LOUISIANA NEEDS GMRS/HAM users.. comms sucks here!

[WSGZ768]

1 minute ago, SteveShannon said:

1. They frequently don’t work well unless they’re designed for the job. 
2. Then you need a much larger duplexer. The portable repeaters have one built in. 
3. Power output is vastly overrated. Range is usually limited by other factors for UHF, not power. 

Hmmm....  I follow ya.  I just ordered my HT today.  (Wouxun Q10G)  Maybe by luck, there are some hidden repeaters here already and I can figure out their I/O frequencies and respected tones.  If not, I'll cross that bridge with a build later.  Thank you for all of your input Steve! I really appreciate it.

[nokones]

23 hours ago, WSGZ768 said:

My thoughts on the "build" for a repeater would be a couple 50W radios.  Might as well go big, right? lol

If you're thinking about marrying two Wouxuns together, forget about it.  They have a desense problem because of the lack of shielding.  I've seen maxon radios work somewhat decent and I have heard that people have married two Motorola MCS2000 with decent results. I haven't heard if anyone has tried a couple of XTLs.

 

It would be best just getting a real repeater that has the correct duty cycle.

[WRTC928]

I don't remember who makes it, but someone makes a mobile/base radio that's actually designed so you can plug two of them together and have a repeater. That's an intriguing concept.

[SteveShannon]

7 minutes ago, WRTC928 said:

I don't remember who makes it, but someone makes a mobile/base radio that's actually designed so you can plug two of them together and have a repeater. That's an intriguing concept.

The KG1000G is marketed that way. @OffRoaderX tried it. It worked, but not as simply as it was marketed. He has three or so videos on YouTube as Notarubicon about it. 

[DeuceoneRadio]

I got my GMRS license not too long ago. It's still kind of quiet but I don't care about talking to strangers. If it happens then cool. I got it for my family but we're so spread out that a few repeaters in the area would be absolutely fantastic. I'm actively working on a proposal for the company I work for in Blanchard to see if they would sponsor a repeater on site. It would probably be a hard sell since its a multi-national corporation but it never hurts to try. I would love to work with a few entities for sponsorship  to put up a few across the Shreveport/Bossier area. 

[WRUE951]

The KG1000 radios defiantly has issues working as a repeater and they are difficult to implement a controller due to pin out access..  People wanting to go the route of making a repeater with two radios should consider a pair for Maxon 8402 radios.  Like the KG1000's the Maxons are designed to pair with a simple jumper cable to make them work in repeater fashion.  The Maxons are real commercial radios and will offer a more robust setup for the same dollars spent on the kg1009's.   BTW, the Maxon Radios are the same used in the Brigecomm Repeaters.