10 watt repeater or higher wattage mobile.

[WRYZ926]

1 hour ago, nokones said:

Even if the repeater station is putting out 50 watts, you're not going to see that much power coming out of the duplexer. Most repeater stations, only put out about 40 watts and you be lucky to see about 28 watts out of the duplexer.

This is correct. And in the case of the Midland/Retevis 10 watt repeaters, you will only see about 5-6 watts out after the duplexer. We are getting 30 watts out after the duplexer on our 50 watt Bridgecom GMRS repeater. We still are getting a 30-35 mile radius of coverage, granted our antennas are at 400 feet above ground.

 

2 hours ago, gortex2 said:

If your going to use a pole barn, put the repeater as close to the antenna as possiblee to limit cable loss. thats the cool part about the midland and RT97. Just run a power cord to it. A decent antenna and a 3' piece of cable terminated with proper connectors will go along way.

And you can get away with using a good quality RG8 if the overall run is 6 feet or less. You won't notice much difference in loss between RG8, RG8U or LMR400 at such short lengths. I run RG-8U jumpers in my shack with the longest one being 6 foot. Most are three feet or less. IF anyone wants to see the loss for themselves then use the https://kv5r.com/ham-radio/coax-loss-calculator/

The most important thing is to use a good quality coax with good connectors.

[WSGU500]

I've got a Retevis RT97 10 watt repeater hooked to the MA09 antenna that came bundled with it. The antenna is 43' AGL on the highest point of my property. I was able to communicate with a friend on his mobile rig over 11.5 miles away. Having said that, there are valleys much closer to me than that and no communication is possible to those low lying areas. Still, I can get several miles in all directions with this setup. It runs off of a 30 amp-hour battery connected to a 100 watt solar panel.

Also, not that you need more power, but, Retevis announced the RT97L which is an updated version of their portable repeater. It is rated at 25 watts. It is supposed to be in stock on April 4 this year. If nothing else this may allow you to buy an RT97/RT97S at a discounted price, maybe even get a used one from someone that is upgrading.

[Socalgmrs]

It’s your antenna.  The antenna is everything.   You do t need more power you need more radiated watts leaving the antenna in a usable pattern.  A 712efc is a great place to start.  With a 5w ht hooked to it it will easily do 150miles AND hit all the valleys and peaks     Or something like a 9nc will do even better. 

[SteveShannon]

3 minutes ago, Socalgmrs said:

A 712efc is a great place to start.  With a 5w ht hooked to it it will easily do 150miles AND hit all the valleys and peaks

Bullshit. We’ve had to correct your fallacious claims many times. This is only true in certain rare situations, like from the hill overlooking a massive desert between you and Vegas. Most people just won’t get that kind of distance before their signal is blocked by the earth’s curvature and terrain. Why lie? Does it make you feel better about yourself?

[OffRoaderX]

11 minutes ago, Socalgmrs said:

It’s your antenna.  The antenna is everything.   You do t need more power you need more radiated watts leaving the antenna in a usable pattern.  A 712efc is a great place to start.  With a 5w ht hooked to it it will easily do 150miles AND hit all the valleys and peaks     Or something like a 9nc will do even better. 

[WRYZ926]

I see that Negative Nancy AKA MR 200 Miles is at it again with spouting off about his unrealistic range that most people will never see.

I live in Mid Missouri and our repeater antennas are on a 1000 foot tower. The GMRS repeater antennas are at 400 feet. The 2m and 70cm antennas are at 900 feet. We only get a 30-35 mile coverage radius with both the GMRS and 70cm repeaters. Again this is due to the local terrain and trees. We have lots of rolling hills and river valleys that are forested. Yes the 70cm repeater does not better than GMRS even though the 70cm antennas are 500 feet higher. It's the nature of UHF frequencies.

We have one of the largest coverage areas in the state with our 2m repeater and we still only have a 80-85 mile radius with it.