Icom UR-FR6000 as a standalone repeater

[Cowley639]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for a simple 25w NXDN repeater for a small campus. I'm curious if I can use the Icom UR-FR6000 as a standalone NXDN repeater? I have the opportunity to purchase one for basically nothing, from a local radio shop that has gone out of business.

We are currently using TK-3180, and TK-8180 radios with a Kenwood TKR-850 repeater. Those radios and the repeater have been in use for over 15 years and are starting to show their age rather significantly. We have just recently purchased new NX-3320 portables and NX-3820HG mobiles and are looking to move to NXDN, for better voice clarity.

If this works i'd assume i'd just need programming software, and a programming cable? We'd use the DC power supply from our TKR-850, along with the duplexer.

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

[kayn1n32008]

Only caveat is the Icom might only do very narrow NXDN. your audio quality WILL suffer with 6.25kHz NXDN. Think DMR, vs. 12.5kHz NXDN which is more like P25 phase 1 for audio quality. If price is THE driving factor and you don't have much for adjacent RF at the site, with a proper 6 cavity ResLok or 6x 6" cavity duplexer, it should be okay. You definitely do not want to be using a notch only mobile duplexer with the UR-FR6000 repeater.

I'm not a big fan of these repeaters front ends, in an analogue amateur setting, we had to add additional band pass filtering to eliminate some adjacent channel problems. This was before we added P25, Fusion and a second MTR3000 at the same site, all between 440 and 444MHz

If you buy a Kenwood NXDN repeater, like a NXR810, you can do very narrow(6.25kHz) NXDN or narrow(12.5kHz) NXDN. 12.5kHz NXDN will have much better audio quality over 6.25kHz NXDN.

My club recently replaced a TKR820(Replaced a UR-FR6000) with a NXR810, for analogue use and so far it has been flawless. It is multicoupled to 5 other repeaters. 1 of which is a 125w Quantar and 2 100w MTR3000's.

 

[mmckenna]

I can't advise on the Icom.

What I can tell you is the Kenwood NXR-1800 is a good little repeater. It'll do analog, NXDN narrow, NXDN very narrow and mixed mode.
I'm running few of them in analog only mode. Nice solid repeater in a small package. There's a nice management interface when you connect to them over the web.
Since you already have the duplexer and the power supply, these can be a really good, low cost option.