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Low Band Repeater

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scoutcamper

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Does any company still make a low band(45-46mhz for my use case) repeater today? I currently have a daniels/codan repeater that is on its last legs, and before I start down the road of trying to move the system to voted VHF high band or something similar I wanted to see if anyone makes a reputable low band repeater today. Not looking for two mobiles duct taped together with a RIC, this needs to be professional/public safety grade gear.

I know Daniels/Codan and Midland both stopped making them years ago, I have yet to come across any manufacturer still producing them.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!
 

prcguy

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Jun 30, 2006
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So Cal - Richardson, TX - Tewksbury, MA
There are a lot of older but really good repeaters around. I recently sold a GE Master II VHF Lo repeater that was new old stock that I bought for a 6m project that never happened. Tune up that repeater on your frequency and it will be running long after we are dead.
 

lenk911

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St Paul, MN
Ahh Low band. Cut my teeth on it in the 50's and 60's. On a good day you can talk forever. 100 watts+100 feet = 100 miles! Other days you can't talk at all! In the summer you are entertained by the shrimp boats in the Caribbean even more fun if you know Spanish. On bad noise days, you cannot shut the repeater off-just let it time out! No narrow banding required and a Mastr II is a great choice! Have fun!
 

KK6ZTE

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This is the only one I know of. I've quoted two for customer but nobody has bitten yet. It's not cheap but looks like a fantastic product. He claims to be supplying to Kenwood and CHP.

Comtronix Communications--their website is no longer functioning but I can provide the owners email/phone number upon request. He's a great guy.

The attached PDF had to be reduced in size and grayscaled in order to meet attachment sizing.
 

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mmckenna

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Kenwood stopped producing the TK-690 low band radio a year or two back, so ended their TKB-690 base station/repeater.

I keep waiting for someone to roll out something new. With many repeaters using a card cage type layout, building a low band capable card for RX, TX and amplifier to fit in exiting racks wouldn't be hard.

There was a company at IWCE a few years back who had a new low band repeater, but I don't recall their name, and I haven't been able to find any info on them.
 

scoutcamper

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Thanks All, I will be reaching out to comtronix to see what their pricing looks like!
 

WB9YBM

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Does any company still make a low band(45-46mhz for my use case) repeater today? I currently have a daniels/codan repeater that is on its last legs, and before I start down the road of trying to move the system to voted VHF high band or something similar I wanted to see if anyone makes a reputable low band repeater today. Not looking for two mobiles duct taped together with a RIC, this needs to be professional/public safety grade gear.

I know Daniels/Codan and Midland both stopped making them years ago, I have yet to come across any manufacturer still producing them.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I know that there are services that are "grandfathered" in the low-band service (like a taxicab I used to dispatch for--they operated around 38 MHz) and it would seem reasonable that someone somewhere is still supporting that stuff...
 

techman210

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San Bernardino County
There are rumors that Kenwood is going to come out for something for CHP in the next few months based on the design of their new mobile rigs. It will also accommodate an external frequency reference input for the CHP sites that are simulcast repeat. Don't know if it will be special for just CHP or part of their commercial product line.
 

mmckenna

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There are rumors that Kenwood is going to come out for something for CHP in the next few months based on the design of their new mobile rigs. It will also accommodate an external frequency reference input for the CHP sites that are simulcast repeat. Don't know if it will be special for just CHP or part of their commercial product line.

That makes some sense. The TKB-690 was essentially this. Replacing the TK-690 guts with an NX-5600 and an external amp/controller wouldn't be hard to do. External frequency reference using a GPS based source would be easy.
 

freddaniel

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Newport Beach, CA
I would look at the Spectra Engineering MX800 radios. In years past, I have purchased close to 100 and was pleased with them. They were sold in the USA by Motorola as the MXD1500 line. They are sold throughout the world and made in Australia.
 

KA0XR

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Minnesota
Ahh Low band. Cut my teeth on it in the 50's and 60's. On a good day you can talk forever. 100 watts+100 feet = 100 miles! Other days you can't talk at all! In the summer you are entertained by the shrimp boats in the Caribbean even more fun if you know Spanish. On bad noise days, you cannot shut the repeater off-just let it time out! No narrow banding required and a Mastr II is a great choice! Have fun!


Since I see you are out of St. Paul, was there much lowband activity in Minnesota during the 50's and 60's? What about 6 meter activity locally back in those days (band is mostly dead nowadays locally)? Other than the Highway Patrol, it seems like most state agencies had vacated low band by the early 70's, if they had even been on lowband to start with.

The 100 watts @ 100 feet = 100 miles rule of thumb...Think that would be achievable on a well engineered VHF Highband base station/repeater or was this only a standard attributed for lowband stations? Are Carribean shrimp boats still using low band or was that a reference to a by-gone era?
 

WB9YBM

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The 100 watts @ 100 feet = 100 miles rule of thumb...Think that would be achievable on a well engineered VHF Highband base station/repeater or was this only a standard attributed for lowband stations? Are Carribean shrimp boats still using low band or was that a reference to a by-gone era?

Reminds me of a story I heard from an old engineer (since retired) at Motorola: they were doing some experimenting with new equipment at the very high frequency of 35MHz (I guess it was top band back in those days) and during one of their experiments (here in the Chicago area) they were interrupted by a PD in California, asking what they were up to. Wish I could've heard that exchange!
 

TELCO1

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Dec 1, 2013
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Randolph , New Jersey
Ohhhh Low Band , Where I Started 43.000 & 42.960 Skip Ohhh Yeah , Ants. full 1/4 Wave , Talked all over , Kenwood Has NEW Lowband Mobiles , 110 Watts , Only about $3000.00 Ea. Hi-Split ONLY 39 to 50 Mhz. , Has anyone got one that goes to 54 Mhz 6 Meter ?? , Soon Low Band Trunking Portables !, Ohhh Yeah !
 

KA0XR

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With the lack of FM activity on 6m in most areas and the number of all-mode HF rigs with 6m I doubt many will be clamoring for a new FM only $3K radio that would still need to be modified to reach 6m, if that's even possible. I suppose the California Highway Patrol is the primary customer for this model since they have channels from 39 up to the 45 MHz range I believe.
 

TELCO1

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Dec 1, 2013
Messages
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Location
Randolph , New Jersey
Yes Calif. H P , is the Reason Kenwood is making it , From what I heard ! , And what do they use for Repeaters ??? , The Kenwood Low Band also will Do DIGITAL NXDN ??? Hummm !
 
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