coryb27

I had to run out and clean up a few loose ends, I remembered to snap a pic of the the entire tower.
 

I just want people to see that choosing a condo is not the end of any radio hobby. I have a few more things I plan to put in the attic. I recommend reading any of the owners agreements before installing an antenna farm in your condos attic and if you decided to be quiet and don't tell other residents. The best part is you can remain stealth.

We just relocated from our little 30 foot mast with an effective 40 foot height to a commercial tower site at 220 feet. Yearly costs for mine are $1200 a year (which is probably cheap) with the site at one of 3 of the highest spots in the 4 county area. I was lucky that there was an open slot with an antenna already in place. It's on the east side of the tower which is not optimal for me, but oddly covers like a glove for my area of operation. Portables that are 10-15+ miles from the repeater are quieted outside and probably an S2-3 in a basement of aluminum sided house at same distance. Mobiles are like S5.
 
Moving our site to the new location was day and night for coverage. I would say you would want to evaluate what your true coverage needs are, our original system was covering 90% of my AO mobile and 50% portable, something I could live with, my choice was place a 70 foot tower and probably get 100% coverage mobile and 70% portable, again something that I could live with. I was fortunate that I work at the shop were the 220 slot is at.
 
In our area we have repeaters placed throughout the area and were technically afforded 100% coverage even on handhelds as long at the control radio could hit them all. So investing in your system I would see what your options are and if alternate sites will meet your needs before investing a lot of money into tower space, unless you are Corey and should be playing the lottery with his luck 

Not GMRS but still UHF radio related and I know several other members own or service licensed part 90 systems. So I thought I would share a few photos from this weekends tower site repair on my business system. Last year I added this site to my Mototrbo IP site connect system, because of costs I cut a few corners and paid the price with an under preforming site. Today's project included installing the new repeater system, replacing the antenna, upgrading from 1/2 to 7/8 feed line and swapping out the 2' standoff for a 4'. Big thanks to my climber, he braved the 29 degree temps and completed the entire project in 4 hours. Yes that's him sitting out on the end of the 4' side arm installing the new antenna. I guess the side arm is now climber tested and approved! Not even with his 50 lbs of safety gear would you catch me sitting out there at 150'. I did some testing on the 50 mile ride home and the site is no longer under preforming. It has exceeded my predictions with15 miles of portable coverage, up from 2 miles.
 

I just want people to see that choosing a condo is not the end of any radio hobby. I have a few more things I plan to put in the attic. I recommend reading any of the owners agreements before installing an antenna farm in your condos attic and if you decided to be quiet and don't tell other residents. The best part is you can remain stealth.

If you can find an owner that will work with you. If your only options and towers owned by American Tower or Crown Castle, forget it. I had quotes in the $3.75 per foot of height with a 100 foot min. Try to find a locally owned tower or building top. I have some commercial gear on a commercial tower and pay $75 for 150' plus another $30 for internet per month. My GMRS tower was gifted to me on a long term lease for almost nothing. I have full use of the 150' and secure space with power for my gear.

This would only add resale value to the property. Smart homes are in. and the wiring is the most important part.

My GMRS repeater is a Motorola MTR2000, Part 90 and widely used by HAM's around the world. I welcome the results of the person that has written an inquiry to the FCC for clarification as i am guessing more then 50% of the radios and repeaters in use for GMRS are part 90.
 
That's just my $0.02
 
Corey

I was able to pull all of this off with access to the attic. Home Theater, Computer Network, Wireless Access Points (the flying saucer thing) and cable. I also installed cable, network and power behind the wall mounted TV in each bedroom. I own my place and nothing in the agreement stopped me from doing what I did.
 

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…

That's a pair of Cisco RV325 Routers with Built-in 14-port Gigabit Ethernet switch. I have 2 internet connections at the house, one is my personal 60MB x 10MB and the other is a business class supplied by my employer 20MB x 5MB with 5 IP addresses. The networks are isolated with individual wireless for each. I installed 2 Ubiquity UAP wireless access points that use power over Ethernet, one access point for each network.

That's a pair of Cisco RV325 Routers with Built-in 14-port Gigabit Ethernet switch. I have 2 internet connections at the house, one is my personal 60MB x 10MB and the other is a business class supplied by my employer 20MB x 5MB with 5 IP addresses. The networks are isolated with individual wireless for each. I installed 2 Ubiquity UAP wireless access points that use power over Ethernet, one access point for each network.

In several posts I have mentioned my attic antenna's and have promised to elaborate at a latter time, so here goes. Almost a year ago I decided to purchase a condo and with that realized an HOA would now be a fact of life. During my search I fond the perfect place, 2400 sq feet of space, 10' ceilings, and the attic hatch in my walk in closet! We made an offer with the listing agent and it was excepted the the next day! I now had 3 months to remodel and move in, this included home networking and my antennas. My first venture into the attic was a surprise, the amount of space was incredible! I attempted to find some info on attic antennas without much luck, so with my knowledge this is what i decided on. I hope this helps anybody that's been thinking about doing something like this.
 
My UHF antenna is a DB404-B 450MHz -470 MHz configured for a 5dB elliptical pattern North to South. I took 2 hose clamps and used a deck screw to attach them to the 2x4 support, once tight the antenna is plenty secure for the mild conditions of the attic. As you can see from the photos I used 1/2" Helix for my feed cable. More about that latter. Performance from the dipole is excellent, no measurable SWR using a bird meter and I am able to work repeaters 40 miles away.
 

 
I don't talk VHF often but I do have a few people I talk to on MURS and I monitor some other Marine channels as I live close to Lake Michigan. This one is a Browning BR-6051 146-167, not at all impressed with it, it did have a nice mount for use on the 2x4. I am replacing it with a Browning BR-6050, the 6051 was discontinued for a reason..... Again this antenna uses 1/2' Helix.
 
 

 
For my office scanner i decided on a MP Antenna Super-M 25-1300 MHz. This is a simple yet effective wide band scanner antenna. I can not be more pleased with it and most likely will never replace it. I was able to crawl rather high in the attic structure, I am guessing 30' from the ground. I also used 1/2" Helix to maximize the return loss to pull in the weak signals. It is connected to a Uniden BCD996P2 for causal monitoring in the office.
 

 
 
For the last 10 years I have been streaming the local police scanners. It has evolved over the years from a single old base scanner and my computer streaming to a rented shoutcast server to the dual feed system I have in place today. This uses 2 BC355 scanners and a pair of BARIX audio over IP encoders that convert the audio to mp3 format and stream it to a dedicated shoutcast server. The streams can handle 400 listeners total. If you want to know more about that you can check it out at http://racinescanner.com. Because i don't listen to them I tucked them away in my utility room with the rest of the network and video system. These scanners share a common antenna, I am using a Laird Technologies B1443 mobile antenna on a NMO base mount. this feeds into a Telewave AS-1502 power splitter to isolate the receivers. Each scanner has a LMR 195 cable connected to the power splitter at the antenna.
 

 

 
Because I was remodeling and I did purchase the condo I had no reservations for cutting holes in the walls. I figured any holes could be patched and the entire place was getting painted so out came the tools! Remember I said I would get back to the 1/2" Helix, well here yea go. BTW after the drywall repairs you can not see any traces of the 7 access holes i had to cut to run speakers, Cable and Network around the condo. I hope this helps anybody that's been thinking about doing something like this.
 

 
 
I tried to use a 2 gang box but had to change to a 3 gang box, I used Decora blanks and female N bulkheads to make the termination plate.Yes that's my blood on the wall.......
 

Internet and rent cost me 115 a month for 150' feet, I have 2 locations from a locally owned tower company. I hope to work out a similar deal for a 3rd site this year. You have to try and find a smaller tower operator, places like American Tower and Crown Castle want outrages fees. The owner of the company is a great guy and he even climbs still. I was able to find a few other places well I was looking but decided a small company with 20 plus sites was the best option for expansion of the system. 

a 10 watt repeater at 100 feet, is 10X better than a 100 watt repeater at only 10 feet. Height is King.

Not GMRS but still UHF radio related and I know several other members own or service licensed part 90 systems. So I thought I would share a few photos from this weekends tower site repair on my business system. Last year I added this site to my Mototrbo IP site connect system, because of costs I cut a few corners and paid the price with an under preforming site. Today's project included installing the new repeater system, replacing the antenna, upgrading from 1/2 to 7/8 feed line and swapping out the 2' standoff for a 4'. Big thanks to my climber, he braved the 29 degree temps and completed the entire project in 4 hours. Yes that's him sitting out on the end of the 4' side arm installing the new antenna. I guess the side arm is now climber tested and approved! Not even with his 50 lbs of safety gear would you catch me sitting out there at 150'. I did some testing on the 50 mile ride home and the site is no longer under preforming. It has exceeded my predictions with15 miles of portable coverage, up from 2 miles.
 

My GMRS repeater is a Motorola MTR2000, Part 90 and widely used by HAM's around the world. I welcome the results of the person that has written an inquiry to the FCC for clarification as i am guessing more then 50% of the radios and repeaters in use for GMRS are part 90.
 
That's just my $0.02
 
Corey

Ebay's rules and policies greatly favor the buyer. If someone feels they got ripped off, it's likely that they did not follow through with Ebay's procedures for that sort of thing.
 
I have 6 Motorola mobiles and 5 Motorola portables that I purchased on Ebay. All of them were at least as good as the seller represented them if not much better. But, I did my homework and knew exactly what I was looking for. If the seller doesn't furnish all the info I want to see like model number, serial number, more than one or two pics plus affirmation that the radio works and that the codeplug is not password protected, then I ignore the listing and move on. Fully 75% of satisfaction on  purchases on Ebay is the buyer's ability to tell the good from the bad. You can not blame the sellers for all of the problems. Just read some of the negative feedback that buyers try to foist on sellers.

Not sure where you would pickup used radios, controller and duplexer other then eBay. I have been buying and selling on eBay for years, if something was not as listed as a buyer you have lots of protection as long as you conduct the transaction in eBay and use PayPal. 

Antenna Porn
 
Andrew DB408-B
180' of 7/8 Hard line
4' Side arm
 
Now all I need is some good weather, my climber and a few friends!
 

No, you don't even need a GMRS license to run a GMRS repeater. You would need a license to use your GMRS repeater.

Hi Seven,
 
Welcome! Let's see if I can answer those questions for you. Others may chime in and lend their expertise as well.
 
1. This is a Ham radio, and is not certified for use on GMRS frequencies. According to the FCC Rules (Part 95), any radio used on GMRS frequencies must carry Part 95A certification. However, as you may find if you do your own research, it's very hard to find a currently-produced Part 95A radio which is repeater capable. It's kind of a niche and most manufacturers don't bother with it anymore. For us, that presents us with a dilemma. Either we are stuck using very old and obsolete equipment, or we could use Part 90 radios (virtually all commercial-grade radios for business or public safety use) which adheres to stricter technical requirements. I don't recommend or advocate it, but many people have decided that a Part 90 radio, when operated properly, is just as good or even better. Many of the Baofeng radios and their clones now carry Part 90 certification when the user is unable to change the frequency on the fly. So the short answer is, yes it's a Ham radio. The longer answer is, it may have Part 90 certification and would then perform similarly to a Part 95A radio, so you would be using it at your own risk. The argument has been made with the FCC but to date no answer has been given.
 
2. For simplex, you can use any GMRS frequency that is not a repeater input (467.xxx MHz). You can speak in another language, but you are required to state your callsign in English every 15 minutes during a conversation, and at the end of the conversation according to the FCC rules. Yes, you can set a PL tone on simplex for you and your friend. It will not provide true privacy, but would prevent you two from hearing other people on the same channel unless they happen to be using the same tone.
 
3. Yes, your GMRS license allows you to use a GMRS repeater. However, repeaters are privately owned and you need the permission of the owner. Some repeaters are posted on this site as "open" which means any licensed user can use it without permission (just follow the rules), while some are private or require explicit permission. The listing for the repeater on this website should indicate which, and you can contact the owner through this site. The repeater will retransmit your audio over a wider area so others can hear you who would not normally be able to hear your radio directly. It's not private, and anyone else who has the repeater programmed in their radio could talk back to you.
 
4. English isn't required, but you may want to talk to the repeater owner and give them a heads-up that you intend to speak in another language but will be complying with the FCC rules. Some people are alarmed by not knowing what someone is saying on their repeater, so it doesn't hurt to state that up front to avoid confusion. Nothing in GMRS is private, so others would be able to hear you if they're within range of the repeater (typically 15-30 miles, perhaps more)
 
5. Only one person may transmit at a time, so if there's a conversation going on already, you'll have to wait your turn. If you have something to add to the conversation, you can jump in and introduce yourself. Most people are happy to talk with you, so don't be shy about it. Just don't interrupt another conversation with your own.
 
Good luck, and let me know if you need any further clarification!

I would think the cheaper way would be to bolt it to something stable like a metal fence or just stand it up on a mast. Once you find a way to stand it up hook up a radio and an SWR meter and see what you get. How ever you test in be sure it has ample free space and don't get to close to it well keying it up. You may ask around and see if any of your fellow hams have an Anritsu Site Master and if so can you get them to sweep it for you.
 
Corey

John,
 
Ever tried any of the dipoles on your repeater? I run a DB404-B on my base, DB411-B as the TX antenna and a DB413-B as the RX on my commercial UHF DMR system, I am getting ready to upgrade my other commercial site to a Duplexed DB408-B and my GMRS repeater runs a Duplexed DB420-B. I don't have a single bad thing to say about any of them. I do have some choice words about a few of the fiberglass sticks I have used over the years.
 
Corey

Antenna Porn
 
Andrew DB408-B
180' of 7/8 Hard line
4' Side arm
 
Now all I need is some good weather, my climber and a few friends!