Chris, here is a link to a GE Mastr II system I put together last summer. It uses a CAT300 (an old model without the Link capability) with the RLS board.
http://sbarcnm.org/forum/index.php?topic=108.0 Using the older CAT300, only two remote base connections are available since there was no port on the original controller for a link. One thing I noticed was that the CTCSS signal from the link radio was not used in the internal control path of the RLS board. I changed the recommended CAT connections between my CAT300 and the RLS board to use the CTCSS signal instead of the COS signal. The COS signal was still used internal to the RLS board to control the audio mute function. I had a special consideration for the transmitted CTCSS tone in that I needed to be able to in-band link to either repeater for a VoIP interface. I made some modifications to the TS-64 MastrII tone board to only transmit a tone while a signal was present on the input of the repeater or link. I used an in-band link to another 2 meter repeater located about 10 miles away and used a GE Mastr II mobile with the PA removed as the link radio. The 250 mWatt signal into a 3 elememt beam located about 15 ft below the repeater DB-224 antenna provides a fully quieted signal for the other repeater, and the receive signal from the other repeater is fully quieted into the link radio (with some desense I am sure). The schematics for all the interconnections for the repeater are documented in the link above. 73 - Jim W5ZIT --- On Mon, 12/29/08, w4vx_chris <w...@charter.net> wrote: From: w4vx_chris <w...@charter.net> Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Problem remote base linking of 2 repeaters using CAT 300 DXL controller To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, December 29, 2008, 1:40 PM Fellow repeater builders, I am a relative novice at repeater linking and need some trouble shooting/system design advice. I have a 440 repeater with 3 two meter remote base radios tied together using the CAT 300 DXL controller with the RLS board. The remote base radios are tuned to local repeaters that we would like to link together. Individually, each remote base radio works fine meaning I can turn it on with via 440 repeater and qso on the target repeater. Also, another local repeater with a 440 remote base is able to link the 440 repeater and when I turn on one of the remote base radio and link in another 2 mtr repeater it works fine (repeater key up and down like one big repeater). The problem arises when I try to use the two or more 2 mtr remote base radios to link two 2 mtr repeaters together. The system comes up stays up - never unkeys. Is this a hang time issue? Or is there something wrong about trying to link two repeaters on two meters with 2 meter remote bases through a 440 machine - usually folks target the 440 repeater with a remote base not the other way around? Could it be a controller setting issue? I am really stuck at the moment and I appreciate any thoughts you may have. It sure would be nice to have these repeaters linked for our nets and is generally kinda cool if we can pull this off. Vexed in Virgina, Chris W4VX
