Hi Allen,
I am also in the process of building a portable repeater, however in the UHF
band. I think several "must have" features would have to be:
1: Easy to setup.
2: 1 antenna
3. DTMF control (as you are already thinking)
4: 100% duty cycle
I know you said you didnt want a duplexor, but there a mobile style units for
the VHF band that will enable you to run a single antenna. The units do require
quite a big frequency split (in the range of 40Mhz) but are still small enough
to carry portable. They have about 1.5db of insertion loss and 72 db of
isolation. Look at
http://www.rfi.com.au/downloads/wireless/multicoupling/duplexer132_174.pdf
Please post some pics when you are done and maybe some along the way.
Thanks
Greg
VK2VGM
--- On Mon, 8/3/09, vhsproducts <captal...@aol.com> wrote:
From: vhsproducts <captal...@aol.com>
Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Portable repeater
To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, August 3, 2009, 10:09 PM
I am in the design stages for a portable VHF (2 meter ham) repeater, and
thought I would solicit the views of the group for desired features. In broad
strokes, we plan on a computer programmable unit, capable of one or two field
selectable operation modes. CTCSS only, no COS or DTS. This is primarily to
support our SAR users (I manufacture the Micro-Trak line of APRS tracking
systems sold by Byonics-www. byonics.com) We will have DTMF remote control. The
goal is a bare-bones repeater, with no provision for a duplexer, so wide
channel separation and physically separate antennas will be a must. Battery
power will be the norm, and I am thinking of a system with no more than 8 Watts
output. What features are a "must-have" in this kind of a machine? What DTMF
remote functions do we need as a minimum, and are there any features that we
should have that other controllers don't offer? ( We will be writing our own
code for the controller, an Atmega
microprocessor) Has anyone ever attempted a servo controlled duplexer? Did it
work?
73,
Allen
VHS
AF60F
