Tim, A low-power Motorola R1225 transceiver (1-10 watts) is ideal, since it is full-duplex and contains the controller and IDer. Add a suitable duplexer, a 90-watt solar panel, a 200 Ah AGM battery, and a good solar charge controller, and you're good to go for less than $2,000. I put up just such a commercial system almost 7 years ago, using the higher-power (25-50 watt) R1225 and larger panels and batteries, and it ran 24/7/365 until just recently when I upgraded to a 100-watt MTR2000 and a more powerful solar system. The R1225 is now on standby as a backup system.
73, Eric Lemmon WB6FLY -----Original Message----- From: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com [mailto:repeater-buil...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of tahrens301 Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 7:42 AM To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Low Power VHF Repeater - Solar A friend of mine who is the foreman for a large ranch asked me about providing radio coverage. As there are a couple of hills (2000' AGL) around the ranch, coverage in some places would be spotty, so a repeater on one of the hills would be the best solution. However, there is no power available, so a solar/wind power solution would be necessary. (we get a lot of sun here!) I've done a couple of solar projects, but this needs to be pretty much commercial quality, so I was wondering if there is a commercial repeater available that would be a good candidate for solar power. I figure the RF power out could be 5 watts or less and still give good coverage throughout the ranch. Thanks, Tim
