At 07:31 AM 2/26/06, Randy WB0VHB wrote: >Mike, I would then assume you would recommend selling the Maratrac
Maybe, maybe not. I know several hams that have a commercial radio in their vehicle along with a Kenwood, Icom or Yaesu. The commercial radio has the "favorite" frequencies in it, and the other is for "dialing around". Frequently the commercial is a trunk mount (and wives tend to give more approval to little boxes under the dash that have two easy to understand knobs than larger boxes with a dozen multifuction buttons). You may chose to keep the Maratrac and program it up on the local channels. >and using the procedes to buy what? >Which Motorola radio in a similar price range would be your choice? It might not be Motorola. >I can't afford a MTR2000 or similar repeater but rather converting a >high power mobile into repeater service with proper cooling of course. The MTR is probably the worst choice. The service info is relatively poor, and originally it was designed as a depot maintenance only item. The replacement module cost was serious sticker shock. It was, however a unit that was available on 220mhz from the factory (if you look at the sales literature and the manual the "UHF" model was orderable from 200-512Mhz). Mobiles in general are low duty cycle radios. Now, yes, I know that many mobiles live their lives as repeater transmitters and do so well, but I tend to think of a repeater as a machine that gets keyed up at the start of "drive time" (in the morning around 5am and evening around 3:30 to 4pm) and stays keyed until the end of drive time (around 9am and 6:30 to 7pm), plus maybe for random conversations during the day. As to which radio? Micor mobiles have a heat sink rated at 35w, and come in 25w, 45w, 60w and 90w. The 25w will do continuous duty, and the 45 will with a fan. GE Mastr IIs are huskier than the Micors, and the Kevin / Scott team have a better idea of their capabilities. Mitrek mobiles are 20-25% duty cycle and the book does not list a heat sink capability. I give a few ideas in the infamous "Interfacing Guide" (on the repeater-builder Mitrek page). I have heard of several throttled-back Maxtracs in repeater duty that have survived for several years. However I doubt that any Mitrek or Maxtrac transmitter would survive 7 hours a day 5 days a week continuous transmit for months on end as a primary repeater transmitter. I have seen many Micor and Mastr II stations (i.e. factory repeater configuration) do it with no problem. One relatively unknown jewel is the EF Johnson CR1010 repeater - one site near me has over 45 of them on VHF, UHF, 800 and 900 and they've been sitting there for years just percolating away. The building has six rows of six 7' open frame racks filed with them plus a collection of Micor, Mastr II and Mastr Pro gear. Talk to the used vendors - Telepath, is one. There is a list at <http://www.repeater-builder.com/rbtip/supplyindex.html> See what they have in stock. A while back BroComm was liquidating the RCMP VHF equipment: MSR-2000s repeaters factory built on 136-150MHz for about $600 each (plus shipping). The manual cost on those was sticker shock: two manuals required, at about $60 each. Talk to Kevin and Scott at repeater-builder. They can deliver anything from a raw radio to a turnkey repeater. You have a lot of options. Do your research. Mike Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
