commit. Sad to see the group fall apart. They were well respected unlike the ham clubs of the time. I know there are still some teams thru-out the US that also still use GMRS. Cool to see some old history like that.

The L Bracket works well and in our county when we were on lowband installed hundreds on chiefs vehicles. They worked ok but in CNY Winters required a new NMO mount jut about every year. I found the enclosed mount from Larsen did perform better in this environment. Again it puts the antenna not in the best location but we couldn't convince a volunteer chief to drill a hole in his $50K truck. I actually use the flat stainless bracket on my wifes JK for her VHF antenna. Serves the purpose but if i could find a way to mount a 1/4 wave on a jeep thats what it would be. Her UHF and 800 are all pepper shakers inside the rear window on a plate with 3 NMO mounts.

So in my 30 years in public safety radio I have seen varied responses on all of this. Normally the higher the frequency the better a magnetic mount will perform. Normally this is because in UHF and 800 you are talking to a repeater or system, whereas VHF or Lowband is normally simplex or a base station. I have had very good results on mag mounts in the UHF and 800 bands, but all tests have been on trunking systems or good repeaters. In the Search and Rescue business 99% of our traffic is VHF simplex. We have some locations we know if they have a magnetic mount forget it. I have done tests at those locations with new mag mount antenna next to the base of a NMO and the NMO will talk out and hear when the mag mount does neither. In addition we have some pretty remote areas we operate in and even the NMO mount can have some effect on the efficiency of the antenna. I found the better antenna NMO mount is the Larsen enclosed mount vs the standard Motorola. I now install these in all my SAR installs for the VHF radio. UHF I stick with the standard Motorola NMO but the UHF radio is on a P25 trunking system. YMMV....

look at the power directly from the transmitter with duplexer removed and a 50 ohm load. There is a chance the PA is shutting down for some reason.