N3OUC

Hello, I have used three different systems, the KG1000's, The Bridgecom 40U and Vertex Standard VX70R. Let me qualify this information by saying my repeater has a lot of use on a daily basis so here goes what I have experienced. The 1000G's are not 100% duty cycle on high power and even with the fans running, the transmit radio gets super hot to the touch. I even placed an external fan blowing on the unit as well and it still got very hot. Although the radio's worked and didnt fail, I didnt get a warm and fuzzy feeling running them this hot. So I decided to purchase the Bridgecom 40U unit. I received the unit about two weeks after ordering it and I thought that this was going to be a dream to run. The problem is the internal fan only runs when the unit transmits and if you had a bunch of people using the repeater such as in a net application. Once everyone was done transmitting, the fan would stop while the unit was still very hot and sure enough the RF output board failed twice! Bridgecom was nice enough to replace the failed boards but I spoke to the tech group at Bridgecom and explained the problem, but there was no way to change the fan setting at that time. I had to sell off this unit to someone with few subscribers and I hear its still running fine for him. BTW, after the duplexer, the power output is really around 29-30 watts out. I then purchased a new old stock Vertex UV70R 50 watt unit on ebay for a very reasonable cost ($650). It was still wrapped in its original packing and it had the new car smell . Once I got it all programmed up and turned it on, found that the fan runs all the time. You could tell this unit is made for repeater use 24/7. Even under heavy use, the fan outlet temp rarely gets above 75 degrees. I have had it going now for about 6 months of very heavy use and it has never hiccuped one. The output after the XLT duplexer is very nice 44 watts and I have had reports the repeater is worked from 45-50 miles full quieting. I just thought I would post what I have found in working with these three types of repeaters. I hope it helps somebody in making repeater decisions if they have a lot of use with their repeaters. Take care, Mike WROS919