P25 on conventional repeater

[KD2DXF]

I have a question, but I think the answer isn't going to be so simple. Can you use p25 on a "conventional" repeater? Example using 2 HT's in p25 mode to communicate via a conventional fm repeater. Would this work, or would you need to buy a p25 repeater? Thanks in advance.

 

[trumpetman]

Yes, you can use P25 voice on a conventional repeater. It does require a P25 repeater to verify NAC (digital version of a PL or DPL), and avoid sounding bad.

However you can build a straight-through/passive repeater which will work for experimentation. Look up plans for a "poor man's P25 repeater" or "poor man's DSTAR repeater". They both operate on the same principle and will pass whatever signal they receive (DSTAR, P25, encryption, interference, etc).

Good news is that it's cheap and fairly straight forward build with easily attainable parts, bad news is the audio quality is poor at best and there is no validation (easily interfered with) and it lacks error correction. Garbage in garbage out, but like I said it's fairly cheap and a good experiment.

 

[prcguy]

No you can't use P25 through a conventional repeater. Technically you might be able to build a simple pass through repeater for any digital mode but I've experimented with this many years ago and its not so simple if you want it to actually work.
prcguy

 

[KD2DXF]

Thanks for the information guys. A friend tried it on a Amateur Radio repeater, and it did not work out. I didn't know if it was a setting or what.

 

[wuzafuzz]

Generally speaking, P25 radios won't repeat through an analog repeater. An analog repeater usually expects a CTCSS tone instead of a P25 NAC. As trumpetmen mentioned earlier, there are repeater hacks that can permit P25 to sort of work. Those are exceptions to the rule.

Many P25 repeaters are conventional mode, meaning they aren't trunked. That's different than analog vs digital.