Retevis RT97 GMRS Repeater PowerDivider Dustproof 8CH Base Station+2*GMRS Radio

[WSAA630]

Team,

I need an opinion concerning the following scenario:

I am building an emergency communications network for my family using GMRS radios and Retevis repeaters.  There will be 6 homes, and each will have the same equipment.  It is approximately a 30-mile radius from house 1 to house 6.  

A. 30' mast

B. 17' antenna

C. RT97 GMRS repeater

D. 5 Baofeng radios (5 per home)

Does this sound like a good engineered network?

 

Willaim D. Lee

WSAA630

 

[kidphc]

Team,
I need an opinion concerning the following scenario:
I am building an emergency communications network for my family using GMRS radios and Retevis repeaters.  There will be 6 homes, and each will have the same equipment.  It is approximately a 30-mile radius from house 1 to house 6.  
A. 30' mast
B. 17' antenna
C. RT97 GMRS repeater
D. 5 Baofeng radios (5 per home)
Does this sound like a good engineered network?
 
Willaim D. Lee
WSAA630
 

Can you get the antenna closer to 50-100 in the middle of the radius, as well as get a repeater with a bit more power?

You should be able to cover all 6 houses depending on terrain and obstructions.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[WRXB215]

Your biggest issue will be terrain between the houses and the repeater. 30' sounds nice but could be worthless in the wrong terrain. Make sure you can get line-of-sight from each house to the repeater and you will be ok. The line-of-sight doesn't have to be perfect like a laser but the closer the better.

If you still have trees in the way, more power will come into play to get through them.

[OffRoaderX]

It's all nothing more than opinions and guesses until you try it.  Based on my actual experience, actually using the RT97, I would GUESS it will probably be fine, depending on the terrain as already mentioned.

One of the great things about the RT97 vs a "real" repeater (based on my experience using and comparing both types) is the very low power-draw, meaning if you are running it on emergency batteries, it will last a lot longer than a bigger, "better", more powerful repeater.

I would also recommend using a good quality antenna, that is correctly tuned for GMRS, and lightly better quality radios - something simple enough for everyone to use, but at least dust and weatherproof.   I would also recommend making sure everyone has extra batteries and keeps them charged - a monthly/semi-monthly test with everyone would be a good reminder for everyone to charge and rotate the batteries.

EDIT: I forgot the most important part: good quality coax and connectors.. Not just to reduce loss, but to avoid water intrusion.

 

[kidphc]

It's all nothing more than opinions and guesses until you try it.  Based on my actual experience, actually using the RT97, I would GUESS it will probably be fine, depending on the terrain as already mentioned.
One of the great things about the RT97 vs a "real" repeater (based on my experience using and comparing both types) is the very low power-draw, meaning if you are running it on emergency batteries, it will last a lot longer than a bigger, "better", more powerful repeater.
I would also recommend using a good quality antenna, that is correctly tuned for GMRS, and lightly better quality radios - something simple enough for everyone to use, but at least dust and weatherproof.   I would also recommend making sure everyone has extra batteries and keeps them charged - a monthly/semi-monthly test with everyone would be a good reminder for everyone to charge and rotate the batteries.
 

That is one negative of using base radios. How long power will last without electricity

If you are using baofengs. Buy the battery pack that's let you drop in aa batteries. Have a fresh pack of aa batteries with the aa battery holder. I nice to have is also battery eliminator. At worst if you have gas in the car you can hook that up while the car is running.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[SteveShannon]

47 minutes ago, WSAA630 said:

Team,

I need an opinion concerning the following scenario:

I am building an emergency communications network for my family using GMRS radios and Retevis repeaters.  There will be 6 homes, and each will have the same equipment.  It is approximately a 30-mile radius from house 1 to house 6.  

A. 30' mast

B. 17' antenna

C. RT97 GMRS repeater

D. 5 Baofeng radios (5 per home)

Does this sound like a good engineered network?

 

Willaim D. Lee

WSAA630

 

It looks like you’re planning to put one repeater in each home. If that’s so, how do the homes communicate with each other?  You can’t go repeater to repeater. 
Or are you planning one repeater, centrally located, with all of the family members bouncing off it with the handheld radios?
 

[WSAM454]

1 hour ago, Sshannon said:

It looks like you’re planning to put one repeater in each home. If that’s so, how do the homes communicate with each other?  You can’t go repeater to repeater. 
Or are you planning one repeater, centrally located, with all of the family members bouncing off it with the handheld radios?
 

Yes, that is not clear.   Do you mean a repeater for each home, for each to keep in touch with individually, or 1 repeater to cover all the home locations consistently.   If that, then it should be somewhat centrally located.   Also, the average single- story home is about 25-35 feet to the roof,so 30 feet may really not be much height depending what else is around you. You would want to clear as much in the way of tall buildings, hills and trees as possible.   Some mention height above sea level, but that really does not matter, what does matter is height above anything else in your coverage area,  whether that area is  50' asl or 500' asl.

[WSAA630]

19 hours ago, kidphc said:

Can you get the antenna closer to 50-100 in the middle of the radius, as well as get a repeater with a bit more power?

You should be able to cover all 6 houses depending on terrain and obstructions.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
 

I can get the antennas up to about 50'.  I am placing repeaters at each home to get complete coverage between the 30 mile radius, due to terrain and the lack of power on the handhelds. 

[kidphc]

I can get the antennas up to about 50'.  I am placing repeaters at each home to get complete coverage between the 30 mile radius, due to terrain and the lack of power on the handhelds.  You can call me if you want more details.  .

Not really ideal.

Find a center location for the repeater.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[WSAM454]

Agree on the higher power base stations.   With good antenna height each should be able to communicate with the local hand held units, and from home, you should b e able to communicate with the other houses.  The individual repeaters may not enable  hand helds at the extremes (you said 30 mile radius) to communicate with everyone anyway, only with the most local repeater, so you still need a way to communicate house-to-house, and that may need more power than the low power repeaters you have in mind.   Again, a lot depends on the terrain.

[WRWE456]

As Sshannon mentioned

18 hours ago, Sshannon said:

It looks like you’re planning to put one repeater in each home. If that’s so, how do the homes communicate with each other?  You can’t go repeater to repeater.

Repeaters don't talk to each other. You have one repeater in a location where all can reach it (ideally) As also mentioned having a base station at each home is what you should aim for. The handhelds talk to the base stations that are within range if they can't reach the repeater. The base can relay the message if needed through the repeater. If the terrain allows for the the base stations to reach each other you may not need a repeater.You will have to do some experimenting to find out what works. 

[WRXP381]

Th biggest problem is going to be when the retivis takes a dump. I’d never own a retivis anything.  It’s only 10w also.    Plus do you really need a repeater?  Is there a big hill or mountain in the way?     You didn’t even mention the important part.  Antennas.  They mean more than anything else.  I’d skip the repeater and make sure every house has a good quality high gain antenna up as high as possible with good feed line.  A comet712 running Lmr400 and a 5w hand held will easily do 50 miles line of sight.   The repeater doesn’t sound like it’s needed at all.  A nice base station at every house would run about $250 total for a 20w radio antenna and coax. And a trickle charger and 12v battery.