VETCOMMS

So naturally I looked at Kemp as well as ebay which begs the question, if buying an XTL 5000 or 2500 or whatever model from ebay how would I know the flashcode to determine if it does ADP encryption or if it does p25 or to determine frequency range? Some sellers will know and with some it's a gamble?

Thanks for the edumentation. How do I learn all these fancy P25 programming tricks? Is there a P25 guru that can train or just use my brain and click around and learn from my mistakes, which I am good at making.

I like radios. Always have. Will spend hours pecking away at my phone on this website because of it. I own a business and the idea of encrypted digital voice or at least digital voice alone (DMR) with a repeater on the building, a mobile in the truck and PERHAPS a couple of handhelds would be pretty neat. I'm learning from you all if/how to best do this. Digital interests me because most people (maybe I'm wrong on this) listening on their analog only radios will only hear the machine gun buzz of a digital transmission, which I like the idea of. But I also like listening to the analog frequencies as well, so that's why I have a cheap dual band mobile at my disposal. I know very little about the intricacies of P25 vs DMR vs YSF vs WIRESX so that's why I'm here asking questions. This might turn into a boxers vs briefs or Chevy vs Ford answer, but is one digital voice mode more user friendly and easier to program/obtain/work with, than another?

So is it possible to have a radio that does digital and analog, dual mode type use? Or is it only possible to do one or the other?

Giggity. Muchos gracias.

If I recall tree last time I was on the fcc website I had thoughts of monkeys doing things to footballs. I'll give it the old college try to find a freq coordinator. Does the xtl5000 have the capability to be used on multiple frequencies or does one only program it to the lmr frequency assigned to the business?

Just curious if anyone can direct me to resources about LMR. I'm curious about cost of licensing as well as how others have gotten their LMR license, other than paying out the $$$ to the FCC.

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.

Very good. Thx for reply. Apologize for not searching first.

I realize this is a crystal ball question but, how likely would digital voice transmissions be in the future for GMRS? Thoughts?

Good point on the ca-712. I'm not sure if one day I get this repeater on top of the bluff that a high gain antenna would not transmit down to the river banks below the ridge but rather, transmit across the river. This would leave a dead zone below the level of the antenna, I'm thinking.