Wise fellows of the repeater forum. After some advice from people who know.
Over the years I've dabbled in programming commercial VHF radios, mostly in relief aid settings where regulation is often scarce. I know run a sports event company in the UK and I have a bundle of VHF's on simplex to make things happen. The events are in rural areas and I'm keen to make communications a little better by using a repeater. As the events shift around the ideal would be to put the repeater in a car and park it on a mountain pass or even pop it in a tent and put it on a hill top. Ofcom in the UK (regulator) will give me the freq's for each event and hopefully they won't swap them around as it be a lot of grief to reprogramme the radios. Anyway to the POINT. The repeater - have to admit I'm keen to do this on the cheap yet need something that doesn't need attention during an event. Intially was tempted by a website that described how to build a repeater from two ICOM mobiles (prestonmoore). All OK however by the time you add up the bits its almost the same price as ICOM's SRP repeater. http://www.icomuk.co.uk/categoryRender.asp? categoryID=3510&cCID=6422 My questions - I know the role of duplexer but is it essential for use on high band VHF. The leaflet for this repeater suggests 2 antenna working. One supplier questioned the build quality of ICOM - any thoughts? In years gone by I've had plenty of problems with Yaseu so was not that keen on their suggestion (also twice price). In a car I guess the metal work acts as the ground. In a tent on a hill, discrete operation would be nice (e.g. no 20ft mast). Is it possible to use a mag mount but then would you have to ground the unit somehow? Sorry about the basic question. Advice and ideas most welcome.
