On Jun 2, 2007, at 12:35 PM, barrypal wrote: > Anyone running the Icom repeater in the ham bands? This question has > probably come up before buy I couldn't find it. I am considering the > Icom 4000 or Vertex 7000 for my ham repeater. I am running a GE Mastr > II now. I know they are bullet proof and the audio is great but > weight and space are a consideration in a possible new location.
The front-end of the receiver on the Vertex 7000 is much broader than most of the "old school" commercial repeaters. If you have proper filtering in front of it to keep crud out of it, they perform ok. The only one operating in the area here suffers from desense from a very far off-channel signal that's known to be at the tower site. It will need more filtering, eventually. I know the owner and it's used so infrequently, it's not worth the effort to him to fix that right now. I hear (but haven't used) better reports from those buying new Kenwood repeaters than the Yaesu's, and the budget and specifications are similar. Relatively low power (without the addition of an off- board PA), broad receiver front-ends, and decent out of the box sensitivity. I've seen people rebuild MASTR II's into their own RF shielding boxes, complete with feed-through caps, etc... and they work great. Just a lot of sheet metal work. They can get very small then. (GRIN) -- Nate Duehr, WY0X
