I was finally able to get our home repeater system up and on the air, while only 40 foot above the ground, we were able to get decent range on our /\/\oto Astro Sabers of 5 miles solid and 10 miles in places, that is with the 3 inch stubs, ordered some regular whips at 6 inches. Our mobiles are PM400's with mine on a 5db Maxrad and get 10 miles solid and 20 with some scratchiness, wife refuses to have anything but a 3db, but still the setup covers our AO and will allow me to cut back on cell service and allow us SHTF communications (I went thru the tornado in Washington IL a couple years back were all cell service ground to a halt, the Wash PD lost all their phone services, it was the most surreal day, hearing one of their officers describe the chaos and damage). Now for the TL;DR...


Sitting on a 30 foot Channel Master Mast at 12 feet on the porch roof. Used 1/2 Inch Hardline with a lightening arrester near the duplexer. Still need to run the ground wire, figure I have some time with winter coming.

Plan to upgrade to a 60-80 foot Rohn 25 tower with a better antenna (currently a Comet CA-172-EFC 9dbi) like a Sinclair or Decibel true 9-10 db $$$$$.


My Vertex VXR-7000 repeater, placed in the attic, using a cheap duplexer for now, going to get the additional PL/DPL's set for travel tones and some others in my AO, set the hangtime to 4-5 seconds, currently at 1 second, the repeater is rated at 50 watts at 100% duty cycle, built like a brick, add my CW and have a shop double check the duplexer and repeater for any tweaking that will squeeze me some additional range, debating on a pre-amp for the receive (suggestions or not to do welcome). I like the repeater though, others in my area use them and said they are work horses.


Control station is a PM400 with a Moto desk mic, I have always thought it was the coolest looking mic made (I am into nostalgia;). Put a 10 foot fence pipe up on a 5db Maxrad mobile antenna on a Maxrad mobile/base mount, mainly to hit other repeaters when wife or I are out of range on mine, all in my AO allow travel tone access. Plus a couple of local PD's and Sheriff in my county are in the scan list.


My install in my Beemer, an X3, did the install myself, was pretty easy with the battery in the back, since it's a used 2006 I wasn't too concerned drilling holes in the dash and console, I set it up same as the control station on channels, need to order one of the old style Moto mics like the PD used (again that nostalgia thing). Using a mag mount 5db Maxrad, debating on a regular drilled NMO mount, was told the Maxrads will be a true 5db if properly grounded. I did the same type of install on the sammich machine's SUV, a Rav4, but did a 3bd antenna, seems similar in range to mine, may switch out to that. Mobiles get decent coverage on the system, I wasn't expecting 100 foot tower height coverage, just better then a CB and more private so to speak.


My portable, wife has the same, but is complaining about carrying it around, may have to get a little 2 ch Vertex 5 watt rig for her. The portable is an old Astro Saber Model 1E I think, using the stub at the moment but need to get the 6 inch antenna, as I expect range would improve, looking at going to Smiley Antenna's, their claim is a 3bd gain with theirs at 6 inches.

I discovered at least in our area there is a GMRS network with repeaters covering Tazewell County pretty well, my setup covers Woodford well, as well as the downtown metro area of Peoria. Now if I could get the wife to stop saying 1-Housewife-1 to 101 I would be set, she knows how to talk police, but refuses just to get my goat ;)

Overall I am stoked and extremely happy we took the plunge. Now to get my ham ticket and have more radio options.

Big thanks to all those that offered tips and help on my adventure.

Nice. I like to use MDC for signalling (which both the PM400 and Astro Sabers support). I like the PM400, one of my favorite analog mobiles made by Motorola (especially since it has a full feature user PL menu).

Noice! Well done!

I know the MDC is like ANI, what would be the benefit on the MDC? I am all ears as I like to be as geek as possible (I am serious, like to know all I can;)

Does that introduce that chirp you hear on some PD's when they unkey?

MDC Tone example

The geek in me likes that sound.

I had help, I am 55 yo and enlisted the help of my 60 yo brother in law to climb the peak of the roof, I discovered I was afraid of heights, I took a tumble 20 years ago off a roof (I owned a roofing company in a previous life) and ended up in the hospital with a punctured lung, broken ribs and a busted back. I actually froze, it was a bit disturbing to feel that way, I got better as the day progressed, but I used to climb 2 story ladders, did tower work on my old system at 70 feet. Sucks to get old :(

Thanks for the compliment, I will take it :)))

Pretty much. I prefer pre-tones for "subscribers" and post tones for repeaters (for logging purposes). If your repeater has a DOS (Data Operated Squelch, not Disk Operating System in this case) setup, you can actually lock it down to only be accessed by MDC capable equipment with the proper ID.

One of the benefits of MDC is you can log what radio is being used. With more and more systems being digital and/or linked, it trains you to pause a second after keying the mic (gives you a go no-go tone) before you can start talking. You could also do "private" calling or paging with it.

The "potato masher" mic you are speaking of is HMN1035C. The smaller (palm version) is HMN1056D. The 1056D's were available from radio parts recently for about $26 a piece.

Anyway, if you need codeplugs to guide you through, just let me know. I've got them for Commercial series and Astro Series.

Thanks, I am meeting my shop guy Monday to program in the extra PL's and DPL's for some people as well as the GMRS travel tone. I will ask him about the Vertex and if it can do some of what you say, I know it allows ANI on the repeater.  I did find a place that has the correct "Potato masher" mic for about that price, on Amazon of all places.

I may reach out to you on some tips on the PM400's.

Now I have to get the wife a cigarette sized portable, she complained about the Astro brick Looks like I can get my hands on a Motorola EX600 for $160-175 programmed. Looks small enough, though back to same boat using a stub, now to find a 6 inch whip, though she wants discreet, I want range...

So you got the tornado-proof model?

I do...the local 675 repeater is here.


6 feet off square at the top. I wonder what could do that ("Finger of God")

Skibane
Tornado Proof? I was pretty fortunate, it went over my house, winds were nothing, but 2 miles away was pretty much devastation. Mainly we are setup for loss of cell service, save on the phones, and have comms to play with, but we are in a tornado prone region. I have thought about a suitcase repeater, there are a few on eBay, I actually lost a repeater back in the 80's in a major fire, it heard it switch to battery and start beeping as I was ker-chunking the repeater :( It burned the Uniden repeater to a crisp had a 12db Sinclair omnipole that all the elements unfused, only thing worth saving was the tower. I was bummed, it was a sweet working rig, I know the antenna was what caused it to be so awesome.

I do plan to guy the mast at the bottom and check the tilt a little it seems to be leaning slightly west

Zap
I would love to find a location like that, I do have a 100 foot tower across the road that just has a microwave dish on it, nothing at the top. I was told by a guy in the Chicago area to approach municipalities about space on their water towers or regular towers, since it's non-commercial they are supposed to tend to be more willing, especially if I offer up access in emergencies. Only issue is for a SHTF setup that sort of takes control out of my hands.

I need to upload the drone shots we had taken of our property, I had the guy shoot the horizon, you can see for miles, even at the top of the hill going into our closest metro area you can see forever. That's why I think a nice tower to get over the tree tops and a decent commercial antenna would be the bomb on range, still works as expected, we can never have enough range.

I might have missed it, but what are you using for the repeater controller/identifier?

The controller built into the VXR-7000...as far as ID that's for the OP. I'm not familiar with that repeater enough to know if it has an internal IDer (doesn't have to be on in GMRS service though).

If the OP is looking for a Motorola for his wife, the smaller radios I can really think of are SL300's, maybe XPR3550s but of course those are current.

Another option, check out the Tecnet Spartan series hand helds. They run around $100 if you can get them but are comparable in size to the BF-888 (with more features).

Correct, internal board, 16 PL and same or double for DPL. Since it requires software and you have to have the dealer key? I am going to have 3 or 4 channels programmed with our single tone for the wife/family and I, another for a select group, another for all of us and the travel tone, I have read that you get idiots out there that will act like the old CB's of old, so I want to be able to change the channel and kill the travel tone if I need to as well as have an open squelch setup. Again I like Zap's idea of the MDC access.

As for the portable, I am trying to keep the cost below $200, I like the Bat line of radios, but will look at those others. I have been getting excellent service/buys from Sunny Communications in Colorado, they go by Used-Radios.Com on eBay, I have been dealing with Mike, was told they have thousands of radios in their warehouse, trying to work out some battering with him for SEO services and pickup some other radios. Besides the increased height with a tower and better antenna, I am toying with the idea of a Pyramid or Vertex mobile repeater to extend the portable range when out of the car, so far mobile hits 90-95% of the AO, portable of course is not as hot, that is were the mobile extenders would be kind of cool, seems you can snare them used for $100.

What are the possibilities of adding a preamp to the receive line, though from some research the cheaper duplexers don't kill the noise level like a better duplexer will and could just add in noise instead. I can hear us in marginal areas on the repeater but not enough to get a clear PL to open the repeater.

I have to get my ham ticket since I am getting that radio bug

Wow, the TecNet SPARTAN TS-3000 Series is like only $129.00!

I am wanting to stay away from the Baofeng stuff but that TecNet might be the way to go for the daughter and brother's families.

Here is a size comparison for you. (I'm a Tecnet rep so if you see a lot of Tecnet stuff laying around, that is why).


From left to right: Tecnet TS-2000, Astro Saber (VHF) with Li-on battery, Astro Saber (UHF), HT1000 (UHF), XPR6550 (UHF), TPD-1424 (UHF)

I have a MDC-1200 as my text alert on my phone

also very awesome setup.... bit jealous

That is too funny, I do as well, it drives my wife crazy

Thanks for the compliment, to be honest, this has been one of my dream setups for over 2 years or more, I was lucky I married the right women this point in my life, she backs my passions 150%, be it AR's and other guns, the radios, my passion to do dog rescue (Australian Shepherds) or model railroading (took a hiatus with getting married and the new home)

That is small. I will look some more at that as an option for backup radios. Will they hold up to drops on the ground, getting water on them, all things my wife is prone to do, that was one reason I went to the Motorola's for the abuse factor. As far as programming, I imagine I can do them via a laptop and USB?

I still think the Sabers are nice looking radios, plus the option to be a non-lethal weapon.

The TS-2000 is rated for IP-54. The TP-8000 is IP-67 rated (with an internal bluetooth option). They use a cable similar to some of the Motorola 2 pin programming setups.