Hitting repeaters in other states

Status
Not open for further replies.

W9OHM

Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2017
Messages
22
Location
Crystal Lake,Il
This thread made me smile. A friend of mine used to live in a high rise on the Chicago lakefront in the early 70''s. He had a HT220 and I had a Standard SRC 146 and we would access repeaters in Wi, Mi, In and Il all the time. On some freqs we would hear multiple kerchunks at the end of many conversations verifying we were getting into multiple repeaters. This of course was in the days before the full use of PL!
 

bill4long

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2012
Messages
1,459
Location
Indianapolis
Another option, find two repeaters, one in each of your areas, that use Echolink, IRLP, or Allstar, and link the repeaters together. Another option, make your own nodes and connect them, and talk over that.
 
D

DaveNF2G

Guest
The New York repeater interference begs the question: Were they "coordinated and adequately separated" properly? Simply because they went through the process doesn't mean it was done right. The fact that they interfered with each other may indicate that. Admittedly, I've never had to go through the process so I may be a little naïve but it would seem that an alternative would have been available.

I named the locations. A map will tell you that the physical separation was more than adequate, even for flat land, which upstate New York is not.

You also apparently disregarded the part about the station in between running excessive power. Repeater coordination cannot always make up for poor operating practices.
 

KK4JUG

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 13, 2014
Messages
4,246
Location
GA
I named the locations. A map will tell you that the physical separation was more than adequate, even for flat land, which upstate New York is not.

You also apparently disregarded the part about the station in between running excessive power. Repeater coordination cannot always make up for poor operating practices.

Okay. Sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn't.
 

vagrant

ker-muhj-uhn
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Nov 19, 2005
Messages
3,150
Location
California
From my house, there are NC repeaters only about 10-15 miles away. Granted there is a huge mountain range in the way, but I feel like I should be able to hit them. Any advice is appreciated.
That pesky mountain range always in the way! Here in California I have one named Sierra Nevada.

Your question is a good one and the variety of responses are addressing many different valid factors that should be considered.

- Basically, line of sight for VHF/UHF frequencies typically offer improved results versus reflected. Still, that mountain range in the way is unfriendly and you may not overcome it.

- Although your radio transmits using a few watts, you have already realized that an improved antenna is critical to the entire system. The coax you use is important too, especially at the higher frequencies.

- Even if you had a radio that put out 50 watts, used low attenuation coax and fed it into an antenna with reasonable gain, you may still not reach the repeater(s) you indicated.

- On the other hand maybe you already are or could reach those repeaters with an improved system, but that does not mean you may receive them. Much depends on the antenna, coax and power output on their end as well. Whomever setup the repeater may not have considered that someone on the other side of the mountain range could or would reach them. Your direction from the site could be purposely in the null of their antenna as well.

Consider this, improving your antenna, coax and radio will overall improve your TX and RX, but is it worthwhile to reach a repeater that may not have much or any use?
 

scanmanmi

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2011
Messages
828
Location
Central Michigan
I hit Milwaukee across lake Michigan from 170 miles one night. Another time I was trying to get into a repeater 70 miles away and ended up bringing up one 100 miles the oposite direction with the same tone. Omnidirectional.
 

TheSpaceMann

Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2014
Messages
1,333
I hit Milwaukee across lake Michigan from 170 miles one night. Another time I was trying to get into a repeater 70 miles away and ended up bringing up one 100 miles the oposite direction with the same tone. Omnidirectional.
Band openings will do that! Good to watch the online VHF propagation maps.
 

KC3ECJ

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2015
Messages
506
I hit Milwaukee across lake Michigan from 170 miles one night. Another time I was trying to get into a repeater 70 miles away and ended up bringing up one 100 miles the oposite direction with the same tone. Omnidirectional.

I was able to get a 2 meter repeater in Detroit from the Indiana Ohio border on the Turnpike just using 5 watts into a Tram 1185 mag mount.

Roughly 100 miles.
 

junkdr

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
11
Individual repeaters are so limited in coverage, maybe 100 miles on a regular basis if you have a good location/antenna. I talk simplex into Canada, North Carolina, Connecticut etc anytime day or night on VHF/UHF.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top