Is a portable repeater viable for deer camp?

[jsneezy]

I'm pretty new to GMRS, just got licensed a couple weeks ago, after purchasing a pair of Baofeng UV-9G radios for myself and my wife. My hunting buddy also picked up the same model of radio. 

 

I was thinking about running a repeater like the Retevis RT97 at camp so that we might be able to keep communication up in case we get separated or stake out different locations. My thought is to use a hitch receiver mast holder with either a 20 or 30 foot mast with guy lines and an omnidirectional antenna at the top. I have a solar generator or I can build an ammo can battery pack to keep the repeater on without draining the truck battery. 

 

I also wanted to see if anyone here has any experience with retevissolutions.com or if I should order the repeater and antenna elsewhere.

[OffRoaderX]

I setup my RT97 on a hill in the desert and got several miles of farz in all directions, where transmitting on simplex had no range (because of the hills).

I got mine from retevissolutions.com, but I would have got it on Amazon if it was available due to faster shipping and the painless return policy. 

[jsneezy]

1 minute ago, OffRoaderX said:

I setup my RT97 on a hill in the desert and got several miles of farz in all directions, where transmitting on simplex had no range (because of the hills).

I got mine from retevissolutions.com, but I would have got it on Amazon if it was available due to faster shipping and the painless return policy. 

I just so happen to be your favorite viewer, and it was your videos on the RT97 that inspired me to go that route. 

 

Being in Arizona, I could end up hunting a wooded area or a desert area. It just depends on how the draw goes this year. I do know that the environmental variables will have an affect on range. Aside from that, I know the setup can be used for things like family camping trips as well.

[rivrrat]

I've got the RT97 too and have used it on an ~800 acre fairly hilly area in western Virginia with great results. Try to find the highest and clearest line of sight spot for the repeater - get above the terrain - the repeater can help get up/over/around but you still have to keep in mind the physical limitations you see with any GMRS radio.

[back4more70]

9 hours ago, jsneezy said:

I'm pretty new to GMRS, just got licensed a couple weeks ago, after purchasing a pair of Baofeng UV-9G radios for myself and my wife. My hunting buddy also picked up the same model of radio. 

I can't comment on the repeater, but the UV-9G is a wonderful radio.  I had great success with friends when we went fishing and spread out among various sites around the lake.

[SteveShannon]

9 hours ago, jsneezy said:

I'm pretty new to GMRS, just got licensed a couple weeks ago, after purchasing a pair of Baofeng UV-9G radios for myself and my wife. My hunting buddy also picked up the same model of radio. 

 

I was thinking about running a repeater like the Retevis RT97 at camp so that we might be able to keep communication up in case we get separated or stake out different locations. My thought is to use a hitch receiver mast holder with either a 20 or 30 foot mast with guy lines and an omnidirectional antenna at the top. I have a solar generator or I can build an ammo can battery pack to keep the repeater on without draining the truck battery. 

 

I also wanted to see if anyone here has any experience with retevissolutions.com or if I should order the repeater and antenna elsewhere.

That sounds like the perfect application for the RT97 or 97s. 

There are also those antenna bases that you roll one of your tires over.  That might be nice if you don’t want to unhitch a trailer.

[jsneezy]

1 hour ago, back4more70 said:

I can't comment on the repeater, but the UV-9G is a wonderful radio.  I had great success with friends when we went fishing and spread out among various sites around the lake.

I pretty much immediately upgraded to the Nagoya NA-771G antenna. I've picked up a repeater that's probably around 60 miles away, but haven't tried transmitting yet. I'm still in the process of getting all the repeaters I want programmed. 

1 hour ago, Sshannon said:

That sounds like the perfect application for the RT97 or 97s. 

There are also those antenna bases that you roll one of your tires over.  That might be nice if you don’t want to unhitch a trailer.

I won't have a trailer to unhook, and using the hitch receiver means I'd be able to work the guy lines around the bed of the truck. 

[back4more70]

2 hours ago, jsneezy said:

I pretty much immediately upgraded to the Nagoya NA-771G antenna. I've picked up a repeater that's probably around 60 miles away, but haven't tried transmitting yet.

I have one of those also, but I got tired of the length when carrying around, so I switched to the Nagoya NA-701G.  Seems to work pretty well so far.

[jsneezy]

Another related question came to mind on this one. I see a lot of masts labeled as specific to antenna mounting, and some basically labeled as flag poles. I haven't decided on an antenna yet, but how much difference is there going to be between a telescopic flag pole and an antenna mast? There's a huge difference in the cost between the two, but is there any reason a flag pole wouldn't work? Is there a possibility of the material that the mast is made from having an effect on the functionality of the antenna?

[SteveShannon]

57 minutes ago, jsneezy said:

Another related question came to mind on this one. I see a lot of masts labeled as specific to antenna mounting, and some basically labeled as flag poles. I haven't decided on an antenna yet, but how much difference is there going to be between a telescopic flag pole and an antenna mast? There's a huge difference in the cost between the two, but is there any reason a flag pole wouldn't work? Is there a possibility of the material that the mast is made from having an effect on the functionality of the antenna?

A lot of people use painters’ poles. 
It depends on how you attach your antenna to the mast, but it doesn’t really have to cause problems. 

[OffRoaderX]

My repeater antenna is attached to a single 10Ft section of a telescoping flag pole on my roof..  
i'm sure there is some fancy differences between a flagpole and a mast, but my flagpole/antenna combo lived through one of the worst wind-storms in memory last year and the antenna gets many farz.

[jsneezy]

1 minute ago, OffRoaderX said:

My repeater antenna is attached to a single 10Ft section section of a telescoping flag pole on my roof..  
i'm sure there is some fancy differences between a flagpole and a mast, but my flagpole/antenna combo lived through one of the worst wind-storms in memory last year and the antenna gets many farz.

That seems like the answer I'm looking for. Flagpoles are about a third of the price of a similar product labeled as an antenna mast. One of the antennas I'm looking at clamps onto a pipe with a couple of U-bolts. I'm looking at a package on Retevis Solutions for the RT97 with a Retevis MR004 antenna and 15 meters of 50-3 cable for about $350. I think that should get me covered aside from a mast and a way to set the mast in place, unless there's a reason I should consider a different antenna.

[WRQC527]

21 hours ago, jsneezy said:

My thought is to use a hitch receiver mast holder with either a 20 or 30 foot mast

I got me a 3-section 8' to 24' painter pole. The bottom section is fiberglass, the middle and top are aluminum. I think it was about $50 at Home Desperate.

[jsneezy]

I think I have one last question on this subject. I can't find much for specs on the MR004 antenna, aside from the length, materials it's made of, 6 db gain, and tuned to GMRS frequencies. Since it's included with the repeater and a 50-3 cable, is it sufficient for what my plan is or would I be better off looking at something like a J Pole? 

[SteveShannon]

10 minutes ago, jsneezy said:

I think I have one last question on this subject. I can't find much for specs on the MR004 antenna, aside from the length, materials it's made of, 6 db gain, and tuned to GMRS frequencies. Since it's included with the repeater and a 50-3 cable, is it sufficient for what my plan is or would I be better off looking at something like a J Pole? 

A J-pole has 2.2dBi gain and the specs for the MR004 are 6 dBi.  That's four dBi better.  You don't say what kind of a J-pole you would pick, but I don't know of any that are better materials.  

Stick with that antenna.  If it disappoints you, then start looking at something different.

[jsneezy]

14 minutes ago, Sshannon said:

A J-pole has 2.2dBi gain and the specs for the MR004 are 6 dBi.  That's four dBi better.  You don't say what kind of a J-pole you would pick, but I don't know of any that are better materials.  

Stick with that antenna.  If it disappoints you, then start looking at something different.

From what I've seen, it looks about like a J Pole is basically just a couple of 14ga wires shoved into copper piping in the shape of a letter J. I just know that I've seen people around other forums bragging on them like they're the best thing out there. I guess worst case scenario is that I got the repeater, antenna, and cable for $350, while it looks like the repeater by itself is closer to $400. I think I've got my shopping list all figured out. Might be time to start thinking about getting another HT for my daughter for those family camping trips too. 

[SteveShannon]

13 minutes ago, jsneezy said:

From what I've seen, it looks about like a J Pole is basically just a couple of 14ga wires shoved into copper piping in the shape of a letter J. I just know that I've seen people around other forums bragging on them like they're the best thing out there. I guess worst case scenario is that I got the repeater, antenna, and cable for $350, while it looks like the repeater by itself is closer to $400. I think I've got my shopping list all figured out. Might be time to start thinking about getting another HT for my daughter for those family camping trips too. 

A J-pole is an interesting antenna. It is a half wave end fed antenna (long side of the J) connected to a quarter wave match (short side).  It has about the same gain as a dipole.  It can be easily made by hobbyists using copper tubing or stiff wire. If you make it out of twin lead (flat antenna wire) and your name is Ed Fong you can call it an Ed Fong antenna. For end of the world scenarios it's useful to know how to make one.  Here's an interesting video describing how it works.  

 

 

[WRZT743]

   I hunt in the norther parts of the UP of MI. Cell service dies off before we make it to our campsite. I also was looking for some line of communication back home. My plan is the use a mobile linked repeater to connect back home to a HotSpotRadio node($298). -HotspotRadio is plug and play. Great for new guys and gals that have no clue what a node is (like myself)

   For that I recently purchased the Retevis RT97S ($305 on New Years Sale) built a node for it using a Raspberry Pi 3b+ and Amazon case kit comes with heat sinks, fan, and power supply ($70) the RIM lite ($65) used the Bingfu mobile HAM 8dbi antenna from Amazon ($37). Built the cable using 2PCS DB9 Male adapters very easy to build. I received my free node numbers and OS image for GMRS Live.  Total cost for my mobile linked repeater $477. 

   I set it up at home for testing. I only have the antenna on my garage so say 12 feet maybe 14 feet high. I am in a city and many houses, buildings, and trees are much taller than my antenna. I still can hear the repeater 5 miles from my house. Using a mobile radio with the same antenna on my truck i can talk back to the repeater at 5 miles with Baofeng handheld its more like 3 miles with the ABBREE AR-771 GMRS antenna. 

    Plan now is to leave a truck with the repeater at the highest spot possible that still has cell coverage. Have the repeater, hotspot, and node all plugged into solar with its own battery.

    Not only will we have local radio coverage for about 5 miles around the truck. We can use a WiFi hotspot to connect the repeater node to the network. Back home HotSpotRadio will be connected to the network. Creating a internet bridge for the radios to talk to back home 250 miles away as the crow flies.

  I will let you know how it works next time I go to camp.

Total cost for everything $775 not a bad price if it saves a life. Even once! 

 

[WRZT743]

On 4/26/2023 at 12:17 AM, jsneezy said:

I also wanted to see if anyone here has any experience with retevissolutions.com or if I should order the repeater and antenna elsewhere.

I ordered my thru https://www.retevis.com/ they have better prices than retevissolutions.com and it was to my door in 6 days. Ordered on Jan/9/2024 6:46pm CST delivered on Jan/15/2024 10:37am CST