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Quantar questions

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thegr8test

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I have a couple questions. I am new to the world of trunking and am having some trouble getting started. My company has about 100 users spread over 12sq miles. We are currently using xts 2500's and we have two quantar t5365a's running as "dumb" repeaters. Is there anyway to trunk these two together and program the radio's so we can move around our land without having to change channels? Or do we need to get a controller, such as a MCT3600. I have been googling how to implement a trunking system. However, everything is either to far into the weeds or to vague. Any starting links would be awesome. Thanks.
 

n2hbx

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If coverage is your problem, trunking isn't going to help you. The repeaters would have to be located at the same site to be trunked, and if your current site isn't covering your area, 2 repeaters at a poor site are twice as useless. In any case, with only 2 channels available, trunking is not a viable option, since one channel would have to act as a Control Channel, effectively giving you a very expensive 1 Channel "trunked" system.

I have a couple of ideas. First, you could put one repeater at opposite ends of your area of operation. There are aftermarket controllers that would allow you to link the two together such that users on one repeater would be heard and able to communicate with users on the other. Zetron makes such a product. Essentially, you would have a two-site, pseudo-simulcast system. The other option would be if you have a dispatch office, you could utilize a multi-channel remote control at the office. The two channels could then be "patched" together at the remote. The Motorola MC2500 Tone Remote would handle this job nicely. The two basic requirements for either of these solutions are the repeater sites must have some kind of phone line capabilities, and the repeaters must utilize different frequencies to prevent interference.

Hope this gives you some food for thought.

Larry
 

n5ims

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Is the issue that the handheld radios can be heard by the repeater, but they can hear it OK? If so, you could set up remote receivers so your handheld transmit coverage is better. These receiver(s) would be placed around the coverage area with links back to the main repeater(s). What would happen is the repeater would use the audio from whichever receiver has the best signal (which may be different depending on which radio is being used), and the repeater controller will automatically switch between the receivers as necessary.

A simulcast system (as indicated above) is another way to increase coverage. Basically it uses the same principle as a remote receiver, but applies it to both receiver and transmitter.

Trunking will do nothing to help increase coverage since it's goal is to give more channels using a smaller number of frequencies. Trunking will just give you more channels that share the same (bad in your case) coverage.
 

cmdrwill

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Get a better receiver antenna for your repeater..... maybe even a preamp too, this would be my first step.
 

thegr8test

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More questions

Ok, So I have increased my knowledge of the Quantar and you all have been super helpful, but now I have a couple new questions. If I wanted to run two Quantar Repeaters on the same tower but with different frequencies how far apart would the freq's need to be? Also is the Quantar capable of being programed with multiple freq's and is so could they TX RX at the sametim.? My basis for confusion there is the 12.5 khz channel spacing and what that means/capability.
 

mmckenna

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How far apart the frequencies need to be depends on your filtering. Getting them as far apart as possible will benefit you in reduced costs of the filters needed.

Quantars can do multiple frequencies, but can only work one at a time. A tone remote control would allow the base station to change frequencies remotely. I'd have to look, but I think scanning is an option. Maybe someone else can confirm.
 

thegr8test

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Jan 4, 2013
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I think what I am really wondering is if it is possible for a one group of users to be on one NAC, another group to be on another NAC and with both groups using the same freq and talk on the repeater at the sametime? Or will whom ever keys out first use get the repeater? I guess my question might better be phrased, is the repeater capable of FDMA/TDMA or some similar capability?
 

thegr8test

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Jan 4, 2013
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Scanning could work. However my concern there is I can put all my users on one freq, but different NAC's and achieve the same thing- separation of traffic while allowing multiple users access to the repeater.
 

Motorola464

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Jun 4, 2013
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Raven Electronics makes a decent Voting Controller, as well as a controller that could link the two repeaters together. You might look to Raven ELectronics


Is the issue that the handheld radios can be heard by the repeater, but they can hear it OK? If so, you could set up remote receivers so your handheld transmit coverage is better. These receiver(s) would be placed around the coverage area with links back to the main repeater(s). What would happen is the repeater would use the audio from whichever receiver has the best signal (which may be different depending on which radio is being used), and the repeater controller will automatically switch between the receivers as necessary.

A simulcast system (as indicated above) is another way to increase coverage. Basically it uses the same principle as a remote receiver, but applies it to both receiver and transmitter.

Trunking will do nothing to help increase coverage since it's goal is to give more channels using a smaller number of frequencies. Trunking will just give you more channels that share the same (bad in your case) coverage.
 
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