Vehicle Repeater

[wmullins8195]

Dear people who hopefully know more than I,

At my place of employment, we have a DVRS (Digital Vehicle Repeater System) that goes from the County's VHF system to our UHF portables.

We use XTL5000's for the vehicles (tied to Futurecom DVRS)
XTS2500's for the portables

Encryption and P25 are a must (that is what the county uses), so the DVRS does pass all of that through, including radio ID's and emergency key.

Recently, our vehicles have been dying all the time (due to the fact that the DVRS has to be on for the portable radios to work), and have been researching ways to keep the vehicles from dying.

We have a UHF repeater that we use for local communications (non-County traffic) atop a cell phone tower nearby. Would it be possible to just put one of the repeaters on that?

Questions:
1 - What would a fixed-site solution entail for the system? (We do have space on a tower with an older UHF repeater on it)
2 - Is there any way to make the Futurecom DVRS "scan" and repeat VHF channels?
3 - What is the average range of a Vehicle Repeater if we were to mount it atop the cell phone tower in the area (where our current UHF repeater is at)

 

[gary123]

Once solution to the dead vehicle is to set up a seperate battery for the repeater, Use an isolation switch so that the "radio battery" charges from the vehicle but does not discharge to the vehicle.

The Futurecom does not scan although it can be set to repeat the VHf radio that is in scan mode.

Remote mounting the DVRS isnt a soloution you will simply have the same issues that you would have on the VHF system. The Idea behind a VRS is to have the repeater on scene so that portables can access the car that is there rather than trying to transmit to a system that may be miles away. Also most VRS systems are low power (1/3 of a watt to 2 watts typical).

Look into remote enable/ disable (you can use the call alert function or similar to trigger the DVRS )

 

[Motoflightmedic]

On Question 2 You ask about scaning VHF channels. Your Mobile radio has to be flashed for Channel Scan with VRS. if your radio wont scan when the DVRS is turned on, your radio probably isnt flashed for it or it has not been turned on with the CPS in the codeplug.

 

[Thunderknight]

There is a product that is a low voltage disconnect. It prevents the battery from going below a certain voltage by turning off the device.
I think it's called charge guard?

 

[KG4INW]

Yes, it's the Chargeguard made by Havis: Havis Chargeguard; Intelligent Circuit