Robert Pease wrote: > Ok since we made it back to the original question. Here are my > thoughts on it. 1st. Ham rigs are a bad choice for any type of > repeater, I would look hard for used commercial rigs, especially if > you want to transmit from the recieve site.
That's what I said, but he took offense to that. Well, sorry, it may not be what you want to hear, but it's the truth. No, I obviously DON'T have anything against ham radio, or I wouldn't be here. But I DO have something against using made-for-ham equipment in a repeater environment, because they just don't work. At best, not for long. Broad receivers prone to intermod/desense, dirty transmitters that cause desense and intermod, poor PA's that just don't hold up to long transmissions, etc. We are trying to warn you that you WILL have problems using that equipment for a repeater. You can find some really > cheap commercial gear and some people on this list and other lists I > am on have been known to donate to the right cause. 2nd I understand > the budget problem and only working with what you have. So here is an > idea I have used before since you mentioned that there are dual band > HT's out there. I have set up 2 dual band HT's on buildings several > hundred feet apart. 1 cross band from 2 meters to a specific 440 freq > and the other cross band from that 440 freq to your 2m freq. > Depending on power and spacing you may even get away with 600 khz > offset. I realize you probably don't have buildings at your site but > hills will work also. Even the same hill if you can get them spaced > far enough apart. Ours ran on a gell cell charged by solar. > Yeah, a split-site arrangement like that is a REALLY good idea for this app. Although again, I wouldn't use made-for-ham handhelds for this. Find some commercial-grade gear. Part 90 commercial MUST narrowband in a few years, and older radios that won't narrowband will start showing up DIRT cheap, since it can't be used there after 2012. Good suggestions? Syntor X is a great radio, lots of info on it, synthesized, clean, rugged, etc. GE Phoenix-S or SX, smaller (dash-mount), everything you need is on the rear connector, no mods! 2 VHF Phoenix-S with power turned down to about 10W, and a pair of UHF -S's like wise turned down to ~5W, spaced about 3/4 to 1 mile apart, or less depending on terrain between the two, a simple control package with ID and time-out-timer, and you're good to go!
