VETCOMMS

All good points. The repeater would be at a location away from my home so if there's a problem I'd need to drive there. All I can do is try it and see how it goes.

See that's where my lack of experience shows. I thought they'd need the tones to key up the repeater & jam it. I guess that's where the wifi switch can kill the repeater if someone tries jamming it. Maybe I'm expecting the worse out of people but still like to know how to counteract these things if they happen. Thx for all the shared experience here.

I put the poop in party pooper so no backyard BBQs here. Just thinking about having control of the equipment if I need it, which the wifi switch helps with. Good discussion, thanks for everyone's input.

Thank you all for the information!

So would it be accurate to say charging a fee to use either a private repeater or a linked repeater system is likely to be complicated because tones are easy to scan for?

Thx. So if someone is keying up the repeater what controller do I need to remotely kill the repeater and shut it down? I think I saw the Bridgecom repeater does this?

Question the the repeater experts. How do I keep people from scanning my personal repeater tones and gaining access? I do not own one yet but am looking at either a gr1225 or vxr=7000 but if other repeaters are more secure I'd welcome experienced suggestions.

I believe it was used for the 154-155 MHz. Thanks for the input.

I have the possibility of using an old VHF antenna that's up high on a water tower but want to test it to see if it would work for GMRS. Is this a definite no it won't work or do you guys with repeater/tower experience think it would be worth trying my small mobile radio at the base of the water tower to see if the SWR is crazy high? I spoke with the 3rd party company that does comm work in this tower and he said that antenna was put up there before his time and he doesn't know what type of antenna it is. He said I could hook my mobile radio and an SWR meter on the input side of the duplexer and test that way. Does that make sense? Is that possible? Does that mean to disconnect the antenna coax on the duplexer where it says "antenna" and hook my mobile radio up there to test? For obvious liability reasons they don't want me climbing to the top of the tower but this is the closest I've been to finding an actual good elevation site for a repeater. Another related question. If there are multiple antennas on the top of this water tower, and I know which hardline I'm able to tie into at the ground, how does a guy/gal test which antenna that coax is going to?

Yep, screw it. Thx. Not worth the risk.

I'll preface this by saying I have not gotten a close look at this tower. However, I recently noticed an area tower approximately 50 feet tall that has a 3 element beam antenna on the top. Said tower has twisted and bent in at least (and I think only) in one place, leaving the beam antenna resting against the tree limbs near the tower Has anyone encountered something similar? How would a team of people go about repairing the bent section? My understanding is those beam antennas can weigh between 40 - 60 pounds, if I'm not mistaken?

Looks like there are different diameters? Does anyone have a supplier recommendation with great customer service? I typed in Heliax at gigaparts and HRO with no luck. Buy direct from Commscope?

Much appreciated

Something like this? https://www.showmecables.com/times-microwave-lmr-400-direct-burial-coaxial-cable-black

I did a brief search and didn't see anything but please direct me to the topic if it has been covered. Is it generally unacceptable to bury coax from an antenna to the house/structure where a radio or repeater would be located? The pole with the antenna would be about 20 yards from the garage and 10 yards from a power line.