Antenna change

Today I took advantage of the warmer weather and extra hands to change out the repeater antenna from a copper j-pole at the rear of the building that barely cleared the roofline to a feedline-style j-pole that is up in a tree about 50 feet from the west and 25 feet from the east. I hope that the coverage improves enough to cover a 10 mile radius without drop outs.

Previously, the repeater could hear me through those areas, but with ~10 watts of power, coverage was bleak at best. With the vertical addition and away from the structure, it should improve (fingers-crossed).

(Visitors here get put to work. You have been warned.  🙂 )

Repeater Issue

Over the past two days, I’ve noticed that the repeater is barely putting out a signal, along with some noise issues. I moved the repeater away from the antenna and grounded it, which caused the noise to stop, but the range has not improved. I know its keying up from testing I’ve done, but I’m still not getting a good output range from it.

My next step is to change out the antenna. I was using a feedline j-pole antenna which really isn’t meant to be outside in weather unless in is encased or is waterproofed. I will probably change it out for a copper pipe j-pole on an extending pole in the next few days,

UPDATE: I changed out the antenna this morning, and tested it on the way to work this evening. Same results, except the repeater receives better now. But it still doesn’t seem to transmit more than a few hundred feet. Next step is to change the frequency to see if its interference causing a problem. If it isn’t, I suspect the final amplifier may have burned out and I certainly hope it isn’t that.

UPDATE #2 (11/18/22): Changing out the antenna only helped marginally. I checked the output of the repeater and it was right where it should be. So I checked the output frequency, and sure enough, there was all sorts of interference going on.

I changed the frequency back to 462.550, only to find that there is another repeater somewhere in York or Adams County that is not listed on any of the GMRS websites and does not have an identifier on it transmitting so strongly I could not get into my own repeater. So my choices were to move it to 462.600 again, or up to 462.675. As there seems to be a lot of interference coming from other RF devices near me, I moved it up to 462.675. Its been very quiet since then. I’ll test it so more tonight as weather permits.

I also left the copper j-pole antenna connected, but moved it to the east side of the building to get it above the roofline. I’m hoping that will help a little as well with coverage.

Antenna Research, Part 2

I found a website where I could calculate the range of my repeater. I ran the numbers, at it came out surprisingly accurate. Most of the good coverage is along the Susquehanna River and from high elevations. I have to figure out a way to get the antenna higher without causing my landlord heartburn.

NC600 Coverage map

Antenna Research

In an effort to get better coverage out of my 10w Retevis 97s repeater, I have been working with different antenna systems. I’ve tried a ladderline j-pole hanging from the eves, a copper pipe j-pole on a 6 foot pole (outside the window at a 45 degree angle), and a fiberglass encased stick on a 6 foot pole (outside the window at a 45 degree angle).

So far, the best antenna has been the ladderline j-pole. It may be the angle of the antenna that is causing better coverage, as the other two were at a 45 degree angle to the ground, the ladderline j-pole is closer to a wall, lower in altitude by five feet, and partly obscured by the building.

More adventures / testing to follow.