Decent duplexer suggestions

[WSBZ540]

I tried replacing my damaged duplexer with a budget version and I'm just not happy with the desensing of my reciever. I can get about 10-12 miles out of it on rx, but with the transmitter off, I can hear signal for almost 25 miles. So...

I'm looking for something affordable, but not bottom of the barrel. A br/notch/mobile will work alright. Bp/br are outside my budget. Something in the 500 range.  A few I've found are cell wave, emr, and icom. The icom I had was decent, but is there something better in that price range? Icoms run about 400, if I could get a better performing one for 500-600 ide do that instead.

There's a flood of the cheaper ones, and it's kinda hard to tell which ones are decent. The un branded, and fumei duplexers are just not good performers. It works, but not very well.

 

[kidphc]

Have you looked at hamfest for a large cavity style? You might be able to get them to tune for you as well.

They should also be able to fit into your price range. May even perform better then you expect.

The cheap chinsese ones are the only ones I have seen for cheap. But often barely provides enough isolation.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[nokones]

You can't go wrong with an EMR Corp. or Celwave.  Make sure that you select the appropriate duplexer for the environment that it will live in.  In other words, don't buy a compact mobile duplexer if your repeater is going to live in a High RF environment at a remote site with a bunch of transmitters.

[WSBZ540]

Well I should probably add a little spec to the site. I think a flat pack mobile version will be alright. I'm in the middle of no where, with very minimal rf noise. There's a couple of 2m repeaters at 28miles, and 32 miles out. No uhf repeaters, radios, or transmissions.

I certainly wouldn't turn down a large cavity set if I could get an affordable one.

I do have a uhf filter in the coax right under the antenna. That was party to keep my 2m antenna from desensing, but I've not been using that radio, just trying to get this gmrs repeater back up. I'm kinda bouncing between the icom and the emr, but I'm gonna wait and look around and see if I can find something better. Since this is really just a hobby for the general public to use, I've gotta put a hard limit on the budget, but I'm willing to go up a little if it's a good deal.

[WSBZ540]

@nokones is the duplexer you have the 65316-0/MC(7G) model? It looks like it fits the specs but it says 6mhz min separation, and they make several so i may be looking at the wrong one.

[nokones]

1 hour ago, WSBZ540 said:

@nokones is the duplexer you have the 65316-0/MC(7G) model? It looks like it fits the specs but it says 6mhz min separation, and they make several so i may be looking at the wrong one.

I'll check when I get home and get back to you.

[WRUE951]

keep your eyes open on ebay and look for a 4 cavity and hopefully seller will tune to your specs..   Last summer I picked up two Tessco's (both Tuned) for $1,000 delivered and love the heck out of them.  One is a spare,  had to buy both and have zero regrets.  

[WSBZ540]

1 hour ago, WRUE951 said:

keep your eyes open on ebay and look for a 4 cavity and hopefully seller will tune to your specs..   Last summer I picked up two Tessco's (both Tuned) for $1,000 delivered and love the heck out of them.  One is a spare,  had to buy both and have zero regrets.  

Man if I could find a pair for 1000 that would be pretty sweet!

[WSBZ540]

1 hour ago, nokones said:

I'll check when I get home and get back to you.

Thanks!

[tcp2525]

6 hours ago, WSBZ540 said:

Man if I could find a pair for 1000 that would be pretty sweet!

Here ya go, can't beat this deal. If you want two, offer him $500 each and he'll take it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166729055740?i

[nokones]

8 hours ago, WSBZ540 said:

Thanks!

[WRUE951]

10 hours ago, WSBZ540 said:

Man if I could find a pair for 1000 that would be pretty sweet!

Keep checking Ebay.. every once in while there are some pretty good deals on duplexers.  Don't be afraid to buy older duplexers,  they're passive, nothing to go wrong with them..  Just try to get them sent to you tuned and ready to go..   I just sent an I.M. to the guy i bought from, he has nothing for sale at the moment..   

[tcp2525]

4 hours ago, WRUE951 said:

Keep checking Ebay.. every once in while there are some pretty good deals on duplexers.  Don't be afraid to buy older duplexers,  they're passive, nothing to go wrong with them..  Just try to get them sent to you tuned and ready to go..   I just sent an I.M. to the guy i bought from, he has nothing for sale at the moment..   

Not true. I've had to change capacitors in one were they sustained damaged due to arcing. Never assume just because they are passive devices they can't  even damage or abused.

[WSBZ540]

True they can have some damage. My icom has some damage but it's old/used. I'm tempted to take it apart, but for just bout the same price I can get this ebay item, new, and it's pretty killer.

[WRUE951]

32 minutes ago, WSBZ540 said:

True they can have some damage. My icom has some damage but it's old/used. I'm tempted to take it apart, but for just bout the same price I can get this ebay item, new, and it's pretty killer.

Yes you can get a bad Duplexer but it is very uncommon..  This is why i suggest you buy them tuned and  ready to go for your chosen freqs  so they can be checked on scope and confirmed of its notch ability..    The first one i ever bought was and XLT from BuyTwoWayRadios.  It sat in a box for about a year before i used it and when i did, It was bad out of the box.  BuyTwoWay did exchangfe the unit at no cost.   I still use it today for my portable repeater we use for camping and honestly,  its a pretty decent Duplexer (especially for the cost)_