Btech Rpt50 Repeater

[WSBT338]

FYI, Katy at BTech allowed me to overclock my RPT50 to 12.8V, but last night while testing I was experiencing a hum while talking to my wife from the driveway over the repeater. Spoke again with Katy this morning and she suspects it’s due to the higher voltage. I’ll back it down to 12.5V tonight. I should still be north or 40W at that setting and do desire clarity during conversation  Hopefully the hum issue will be behind me. 
 

[UPDATE] My hum problem is gone after I backed the voltage down to 12.5V. I also tested my antenna and got great results! I can’t do the distance test yet, though. The inverter I bought for my car won’t power the DuraComm LPX-14 / Midland MXT500.

[GreggInFL]

On 7/5/2024 at 3:30 PM, WRXB215 said:

I agree. It would be nice if I could get that kind of line-of-sight. But I can't. Some of us just can't get an antenna up above the 100'+ trees around us. 

Quick question: Is it all-or-nothing when it comes to clearing tree height?  In the case above, is it necessary to get 100'+ for any improvement or would, say, 80' be noticeable?

[Socalgmrs]

32 minutes ago, GreggInFL said:

Quick question: Is it all-or-nothing when it comes to clearing tree height?  In the case above, is it necessary to get 100'+ for any improvement or would, say, 80' be noticeable?

It depends on the trees, watts and antenna.   But 460mhz really is line of sight.   

[LeoG]

I'm going to go with if you don't get over the majority of the foliage then the height isn't going to matter that much.

I started at about 3 ft above ground as a test, then I went to 16 and then went to 40.  I really never got much range increase from doing this in the direction that had to go through the trees.  As a matter of fact at 16 feet it got worse because it was in the thick of the leaves where at 3' it was only going through the trunks.

Just an observational opinion.

[GreggInFL]

1 hour ago, LeoG said:

I'm going to go with if you don't get over the majority of the foliage then the height isn't going to matter that much.

I started at about 3 ft above ground as a test, then I went to 16 and then went to 40.  I really never got much range increase from doing this in the direction that had to go through the trees.  As a matter of fact at 16 feet it got worse because it was in the thick of the leaves where at 3' it was only going through the trunks.

Just an observational opinion.

That's about what I thought.  It doesn't matter if the leaves are low or high.  Thanks all.

[Guest John,]

So I have talked to Katy too about the Btech RPT 50, I was told that I was using the wrong radios. I told her I have a UV-5R, KG 1000 . Does this make sense? 

[SteveShannon]

13 minutes ago, Guest John, said:

So I have talked to Katy too about the Btech RPT 50, I was told that I was using the wrong radios. I told her I have a UV-5R, KG 1000 . Does this make sense? 

No

[amaff]

1 hour ago, Guest John, said:

So I have talked to Katy too about the Btech RPT 50, I was told that I was using the wrong radios. I told her I have a UV-5R, KG 1000 . Does this make sense? 

using the wrong radios....for what? To talk on the repeater? Either of those will talk on it just fine... (well, the 5R after it's been unlocked but I pretty much just assume all of them are at this point)

[WRUU653]

On 7/8/2024 at 10:32 AM, WSBT338 said:

The inverter I bought for my car won’t power the DuraComm LPX-14 / Midland MXT500

Am I missing something here? Why do you need an inverter for a power supply for your mobile radio to use in the car? Did I understand that right? The Midland MXT500 will run off the car power, it’s already 13.8 volts. Or is it for something else? 

 

[WSBT338]

7 hours ago, WRUU653 said:

Am I missing something here? Why do you need an inverter for a power supply for your mobile radio to use in the car? Did I understand that right? The Midland MXT500 will run off the car power, it’s already 13.8 volts. Or is it for something else? 

 

It was temporary. Just to test. I didn’t want to deal with running the wires and connecting to the battery. 

[LeoG]

Whatever happened with this?  Did you get up and running to a satisfactory result?