Radio's as Repeaters

[Nate The Surveyor]

My 35 watt radio has run with a fan, at 5hz, has been hot with that fan, and finally went back to running at 1hz, and for the last year or so, it's range has been deteriorating. Well, I thought I'd use it ONE more time. I set it to run at 35 watts, and did all I could to get penetration, and range out of it. DEAD. No more signal from that radio. I tried it a good ways off, and up close. The Blue light flickered, the TX light lit every second. The pwr light was on. NOTHING. Battery was hot. I tried one watt, 4 watts, etc. NOPE. That's all she wrote.

You know, RTK does not do well, when Coms are down, with the base... um, no.

I had re-flashed the firmware, last wk, and gotten it going, again, but this time, she died. This was yesterday.

I was faced with RENTING another radio, while this one went home to momma. Or, buying another. I decided to buy another 4 watt one. So, that I can use it as repeater. It will be in this weekend, (hopefully) and I'll get it going (bluetooth handshake and such), and that will let me return to work, while my primary base radio goes home for service.
AFTER it comes back, I want to set the BASE to channel 1, and the ROVER to Channel 2. I want to run with DQPSK, 12.5 band width, on base, AND rover.

Are there any REPEATER users out there, who can tell me if these settings will work?

Another thing, that would be INTERESTING is to be able to RUN on one channel, while monitoring channel 2, on the LS. The big RADIO button (upper right) is nice and big. We could divide it into 3 parts. One for EACH channel, and access more radio settings with the 3rd button.
We could be sitting on a boundary corner. We are receiving corrections on channel 1. (left 1/3 of button is green) and monitoring channel 2 (right 1/3 of radio button). Monitoring says green too. This tells us that BOTH sources are good for this shot. Go to next corner. Now, LEFT side is Yellow, and Red, but right side is GREEN. PUSH right side, and we change channels in the LS, and receive corrections via channel 2.
So, we can now change channels, via one button push. And, we can USE one channel, while monitoring another.

These ideas might only be good for for the "Idea Pile". I don't know if the radio would support 2 channels at this time. However, it would be NICE if it could.

Any other repeater users out there? I work mountains. Trees. Pines. Forests. Creek bottoms. IF this works good (my repeater) it might be an option for us mountain folks, to as a NORMAL part of our work to buy 2 radios.

Any comments?

Thank you!

N

 

[Matt Johnson]

Is there some reason you are opposed to having the base radio and repeater broadcast the same frequency? This is supported by the firmware and there are options in the LS to decide which radio you receiver corrections from:

Also you need to use D8PSK modulation when using the repeater.

 

[Nate The Surveyor]

Well, I'm told that with every repeater, our band width is cut in half.
I'm wanting to run with DQPSK. And, occasionally set up repeater. Keep band width at 12.5 on repeater. It's a MERE quest for "no place without rtk".

 

[Nate The Surveyor]

Also, as I understand it, when Galileo comes out, we will be piling more data than ever into that little 12.5 band width. Anything I can do, to get penetration, and range, is part of my thinking.

 

[Jon Gramm]

Unfortunately, lower frequencies are not an option with the F.C.C.
Back in the days when dinosaurs still walked the earth, we used V.H.F. frequencies for corrections. They worked very well for us, and we got great range with them.
If I could, I would broadcast on Channel 3 (Television channel)

The whole real time correction frequency bandwidth thing was not very well thought out in my opinion given the needs of the precision surveying, mapping, and exploration communities.

The narrowing of the bandwidth has been nothing but a huge pain in the side for us, although the forced obsolescence of a great deal of equipment has been beneficial to new equipment sales.

I understand wanting to use different frequencies for the base & repeater radios, in the past, it greatly simplified our field operations when deploying multiple crews, and helped with operational efficiencies and troubleshooting.

 

[Nate The Surveyor]

I'm told it can presently use 2 frequencies, with a repeater. If we can do that, then we should be able to use DQPSK... I think.... or hope.


N