TB7300 Transportable

[ATK3]

I have 2 questions regarding the Tait TB7300 Transportable:

1) What VHF band splits actually exist for it? The brochure lists only B1 (136-174MHz) but my pricing sheet lists 2 VHF splits, B1F0 (136-156MHz) and B1G0 (152-174MHz). Is the difference between F0 and G0 just the included duplexer, or are there actually differences with the repeater itself? Can swapping the duplexer between bands allow for one unit to cover frequencies in both halves of their total VHF split as-needed?

2) Does anyone know anything about the half-duplex (?) model which uses a coax relay instead of a duplexer? I can find no info about them, and they seem to share model #s with their duplexer-equiped counterparts, but I recently came across a few - can they be converted to full-duplex with the addition of a duplexer and a software config change, or are there more differences that I'm not aware of?

Thanks in advance for any info - I'm having a fair bit of trouble finding info on these things.

 

[ATK3]

In case anyone is wondering the same thing, there are in fact 2 splits for VHF reciters on the transportable (and they are NOT the same part as the 1RU version), but 1 PA split. UHF transportable only has 1 split for both.

 

[chanjyj]

I’ve been looking at the TB7300 - but the transportable is 3x the price of the regular one (surely not!)

 

[ATK3]

For what its worth, these things are fairly bespoke inside. There's a good deal of likely labour-intensive custom wiring looms and machined components. The pelican isn't structural, there's basically an aluminum roll cage that sits inside of the box and is bolted into it from the bottom to which all of the components are affixed.

The reciter looks to be lifted from the TB7300/TB9300/TB9400 with minimal to no changes, and the PA is a modified TM9x00 mobile. The front panel interface is lifted from the TB7300 as well. Beyond that there's a PCB that covers the charging and also has some unpopulated components marked out as "GPS" on the silkscreen. The connectors used are also all not cheap, and the AC -> DC supply which it has internally is a quality unit from a name-brand.

Most of the cost in these units is likely that they're built as-ordered and require a fair bit of time to assemble and test. With that said, both of my units are VHF. I'm currently working with a dealer to try and get a UHF Series 2 reciter and a UHF PA for one of my units, since I'd have more use for one in each band than 2 in 1 band.

I can post detailed photos of the internals of these if-needed. Both of mine shipped with coax relays, which were rather involved to remove in order to swap to duplexers.

 

[chanjyj]

For what its worth, these things are fairly bespoke inside. There's a good deal of likely labour-intensive custom wiring looms and machined components. The pelican isn't structural, there's basically an aluminum roll cage that sits inside of the box and is bolted into it from the bottom to which all of the components are affixed.

The reciter looks to be lifted from the TB7300/TB9300/TB9400 with minimal to no changes, and the PA is a modified TM9x00 mobile. The front panel interface is lifted from the TB7300 as well. Beyond that there's a PCB that covers the charging and also has some unpopulated components marked out as "GPS" on the silkscreen. The connectors used are also all not cheap, and the AC -> DC supply which it has internally is a quality unit from a name-brand.

Most of the cost in these units is likely that they're built as-ordered and require a fair bit of time to assemble and test. With that said, both of my units are VHF. I'm currently working with a dealer to try and get a UHF Series 2 reciter and a UHF PA for one of my units, since I'd have more use for one in each band than 2 in 1 band.

I can post detailed photos of the internals of these if-needed. Both of mine shipped with coax relays, which were rather involved to remove in order to swap to duplexers.

Thanks for the detailed reply. No need for pics, as the $18K (AUD) price was way out of budget.

I was thinking of getting the regular AC version, and put it in a SKB case whenever I need to deploy a backup repeater - not much more than $5000.

 

[ATK3]

Thanks for the detailed reply. No need for pics, as the $18K (AUD) price was way out of budget.

I was thinking of getting the regular AC version, and put it in a SKB case whenever I need to deploy a backup repeater - not much more than $5000.

They are certainly pricey - we were deciding between the Transportables and the 1RU version mounted into an SKB rack case. I'd finished the rack layout plan (including custom faceplates) and was ready to move forward when our dealer wound up with a few spare transportables in stock for a good price (I'd assume left-over from another job), so we took those.

If you don't need the weather stripping, internal battery, and the "briefcase" form factor, you'll be plenty happy with some decent rack cases.