Base station antenna

[antnee1069]

I would like to put up a Gmrs base station antenna any suggestions also what cable.

Thanks

Wqww770

[zap]

What is the surrounding terrain like? What is the budget? What is the purpose (i.e. half-duplex or full-duplex, just GMRS or are commercial/amateur bands of interest as well)?

[jwilkers]

LMR 400 at the least.... Lower loss on UHF

[antnee1069]

Hilly all around. 1500 foot mountain about 1\2 mile to my west would love to put a repeater up there. MT Beacon Amateur radio club is up there. Getting back to antenna it would be half-duplex I can get it about 30ish feet up a tree next to house or 60 ish feet up a tree In my Field but for that I would need about 200' of direct burial cable. It would be used for a Gmrs and Amateur base station. Still need to find a base radio that will do 2m and 440 at 40-60 watt and that can turn down to 5 watt for Gmrs. Budget for Radio and antenna no more then $ 1,000.00

 

Thanks

Wqww770

Kc2ubq

[ASRM]

I just put up a system recently at my homestead, I went with 1/2 inch hardline/heliax for a 50 foot run, N connectors, used a Comet 172EFC (I think that's the model number) just to get up and going, only 6DBd and just 40 foot up on a mast mounted on the eave of a dormer, the hardline with connectors ran me around $200-250, antenna was cheap at around $110 from Antenna Farm (I would suggest a more professional antenna though and new you are looking at $600 to $1000 for a decent antenna, I went low cost to get on the air, looking at a used AS or Phelps Dodge and tearing apart and repairing if needed for a much more long term prospect, local radio shop has a garage full of commercial duty 9-12DBi antennas they took down years ago

 

I did invest in a Vertex 7000 repeater with duplexer, set me back around $750 tuned and delivered. So you might be able to get by at around your price point minus the antenna.

 

Others will tell you, don't skimp on antenna (like I did) and antenna feed. Buy once, cry once as they say.

 

I am getting 10-15 miles mobile (40 watt units with 3DB mag mounts), half that on portable with lots of ridges in my way, some spots I am doing 30+ miles mobile and 20 portable. I sit on the top of a valley over looking the metro area (about 200 feet up about 5 miles away) and do get some shadows from gullies and dips as well as some big buildings in my way. Still usable for my needs. And FUN!

 

Kudos on putting up a repeater

[JohnE]

https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/192-off-grid-site-moved/page-3

that is all

[antnee1069]

Thank you wqsw318

[zap]

Hilly all around. 1500 foot mountain about 1\2 mile to my west would love to put a repeater up there. MT Beacon Amateur radio club is up there. Getting back to antenna it would be half-duplex I can get it about 30ish feet up a tree next to house or 60 ish feet up a tree In my Field but for that I would need about 200' of direct burial cable. It would be used for a Gmrs and Amateur base station. Still need to find a base radio that will do 2m and 440 at 40-60 watt and that can turn down to 5 watt for Gmrs. Budget for Radio and antenna no more then $ 1,000.00

 

Thanks

Wqww770

Kc2ubq

 

If you wanted to work every channel on GMRS, then you'd need less than 5W of output as the 5W interstitial limit is 5W ERP (most dual banded antennas have gain of 3-6 dB on UHF). That's why many of us completely ignore the interstitial channels...50W is the RF ouput max (not no listed ERP). However, the rules to state that an antenna can be no higher than 20 feet above the item which it is mounted to (which would suggest a practical ERP limit provided by a DB413 at 1200+ W ERP).

[Logan5]

for a repeater, go with the 60' tree and forget the 200' of direct burial coax. get or build an environmental enclosure. Locate the repeater in the enclosure at base of the tree, then run the electrical power needed to that location. If you truly need or want a base station, go with the tree closest to the house, keep coax runs as short as possible LMR400 or better. I have a Workman, $140.00 UVS200, about 10db gain and preforms very good across the UHF spectrum. Make sure what you want is what you really need. If your only using UHF repeater, consider a Comet 712efc commercial antenna, better design and very low SWR. about $200.0

[antnee1069]

Thank you for all the replys

[antnee1069]

Thank you. Everyone

[ASRM]

Post your progress, always interesting to see how others setup and what coverage we get.

[WQWG565]

Making a ground plane antenna is pretty easy if you don't want to spend a lot of money. For $50 I was able to get enough materials to make several antennas. Just need a soldering iron, some patients, and a few hours to get it perfect. I've made all of my antennas, and get almost a 1:1 reading on all of them after the tune.

[coryb27]

I installed a DB404-B in my attic due to living in a condo. The cable run was about 40' I used 1/2 helix run in the wall to a custom wall plate terminated with N connectors. I did the same with my VHF and scanner. In the beginning I was worried about performance but it proved to be an awesome decision. I can work repeaters 50 plus miles away without issue.

 

 

[JohnE]

nice termination.

not too big a fan of right angel connectors but in a pinch if you have to you have to.

[coryb27]

Those are right angle cable ends for 1/2 helix, vary high quality; not like the adapters that feel cheap and tend to add loss.

[zap]

Well, I finically finished moving this weekend…storage shed is all cleaned out. Had enough room for my DB-404 and Sinclair fiberglass antenna…had to get creative with the 420 for the move. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160127/af1061ff39af000cdfe10fe4521a551f.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ASRM]

Well, I finically finished moving this weekend…storage shed is all cleaned out. Had enough room for my DB-404 and Sinclair fiberglass antenna…had to get creative with the 420 for the move. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160127/af1061ff39af000cdfe10fe4521a551f.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You can swing by Peoria IL and drop that bad boy off 

[zap]

Was only going 300 miles east...but that reminds me, I've now had 3 out of 3 of problems with a rental trailer company so do yourself a favor and buy a trailer, use it, sell it. Much more pleasant experience will await you.