Setting up my Own repeater - Worth it??

[htims05]

I have a few HT's and local repeaters that I have access to.  I'm toying with the idea of setting up my own repeater at my house mainly because it would be "mine" and for the educational purpose.

I'm wondering what's the cheapest way to get a repeater up and running at my home?  My thought would be I could put an antenna (or 2) in my attic - I could put them outside on a lower roof but I don't think I can ground it adequately (hence the reason for just putting it in the attic), the actual repeater being two base units running a max of 50w.  Is there any RF exposure issue to be concerned with at GMRS freq's at 50w?

 

Now I live in an urban area where there are hills, not mountains and simplex to simplex with a KG-805 can get about a mile or two - two if I'm outside.  I don't have the ability to erect a large antenna tower...and in reality even if I mounted an antenna outside on the highest point of the roof I couldn't get above the tree line - that's at least another 20-30 feet above the roof of my 2story house.

 

Thoughts - is the cost to do this coupled with the expected performance going to outweigh the learning/fun aspect?

[pcradio]

I'm new to this, but I think it would be purely for fun. I mounted an antenna on my roof and it did not give me the range I hoped for. More "watts" will not solve that issue either. You need height, and if you can not do so, then I think you'll be disappointed. Having said that, give it a go and we can all learn from your experience.

The cheapest option will probably be the Retevis RT97 (or S variant).

[OffRoaderX]

I recently built a 50W repeater with two Wouxun KG-1000G radios.. It worked pretty well, but because the radios are not well-shieleded I got a lot of "desense" so my range was not as great as I'd hoped - It wasnt "cheap" either.

I then got a used "real" repeater - a Vertex VXR-7000.  You can find them from $400 to $1000 depending on the options, age/condition.. It works GREAT.. I live at the top of a hill so I get a huge coveragare area, about 40-60 miles in each direction.

Bang for the buck, a good used "real" repeater might be the best bet.. although, I will be testing the Retevis RT97 soon to see how it compares.

[BoxCar]

Truly the best solution is a rig built as a repeater rather than a home-brew setup. The key piece is the duty cycle of the repeater transmitter. It has to be active for both people and that means it is transmitting throughout the entire conversation. Your typical base station is designed around a 20% duty cycle which means you spend 80% of the time listening and less than 205 of the time talking. A 5 minute conversation is only a couple minutes for each radio but double that for the repeater.

[MacJack]

I have a VXR 7000 Repeater.  This is a great repeater, so why am I looking for a home... easy, my grand daughter and I used it for GMRS in the area but we do not have the best location in a valley.  We got our Ham tickets end of May and doing Ham repeaters so do not have a need for it.  I have a outside antenna if you want.... I'm located in 28734 if you are nearby.  I have it with duplex tuned to 462.7250 PL code 79.9 +5 MH offset.  All I have to do is program your calls sign in it and you are good to go.  It has two power settings, 10 watt and 25 watt which keeps the duty cycle up... It can go to 50 watt but over kill and will burn up any repeater.  FYI it is all about line of sight not wattage.  Easy to change and will send you PC software and my backup file...  I will also help you as needed and have the programing cable.  For all of this I'm looking at $600 plus shipping cost.

Let me know if you are interested.

-VXR-7000_OM_ENG_EU_E13671108.pdf

[mbrun]

I have a few HT's and local repeaters that I have access to.  I'm toying with the idea of setting up my own repeater at my house mainly because it would be "mine" and for the educational purpose.
I'm wondering what's the cheapest way to get a repeater up and running at my home?  My thought would be I could put an antenna (or 2) in my attic - I could put them outside on a lower roof but I don't think I can ground it adequately (hence the reason for just putting it in the attic), the actual repeater being two base units running a max of 50w.  Is there any RF exposure issue to be concerned with at GMRS freq's at 50w?
 
Now I live in an urban area where there are hills, not mountains and simplex to simplex with a KG-805 can get about a mile or two - two if I'm outside.  I don't have the ability to erect a large antenna tower...and in reality even if I mounted an antenna outside on the highest point of the roof I couldn't get above the tree line - that's at least another 20-30 feet above the roof of my 2story house.
 
Thoughts - is the cost to do this coupled with the expected performance going to outweigh the learning/fun aspect?

If you are doing it for “the learning experience” then go for it. That is how we all learn best We try things and learn what does and does not work. But consider it like a high-end college education, learning is expensive. For many of us the more it costs us and/or the more we get burned, the more we take away from it.

What one learns however is actually quite predictable when it comes to radio since fortunately many have gone before us and have shared their knowledge with the world.

Some key things we can predict will be learned.
- A high antenna elevation relative to obstacles and receiving antenna are material to extending one’s useable range.
- Adding more power does not translate into proportionally greater operating range.
- We cannot cost-effectively and legally buy enough power to overcome insufficient antenna elevation.
- Watt-for-watt, A home brew repeater will have less usable range in any given direction than operating the same radios simplex.
- The average person does posses the knowledge nor the test equipment to optimize the performance of a duplexer and will need to rely on other$ for both.
- A commercial-grade purpose built repeater will out perform a home-brew repeater built from consumer-grade components.

If, down deep, your real hope is own a repeater that achieves some specific pre-imaged coverage range, here is my recommendation to you. Focus on simplex first. Figure out what it takes to achieve more than your must-have imagined radio-to-radio range. Figure out what type of antenna, how high it must be and with what power and type of radios. Now, once you have figured all that out and are satisfied, then let the repeater enter into the equation. For at this point you can be reasonably assured that you can achieve repeater success with the right equipment.

From personal perspective, I do not own and operate a repeater. While I believe I could afford one, I cannot justify the cost of achieving the antenna elevation I need to achieve the coverage I would want to make it worth my while. While some people are blessed to have great access to antenna sites and others have high natural geography to make it viable for them, most of us do not. You may be one of the lucky ones.

Whatever you do, enjoy working with radios. They are a great tool to have.

Regards


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[BoxCar]

19 hours ago, MacJack said:

 

I have a VXR 7000 Repeater.  

Why not ask your Ham club if they want to install it?

[MacJack]

52 minutes ago, BoxCar said:

Why not ask your Ham club if they want to install it?

Good suggestion... We have moved to DMR repeaters and linked to 60 plus repeaters in NC SC VA WV and parts of TX.  Having all 60 repeaters linked, my DMR radio will Roam and stay on the same talk group even if the repeater frequency change as I drive.  

It is a nice GMRS repeater and the area GMRS repeater network is not expanding and owner has no plans to linking his 3 GMRS repeaters together, just have to key it in as you drive.