New Club Repeater [Archive] - The Island Of Misfit Hams

W0AJA

05-13-2014, 10:29 PM

Hello All!

I am a member of our local clubs, and the one is looking for a new repeater.

One mentioned the new VXR-9000 with the 100 watt amplifier, and reciews or anyone use one before?

What bothers me is that it says 100% duty cycle at 50 Watts Max and what would the duty cycle be for the full 100 watts.

Feel free to comment if you know of a decent repeater that is fairly cheap and new(er) that has high RX sensitivity and high power output, plus user friendly (If you know what I mean)

Thanks in advance, all answers will be forward to the club!

K7SGJ

05-13-2014, 10:49 PM

The problem here is the trade off between cheap and good quality. 50 watts at a good location, with a good antenna, will cover a lot of ground. I would much rather run 50 watts of transmitter output to a good gain antenna, than run 100 watts with a lower gain antenna. The higher gain antenna will not only improve the transmitted signal, but that of the received signal as well.

Most of the repeaters I have ever been involved with, have always been operated at well under maximum output. It's much easier on the equipment, and all that RF is unnecessary. The same is true of ops on HF. I wonder how many people are running full tilt boogie 1.5KW into a POS antenna, when a 100 watt transmitter running into a well designed antenna will out perform it every time. It is almost always a lot more cost effective, and a good station practice, to improve the antenna system, than to just run more power. At least, that's the way I've found it to be.

You would be surprised how well a good repeater running 30-50 watts, into a Super Station Master in a good location will perform. And, a good set of well tuned cavities is an absolute must.

WØTKX

05-13-2014, 11:39 PM

Expecting 100% key down activity on the new repeater, eh? :lol:

W2NAP

05-13-2014, 11:42 PM

100w+ 100% duty.

old school GE mastr II. or a Moto MSR-2000 (make sure its 100% duty they did make intermittent duty 2000's) or a MSR-5000. or a old Micor.

want newer. Motorola Quantar. VHF ones are in the 100-125w 100% duty UHF ones 100-110w 100% duty and will run between $2,000 and $3,000 used. 435 LA uses a Quantar and its keyed up about 24/7

If they want to play with good shit, they better not bitch about the price. its pay up or go home.

WØTKX

05-13-2014, 11:46 PM

Is the 435 LA machine in a bulletproof box as well? :lol:

W2NAP

05-13-2014, 11:46 PM

Quantars on ebay

UHF
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorola-Quantar-UHF-100-Watt-Repeater-438-470-Mhz-HAM-/191138797382?pt=2_Way_Radios_FRS&hash=item2c80c29746

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOTOROLA-QUANTAR-P25-DIGITAL-REPEATER-UHF-438-470MHZ-110-WATT-/251529029945?pt=2_Way_Radios_FRS&hash=item3a904c6939

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOTOROLA-UHF-QUANTAR-REPEATER-110-WATT-438-470-MHZ-ASTRO-P25-/380901114185?pt=2_Way_Radios_FRS&hash=item58af79c149

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOTOROLA-UHF-QUANTAR-REPEATER-110-WATT-438-470-MHz-ASTRO-P25-/191106360591?pt=2_Way_Radios_FRS&hash=item2c7ed3a50f

W2NAP

05-13-2014, 11:47 PM

Is the 435 LA machine in a bulletproof box as well? :lol:

not that I am aware. but the quantar is "bulletproof" so to speak.... seen that damn thing keyed up 24/7 for a couple weeks strait.

W3WN

05-14-2014, 07:02 AM

KC2UGV

05-14-2014, 08:01 AM

Woof!

At those prices, the damned things BETTER be bullet-proof!

They are. Some US military forces use these in place of kevlar plates for their IBAS.

N2CHX

05-14-2014, 09:18 AM

Duty cycle booty cycle. Just connect the output of this to the vent of the amp and you're good to go.

12281

W0AJA

05-14-2014, 09:59 AM

A nearby club has a VXR-9000 we are pretty sure and the president will contact them probably.

Thanks guys for all the info! I heard quantars are nice also

kb2vxa

05-14-2014, 05:35 PM

I was waiting for our ex broadcast engineer to toss her 2c in. Didn't they have that AC unit in the WWKB transmitter shack, or was that thing a bootleg still made from an old Continental water cooled transmitter final?

Now what were we talking about? Oh yeah, repeaters. I used to tell newbies all hot to trot just dieing to put a repeater on the air that unless they know how to modify an old rig and build a simple COR for it repeaters don't come cheap. So much for the ego box idea. The same thing for a club, they're going to have to invest a small fortune to rent vertical real estate, a shack to put some pricy equipment in. And Then there's DTMF land line remote control (voice link optional) if for nothing else to shut it down in the event of a jammer messing about, a strong carrier on the input blocking DTMF control signals, the transmitter hangs or transmits spurious signals in violation of the FCC rules. What's the time limit on that, 30 minutes before an NOV is issued? In any case they'll have to spend a lot of money on reliable equipment if they don't want to spend more time fixing than using it. The bottom line here is money, lots of money, so when all is said and one can the club afford it?

Last but not least is the inner circle of repeater elite snobs, cliques and infighting that spoils enjoyment of the club and its repeater. Can the club avoid this sort of thing and hang together? Can a bunch of Nazis with a sewer pipe repeater (I knew one with that exact reputation and another the same only using different words) attract members and users? You know the answer, so back to the previous question. Now ask yourself will a repeater spoil the club? Here's a clue but of course only my opinion. I've been a member of several clubs and a packet radio BBS/node remote sysop for one, some better than others, and that one with the sewer pipe repeater, it was the pits and I wasn't a member for long. On the opposite end of the spectrum the Old Barney ARC (OBARC) was the very best, I can't praise them enough, and the only one without a repeater.