Hello. Brand new to GMRS. Looking to see if I can get some guidance on the KG-1000G Plus. Thanks
James,
What guidance are you needing on the KG-1000G Plus?
Wolfgang in Panama City.
Hey Wolfgang, I replied earlier but I see it didnât go through. Iâll make this brief and to the point. Iâm a brand new GMRS âuserâ. I know zero about it, just wanted to have a new hobby related to scanning. Thought I would be cool to set up a repeater. I bought an Ed Fong gmrs antenna, 50â of LMR 400, XLT duplexer, two 1000+s, a 30 amp power supply, SWR meter, a UHF dummy load and various cables and connectors. I was little over zealousâŚto say the least. All that and Iâve just recently learned I canât TX from my repeater. This doesnât make sense to me. Thanks for your reply.
James,
Iâve helped many people set up repeaters. I have several here at my station including a Fast Scan Television Repeater. If you would, contact me via my email kv4atv@gmail.com and Iâll help you get this working.
Wolfgang in Panama City WRPW715 among several other call signs I have.
Well, being Iâd have a buy a third gmrs radio just to talk from my location. Iâll just make my location a base station, with one radio and put the other as a mobile in the vehicle. My frustration was it says⌠via the manual RX is 462.xxx and TX 467.xxx. Chatted with BTWR and the help desk said I need to reverse that. RX on 467 and TX on 462. Totally contrary of what the manual says. so idk.
Let me just check something. You bought two radios and are using a real time, two radio setup, yes? Transmit and receive separated by 5MHz?
You mention a duplexer, so I donât know what sort it is, but is it a cavity filter. A black thing about six to ten inches square with a port for an antenna in the middle and an in and out either side?
I maybe have misunderstood here, but if this is correct, remember tuning them is a mix of science and art. Even if you have a spectrum analyser with a tracking generator, tuning these things is a delicate operation, and until youâve done a few, a longwinded and frustrating process. Tiny tweaks of the tuner suddenly produce the notch where itâs needed, but tightening the lock nut, you slip and knock it out of tune again.
Second thing. Do you live where your antennas have a clear view to the horizon. My business repeater had to be relocated to my house, on a hill, because range from the office was terrible as the land rises on 270 degrees around me. It worked only east. My house is higher and performance only restricted in one direction.
A diagram or photo would really help.
Yes, to both questions. 5MHz apart and an XLT tuned to GMRS duplexer (Low, Antenna, High ports). I have the RPT Mode turned on both, one to RX (462.xxx) and the other to TX (467.xxx) w/ the extension cable ran between.
My antenna location is not ideal but should be ok, for right now. Iâll get it higher in the next few weeks. Thank you for your reply.
James
So the filters were tuned for you to those specific channels? The usual outstations transmitting 5MHz higher. The repeater listens on 467 and transmits on 462. The mobiles and handhelds listen on 462 and transmit on 467.
You say you cannot transmit, or do you mean nothing comes out of the antenna? Iâd seriously check that the filter was tuned to EXACTLY your channel - remember these filters are very narrow - so while one channel up or down might be usable, two or three wonât be. Itâs very easy to get the radios also connected to the wrong port - and if you do, nothing gets out and nothing gets in.
Itâs a little out of focus. Yes, when I ordered this I did have the option to have it tuned to a specify freq. I chose RPT channel 19 462.650/467.650. But as you can see, itâs tuned to the GMRS freqs in general. Wait, so a repeater is opposite?
James, at the outset, you said you were new to the world of GMRS so why in the world would you pursue the GMRS repeater technology, at this timeâ
Most people would want to get their âGMRS feet wetâ, so to speak, before venturing into the complexity of establishing a repeater setup.
As a retired Broadcast Engineer, I still know what my limitations are when venturing into something totally new.
Iâve been into this GMRS hobby, maybe 6 years now. I started out with a Midland MXT400, some LMR coax, and a 6 db gain antenna. That was more than enough money to start a base station and decide if this hobby was for me.
I have since purchased additional equipment and thoroughly enjoy it.
Paulears is extremely knowledgeable and I respect his expertise. He points out the complexity of setting up repeaters. It is clearly not something for a newbie.
My recommendation, set up a base station, make some contacts, then go from there.
Best wishes,
Tom (WRQE346)
Cheers Tom!!
For fun, I took off the shelf a VHF one, and it has on it the two frequencies it is supposed to separate. I quickly connected the analyser and while it is close-ish, itâs not tuned properly. Much is simply it did a few thousand miles between there and here, and bumping is bad for the tuning. What I should see is a deep and âpointyâ notch, where frequencies either side are hardly attenuated. That filter is nearly 1MHz wide - so that jaggly low point should be a pointy solid line - it indicates that the three filters are all tuned to different frequencies. As a repeater filter it would give horrible performance. Watch a youtube video on tuning cavities for repeaters and see the level of tweaking needed to let frequency A through but stop everything else, and then the opposite on the other frequency. The filters are tuned one port high one port low - if you accidentally reversed it in the tuning, swap the labels. They are also quite finicky about impedances - so if you disconnect the dummy load you use when tuning one side, the notch moves. Same thing if the antenna is resonant on a different frequency - itâs impedance changes and so does your filter tuning. Usually only a tiny bit, but I had a J Pole antenna designed for a band 20 MHz away from the repeater - it worked poorly.
You cannot buy a filter, give them the two frequencies and then expect it to work - thatâs not how this stuff works The label on yours cannot give a RX and TX spec as a range? One channel down or up might work, but two channels (as in 25KHz) is probably going to really reduce performance. You buy these things, then tune them locally. even 1 mile on the seat of my van was too much, and I had to retune on site.
Cheers also from Tennessee USA! I hope James Brox sees your response. I canât imagine wanting to set up a GMRS repeater as a newbie. Unless he has a radio technical background + expertise, I personally wouldnât want to tread into those waters without significant reading first.
On another note, I had posted earlier about significant RF noise on GMRS ch 18 only. It turns out that the infotainment system in my vehicle was the culprit! That system is loaded with features including AM, FM, Bluetooth, hands free calling, cellular to WiFi, and of course SirusXM satellite radio. Just turning it off doesnât completely turn everything off but It does, however, reduce the RF noise. No noise is on the 12 volt DC feed to the Midland MXT275 so Iâm currently experimenting with additional grounding of the radio in hopes reducing the RF interference.
Definitely a work in progress.
Tom (WRQE346)
Funny you say that - Marine Band CH 0 (156.0MHz) is unsuable in my van as there is a really nasty sproggie from my audio unit that wipes that channel out!
1 Like
Hey Tom. Yes, I ended up just setting up a base station. No harm, no foul. Maybe in the future I revisit the repeater idea. Thanks
James
WRXU693
James, first, welcome aboard to the twoway radio forumđ Glad you decided to skip setting up a GMRS repeater at this time. What kind of power are you running at your new base station and antenna youâre using? How active is the GMRS band in your area?
Hope youâre enjoying this new hobby.
Tom (WRQE346)
Thanks TomâŚgood to be here. Yeah, I tend jump head first into things somethings lol. Using a 50w Wouxun KG-1000G+ with an Ed Fong pretuned gmrs antenna. Itâs fairly active. Not necessarily in my immediate area but fortunately I can hit a repeater about fifty miles away where thereâs more users. Everybodyâs been friendly and willing to help. Glad to met you and weâll talk again. OhâŚwith me having two 1000âs now, because of my repeater idea. I put the other one in the truck with an Midland MXTA26 mag mount.
James
WRXU693