Can TRBO portables at two separate sites be bridged via the Internet?!

[repeaterepeater]

Hi. I am a novice tinkerer with a healthy interest getting more adept at working with the Mototrbo line of products. I own a bunch of SL300 (UHF/99Ch) and XPR7550e (VHF) radios that I use in two locations for the past 4-5 years. The first location is around my primary residence, an urban environment where the radios are really on hand for backup communications in the event of a disaster such (think hurricanes and the like) and occasional fun with the kids. I also have an agricultural property where we use radios for general comms as a part of land management and recreational activities. Most of my radios are older production years, so I've thus far only used CPS 16.0 Build 828. This is all background, and not my question!

I also recently added a few new XPR7550e's to the roster, which means I've got to move over to CPS 2.0 to program them. To date, I haven't even installed 2.0! But in looking it up in my Motorola download portal, I noticed a whole pile of other software packages like RDAC, Tuner, AirTracer, Radio Management, DDMS, NMIS, MCDD, and even some PTT tools. In reading about some of these programs (like...just skimming the surface), it came to mind that there might be a way I could set up radios used at my primary residence and our farm such that they could communicate with each other via an internet connection. Namely, I use a radio in one place, which transmits portable to portable for local traffic, but also gets picked up at some mobile-turned-base-station that is connected to a PC (or similar) that then pushes tx/rx through the internet to the other location with a similar setup that propagates the same signal in location 2. This would allow me to bridge a 150mi. gap via the internet, which sounds pretty cool! Is this doable? Can anyone give me any sort of tips on where to start, what the general hardware and software setup would need to be, and how this sorta stuff needs to be reflected in the programming of the actual portables? And for the moment, just assume I am trying to address only my VHFs or UHFs, and that I'm not trying to make these interoperable with one another. I imagine that this could be done, but that's too fancy for where I'm going at this time.

One of my kids is starting to get interested in this sorta stuff, so the best part is that if this is doable, I think this would be a really cool engineering project for us to try to build together! Lots of disciplines get woven together on a project like this, better than some half-axxed afterschool STEM program!

In terms of my ability to execute, I am not a radio guy by trade. I went to engineering school, am self-taught on CPS where I have learned by messing about with the various analog and digital setups. I understand basic principles of radio signals, antennas, etc. I'm also not exactly a web administrator, so I anticipate any IP-based settings are going to come with a learning curve!

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated!!

 

[buddrousa]

What are you Licensed to do by the FCC?

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Hi. I am a novice tinkerer with a healthy interest getting more adept at working with the Mototrbo line of products. I own a bunch of SL300 (UHF/99Ch) and XPR7550e (VHF) radios that I use in two locations for the past 4-5 years. The first location is around my primary residence, an urban environment where the radios are really on hand for backup communications in the event of a disaster such (think hurricanes and the like) and occasional fun with the kids. I also have an agricultural property where we use radios for general comms as a part of land management and recreational activities. Most of my radios are older production years, so I've thus far only used CPS 16.0 Build 828. This is all background, and not my question!

I also recently added a few new XPR7550e's to the roster, which means I've got to move over to CPS 2.0 to program them. To date, I haven't even installed 2.0! But in looking it up in my Motorola download portal, I noticed a whole pile of other software packages like RDAC, Tuner, AirTracer, Radio Management, DDMS, NMIS, MCDD, and even some PTT tools. In reading about some of these programs (like...just skimming the surface), it came to mind that there might be a way I could set up radios used at my primary residence and our farm such that they could communicate with each other via an internet connection. Namely, I use a radio in one place, which transmits portable to portable for local traffic, but also gets picked up at some mobile-turned-base-station that is connected to a PC (or similar) that then pushes tx/rx through the internet to the other location with a similar setup that propagates the same signal in location 2. This would allow me to bridge a 150mi. gap via the internet, which sounds pretty cool! Is this doable? Can anyone give me any sort of tips on where to start, what the general hardware and software setup would need to be, and how this sorta stuff needs to be reflected in the programming of the actual portables? And for the moment, just assume I am trying to address only my VHFs or UHFs, and that I'm not trying to make these interoperable with one another. I imagine that this could be done, but that's too fancy for where I'm going at this time.

One of my kids is starting to get interested in this sorta stuff, so the best part is that if this is doable, I think this would be a really cool engineering project for us to try to build together! Lots of disciplines get woven together on a project like this, better than some half-axxed afterschool STEM program!

In terms of my ability to execute, I am not a radio guy by trade. I went to engineering school, am self-taught on CPS where I have learned by messing about with the various analog and digital setups. I understand basic principles of radio signals, antennas, etc. I'm also not exactly a web administrator, so I anticipate any IP-based settings are going to come with a learning curve!

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated!!

You would need MotoTrbo repeaters at both locations and IP Site Connect (IPSC) deployed between them. This is the proper way to do it. There are some 3rd party analog gateways that you could deploy with simplex MotoTrbo base radios, but it is really a hack. Might work for your casual use, but not the right way to do it.

 

[mikegilbert]

You could also buy a pair of DMR-capable hotspots and set one up at each location.

 

[PACNWDude]

My employer does exactly this, across the entire United States.....but it is not cheap. A central location dispatches site fire elements across the enterprise via Radio-over-Internet-Protocol (RoIP). The interface at each site is either a Motorola Conventional Channel Gate-Way (CCGW), or for smaller sites a Zetron 6301 or 6302 IP Gateway (single link 6301, dual link 6302).

As others have mentioned, each site must be licensed for their local frequencies. That being the case a base radio is programmed with each local site radio frequencies, each base radio is wired to either the CCGW or Zetron 630X interface, and when someone transmits on the correct channel for the link, that audio is passed via the network to the distant end and vice versa.

The reason this is done in this case is that Motorola Astro sites are combined with Trbo sites, two different version of Motorola digital radio comms, instead of deploying all Trbo or all Astro, to save money, some sites use one or the other, with many Trbo sites also having some Astro radios for local interoperability (federal grant money is only for P25 compliant radios, as Trbo is commercial spec.).

Several cheaper alternatives have been given above, hotspot, or some other gateway to get audio passed over the Internet can work....but more expensive solutions will often be more reliable......but all rely upon the network for their ultimate reliability. Poor or throttled network connection = poorer and less reliable radio link.

 

[PACNWDude]

You could also buy a pair of DMR-capable hotspots and set one up at each location.

Nice avatar, that Ibis-Tek Suburban and gear on top is awesome.....and could also be linked via a radio/Internet connection.

 

[otobmark]

You might want to stay with CPS 16 for creating/editing code plugs and only use CPS 2.0 for actually shooting the radio (it can convert cps 16 plug to 2.0). As I’ve said before, if you work in 2.0 you will eventually find yourself crying with a gun barrel in your mouth…

 

[Firebuff880]

You will need to update, but 7000 series subscribers can have a Wave On Cloud Channel VIA WiFi and R7s should support this as of the 2025 release I am told. Of course, the TLK subscribers are a better bet if you don't need the TRBO component.