Where to place a repeater

[WSCF738]

On 5/8/2024 at 1:36 PM, WSCF738 said:

UPDATE: Just to keep you posted I. installed the 1000G Plus in my Tahoe and went for a test run. My wife only had a Btech GMRS Pro and in our house. I was able to get over twice the distance then with just 2 GMRS Pro's. At 4.2 Miles we were "loud and clear" but at 6.5 miles we didn't have any contact. As a side note it was overcast with occasional rain. I guess I should have tried 5 miles but wasn't sure where that was. Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, I'll put the antenna on the house, about 40'. Then connect my other 1000G Plus as a base station and test it out. Then on Friday, again if no rain, I'll connect them up as a repeater and see what happens. Only time will tell. (We having fun yet?)

Update 2: I got the antenna and connected it as a base station. I wanted to test it so I went out in my Tahoe contacting the base station as I traveled. I got to 15.71 miles and my wife was still stating that the reception was “loud and clear.” Given this I’m sure I’d be able to communicate farther but I had to turn around and go home. I was checking various hills and valleys to see if I could still get reception at the “lower” elevation and was always "loud and clear". Today I’m suppose to receive the other 1000G Plus and should be able to connect 2 of them as a repeater. Once this is done I’ll do another test driving the same path. Stay tuned.

[nokones]

On 5/8/2024 at 11:16 AM, WSCF738 said:

I'm kind of curious. How do we KNOW it will work when Baofengtech just announced it?

Ask the Queen.

[nokones]

1 hour ago, WSCF738 said:

Update 2: I got the antenna and connected it as a base station. I wanted to test it so I went out in my Tahoe contacting the base station as I traveled. I got to 15.71 miles and my wife was still stating that the reception was “loud and clear.” Given this I’m sure I’d be able to communicate farther but I had to turn around and go home. I was checking various hills and valleys to see if I could still get reception at the “lower” elevation and was always "loud and clear". Today I’m suppose to receive the other 1000G Plus and should be able to connect 2 of them as a repeater. Once this is done I’ll do another test driving the same path. Stay tuned.

 

I bet you a dollar and a donut it (coverage as in your farz) will be a lot worst.

[WSCF738]

11 minutes ago, nokones said:

Ask the Queen.

I didn't have to the "Queen" replied to my post and stated "it works." If you watch his video he did a review of it and it did "work" but only for a little while before he started having problems with it. At the end of the video he returned it for a full refund.

[WSCF738]

10 minutes ago, nokones said:

I bet you a dollar and a donut it (coverage as in your farz) will be a lot worst.

That's why I'm testing it. To see what happens. If I can get what I got yesterday then I'll be happy because 15.71 miles is about the extent of where I go in town. Like I said earlier I was still getting "Loud and Clear" at 15.71 miles so, hopefully, with the repeater it will still give me that distance. If not it'll be back to the drawing board. Thanks for your comment.

[WSCF738]

On 5/10/2024 at 5:37 AM, WSCF738 said:

Update 2: I got the antenna and connected it as a base station. I wanted to test it so I went out in my Tahoe contacting the base station as I traveled. I got to 15.71 miles and my wife was still stating that the reception was “loud and clear.” Given this I’m sure I’d be able to communicate farther but I had to turn around and go home. I was checking various hills and valleys to see if I could still get reception at the “lower” elevation and was always "loud and clear". Today I’m suppose to receive the other 1000G Plus and should be able to connect 2 of them as a repeater. Once this is done I’ll do another test driving the same path. Stay tuned.

 

Update (Last): I got the 1000G Plus configured as a repeater and once again did the above traveling to test it out. The results were the same EXCEPT I went a little farther. Last time I got to 15.71 miles this time I went 17.1 miles. Which is about 1.4 miles farther and she was still hearing my “Loud and Clear.” This tells me I could go even farther. BUT since 17.1 miles is on the other side of town that we go to it is good enough for me. This experiment tells me that a repeater does work for the purpose I wanted and that was to allow my wife to use her Btech hand held and still communicate with me in town.

I know some of you will say “So will a base station” but the limitations of a base station for us is that my wife doesn’t want to be “tied” to the microphone of a base station.

Here is the equipment we used: 2 Wouxum 1000G Plus configured as a repeater, XLT Duplexer (DP-450X5N-50 from), 50 feet of M&P Cable, Smalex SEC-1235M power supply and the TRAM 1486 Antenna.

For my Tahoe, a Wouxum 1000G Plus and the Midland MXTA26 6db gain Whip Antenna.

For my wife at home she had the Btech GMRS PRO, Btech BS-22 (to activate the PTT on the GMRS PRO), and Airpods for a speaker.

I know people suggested the COMET CA-712efc but I already had the Tram and if it didn’t work I’d get the COMET but as you can see the Tram works fine. This is the end of my updates.

I’d like to thank everyone who replied to this post and gave me good advice and comments.

[GreggInFL]

[WRYZ926]

Glad to hear everything is working out for you. And if you keep your repeater setup private/family use only, then you shouldn't  have to worry about duty cycle or the radios getting too hot.

[WSCF738]

22 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

Glad to hear everything is working out for you. And if you keep your repeater setup private/family use only, then you shouldn't  have to worry about duty cycle or the radios getting too hot.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll probably keep it private.