Bridgecom Repeaters

[VETCOMMS]

I've read so much about repeaters, including some of the discontinued Motorola repeaters that require old software 32 bit operating systems for programming.  But what about the Bridgecom repeaters?  Can those be programmed with current software?  Are they good repeaters or have history of problems/weak PAs?  

[WRUE951]

36 minutes ago, WRTZ750 said:

I've read so much about repeaters, including some of the discontinued Motorola repeaters that require old software 32 bit operating systems for programming.  But what about the Bridgecom repeaters?  Can those be programmed with current software?  Are they good repeaters or have history of problems/weak PAs?  

Bridgecomm GMRS Repeaters are basically two Commercial Maxon 8402A Radios crammed into a single rack mount chassis.   They use Maxon's ACC-810/N, Programming Software with some minor proprietary changes.  The Maxon's 8402A's  are pretty decent radios..  I'm running two of them for my repeater and get a lot better performance then the  Wouxun KG-1000's i had.  I'm using Windows 11 for the programing software but it also works on Windows 10, not sure if they have an IOS version.. If you want to save about half the cost of the Bridgecom, build your own out of the two Maxon 8402A's..  RFwiz.com has a pretty decent price on these radios..  I bought my programming software ($35 bucks) but have since seen the software free on a few Ham sites.  I'm getting 70 miles easy with these radios and coiuld only get about 40 with the Wouxuns.   If you go with either the Bridgecomm or the Maxons you'll be happy.   

[nokones]

With the Wouxun KG1000G Plus radios paired as a Repeater, I wasn't able to communicate more than 3/4 of a mile from the repeater site with a Motorola portable radio.  I also tested with the Maxon radios and I was able to communicate about 3-4 air miles. With my current repeater, Vertex Standard EVX R70 G7 40 repeater which is essentially a Motorola repeater, so far, I am able to communicate at least 10 air miles with my Motorola XTS5000 portable radio to my repeater. The tip of the antenna is approx. 30 feet above the ground and the terrain is essentially flat with mostly single story homes and commercial buildings between the two points.

I'm pretty sure that the station's great selectivity and sensitivity has a lot to do with the performance I'm getting with my repeater.

I'll be conducting a coverage check soon with a 50 watt mobile.

[WRVZ612]

Are you using 2 antennas, or a duplexer?

[WRUE951]

On 3/19/2023 at 7:48 AM, nokones said:

With the Wouxun KG1000G Plus radios paired as a Repeater, I wasn't able to communicate more than 3/4 of a mile from the repeater site with a Motorola portable radio.  I also tested with the Maxon radios and I was able to communicate about 3-4 air miles. With my current repeater, Vertex Standard EVX R70 G7 40 repeater which is essentially a Motorola repeater, so far, I am able to communicate at least 10 air miles with my Motorola XTS5000 portable radio to my repeater. The tip of the antenna is approx. 30 feet above the ground and the terrain is essentially flat with mostly single story homes and commercial buildings between the two points.

I'm pretty sure that the station's great selectivity and sensitivity has a lot to do with the performance I'm getting with my repeater.

I'll be conducting a coverage check soon with a 50 watt mobile.

sounds like you need to do some testing...provided you have a decent line of sight from your Antenna, you should be able to get out as far as the eye can see... what is the antenna SWR?   

[nokones]

On 3/21/2023 at 4:35 PM, WRUE951 said:

sounds like you need to do some testing...provided you have a decent line of sight from your Antenna, you should be able to get out as far as the eye can see... what is the antenna SWR?   

SWR was about 1.3-1.4 measured with a Bird and a MFJ between the duplexer and the antenna.  The reception at the portable was fine. The problem was the reception of the portable to the repeater unit and I did swap the two radio functions.  I even conducted a test in the simplex mode and the coverage was far better, whereas, I had excellent communications miles between the same portable radio and the same antenna.

Also, the duplexer was swept again by the manufacturer and the duplexer was tuned properly

The problem with the Wouxuns had to be a desense problem between the two radios. Apparently, the shielding on those radios are non-existent. I have heard other people had to separate and shield the radios in metal boxes to get them to work in a repeater configuration. 

I don't know what the problem was with the Maxon radios, they were not my radios.

Due to the fact that the Vertex Standard Repeater works extremely well and the the Vertex repeater is essentially a Motorola repeater, the performance proves that Vertex repeater is a better quality unit as opposed to the Wouxun and Maxon radios. The Vertex repeater is a true repeater with excellent selectivity and sensitivity, and not a two mobile radio configuration. The Vertex repeater is also a Continuous-Duty repeater whereas, mobile radios are not designed/engineered for continuous-duty.

[nokones]

On 3/19/2023 at 2:45 PM, WRVZ612 said:

Are you using 2 antennas, or a duplexer?

If you are asking the question for the post above your last post, an EMR Corp. 6-cavity Duplexer.