Best repeater for the price.

[mellowcream]

Hey,

 

I've been looking for a fair priced repeater that's about 10-25w for a fair price.

 

thanks

[Logan5]

the Bridgecom is 995 bucks and is part 95.

[mellowcream]

the Bridgecom is 995 bucks and is part 95.

what model?

[Logan5]

BCR40U    http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-BCR-40U-FM-Repeater-UHF-400-470-MHz-/281405833688?pt=US_Ham_Radio_Transceivers&hash=item41851841d8

[JohnE]

don't forget the duplexer.

[Guest spd641]

I am really enjoying my Bridgecom Logan,I believe it is a good investment since I didn't have to pay for it...lol

[Logan5]

Lucky Dog. lol

[Guest spd641]

Lucky Dog. lol

Logan,Yes very lucky,it was a donation to get the repeater up and running .We are now trying to get the rest of the things to fall in place.Concrete rebar labor and digging the hole isn't cheap but we will get there hopefully before fall but as long as we are on the air I don't really care.My 30ft tower on site is getting about 50 miles but the elevation is 1400ft asl so we aren't in a hole by no means.

 

I will be glad to have that thing at least 75ft on the self supporting tower and have it all in place.I believe it will be above the trees well enough to extend the coverage and I hope it maps out as good as JohnE showed me on the range map.......William

[Logan5]

Logan,Yes very lucky,it was a donation to get the repeater up and running .We are now trying to get the rest of the things to fall in place.Concrete rebar labor and digging the hole isn't cheap but we will get there hopefully before fall but as long as we are on the air I don't really care.My 30ft tower on site is getting about 50 miles but the elevation is 1400ft asl so we aren't in a hole by no means.

 

I will be glad to have that thing at least 75ft on the self supporting tower and have it all in place.I believe it will be above the trees well enough to extend the coverage and I hope it maps out as good as JohnE showed me on the range map.......William

William, you and I are in a similar boat. when you said rebar, I realized it has been over 3 months since my tower was supposed to be up and operational. I am also on temporary set up, I shall take some pictures and post. 

[captdan]

I am learning - trying to - before it's time for me to put up my own repeater. 

 

Can someone explain "for repeater dummies" this feature ?

 

Each channel provides for quick and reliable decodes for up to 24 users with 38 CTCSS and 83 DCS codes available.

 

Does this mean that the unit servers as a repeater on each of it's 16 channels ? I thought that each individual frequency pair - required there own repeater ?

 

The comment about 24 users - do I understand this correctly that on each channel ( frequency pair ) that the repeater will accept up to 24 different "PL" tones, so in effect there could be 24 different groups on each channel just listening to or hearing their own transmission - unless of course they have an open receiver with no tone.

 

 

Thanks in advance

 

Dan

[Logan5]

Dan, I was also confused prior to purchase, Yes there are 24 input PL tones, these can also output as the same or convert over to DPL, giving you 24 groups of users. although the repeater is frequency agile, this would only apply to one GMRS repeater pair at a time. setup takes less than 5 min's. simmilar to setting an HT via USB. NOTE: If you chose to set this repeater up to listen on DPL, you can only use as a single DPL group. mulit-Group function only seems to work when input is PL

[starion1]

Don't overlook the used market as many Motorola GR1225 UHF repeaters can be purchased inexpensively through a radio shop or on the auction services.

Basically a plug-and-play system and many units are already equipped with built-in duplexers. This is a small form factor repeater that can be placed in the shack very

easily. Some models will produce up to 40 watts output. Search diligently and you may find a fairly good used unit from $500-$900 range.

 

The only down side is that I would not co-locate this unit in a harsh RF environment. It would not handle the RF unless it was being utilized

through a combiner or through a BP/BR duplexer. Its popular uses was to provide comms for shopping malls, hospital security, etc.

 

My GMRS system utilizes a GR1225 (set at 20 watts) and a mid-priced quality commercial antenna with Andrew Heliax feedline (LDF-50A)

1/2" running up a tower at 75' and performs fairly well.

 

Lou

WQBC432

Philadelphia Metro Area

[PastorGary]

Lou - Thanks for the info and Welcome to MyGMRs !!!

[JohnE]

just an FYI on the 1225 machines

https://forums.mygmrs.com/index.php/topic/195-motorola-gr1225-uhf-repeater/?do=findComment&comment=1612

also all of the ones I've seen and serviced were 40W and 32-36 after the filter.

at a stand alone site they're pretty good, in high RF environments you better have some damn good filtering.

I have also seen the PA's put out junk from time to time.

[Logan5]

William, Have you connected batterys directlly to the BCR yet? I am sitting here thinking about connecting two Trojan T-105 batterys, and was currious if you have and if you had any information about doing it

.

[Guest spd641]

Logan,

Yes this was done several weeks ago and all we did was use a marine battery and hooked it up and it worked real well.We didn't try anything else but there is no skip in between switching from AC to DC the transition went smoothly...William

[Logan5]

I am wanting to try, but I only have huge 6 volt batteries from my previous solar set up. this would require 2 T-105's, I do not recall the exact numbers but I assume I would need to charge this size bank with other than the BCR charger? or is it enough? The power seldom fails here, but it lapses for a second several times a week. This is more of a problem for other electronics than the repeater. or should I just invest in a smaller 12 volt battery?

[Logan5]

Ok, I really did try to post pic's of my peerless roof mount. I was just unable to get the jpeg size down to 47.24kb lol. I guess I try something else.

[Logan5]

4ft X 4ft 3/4in plywood. with a standard tripod and at least 150lbs of bricks. get's the Comet up about 12 more feet. apx 22 feet. about 65 feet of LMR600, I also have a another run of LMR400 into the garage and a yagi about midway up the pole.

[zap]

Logan, that is a setup a firefighter would die for...especially if he was fighting a fire in the building and the roof could no longer support the weight of that brick as he was walking under it.

 

A really cheap but dependable repeater is a GE Mastr II mobile. The 128 W version will run 50W at continuous duty, any of them will run 40% their rated power at continuous duty.

 

Anyway, you can usually find them for under $40 (I occasionally find them for free), spend $50 on re-crystaling channel elements, and another $20 and some time converting the radio to full duplex operation. The Mastr II Executive radios don't have a stable enough transmitter for GMRS though.

[Logan5]

Actually the bricks are over the lanai, so it is not over any indoor area. it is also on a 3/4" 4ft X 4ft piece of plywood. I do not for see any problems with it. I have never had a fire that I ran away from, I always put it out myself. However if there were a fire, 3/4" of plywood lying flat would take some time for ignition, as well as much time to burn thru. and again this is a temporary set up wile waiting for the Tower installation.

[zap]

I see…says the blind man to the deaf mute.