I was cussing mine until I went back to Amazon and read the note that the volume on the Baofengs should be turned up all the way. Worked like a charm after that.
To answer another question of "what advantage does this have over just using two radios?" The answer is that if the repeater is located at a central point and one handheld is 4 miles to the east of the repeater while the other handheld is 4 miles to the west of the repeater The first handheld can transmit to the repeater while the repeater transmits to the send handheld. This would not work with using just two handheld radios that were 8 miles apart.
By the way, I made one of these repeater interfaces from two cables from junk headsets and added two resistors to cut down audio level from the receiver to the transmitter. You have to decrease the audio level by at least a 10 to 1 ratio. I did this with a resistor divider network consisting of a 100k resistor and a 10k resistor. (I wish I could put a diagram in here). Wire the two resistors in series .... feed the audio output from the receiver into the 100k resistor .... connect the loose end of the 10k resistor to ground of the receiver... connect the grand of the transmitter to the ground of the receiver .... connect the mic input to the junction of the two resistors (where the two resistors are connected to each other).
I purchased one of these and the tx and rx are inverse of the way they are supposed to be. The thing never transmits until you let go of the PTT... Then you just get the Rgr tone.... I'm glad you found one that worked!!!
This won't work, the minute you get a 100 yards from the repeater the the transmission radio signal is diluted by the the receive. This is due to the repeater using two seperate antennas. When a repeater uses seperate antennas for TX/RX they need to be around 30ft apart and the interface cable on these prevents that. The solution is to add a duplexer and move to a single antenna that is tuned to a specific frequency, or to get them spread far enough apart (duplexer).
How well does the "repeater" function? Are there delays detectable? Is the system responsive and fast-switching? Is the transmitter VOX or carrier operated? Thanks!
Simple video, however you forgot the part about desensing. You see, even a small simple repeater like this needs a duplexer or at least, a notch filter to notch the TX Fr from the RX Fr. Without the duplexer (properly tuned) your transmitter will overload (desense) the receiver. After you get more than a few feet from the system, all you will hear is static, or at best the radios will begin to cycle, as the receiver is cut off by the transmitter, then keys again. The basic concept however, works... you just need to add the filters and cables and you're off to the races.
So, with a duplexer I can run my TX radio through an amplifier, to the duplexer, to the antenna. I can run the RX radio to the duplexer to the same antenna. Do I need to be aware of any other technical issues? I can’t run this on HAM frequencies, but could I use this as an FRS / GMRS repeater?
@@memowilliam9889 sounds like you got it. There's videos on here with a guy doing exactly that. He used a retevis repeater, but swapped the duplexer to a 50w.
RETiredGM, I can get out an easy 30 mile radius with 250 millawatts on 2 meters. I am sure many repeaters have amps hooked up to them. And many do not. You don't need much power when you are up 400 feet. They are just demonstrating the ability to setup a simple repeater. But with external antennas, and some height, you have something that is cheap, simple, and it works well in a small radius. The idea isn't to use the rubber ducky antennas. And your right, it wouldn't produce any better results than just using the HT. The idea is to use external antennas, or put the setup on a hill or other strategic location. Think about that, what if you built a box to put the whole setup in, to protect it from the weather. And then you hoisted up to the top of a 60 ft tree. Even the rubber ducky antennas would provide an advantage due to their height.
+Bill Oldham Even a copper J-pole and maybe a small 2m amp. I'm thinking about picking up another Baofeng just to experiment with this idea. Might need to buy another sma to so-259. Looks like a fun project. 73
In the end i end up spending 90 dollars for the conector 2 raidos and long range antenna thanks so much for the video now i have a repeater for where ever i go
Several comments talk about using an external antenna for the Baofeng UV-5R. I have several of these radios--if I use them with the stock antenna, or with a small whip antenna, they work fine. In fact, their reception is much better than I would expect with such a small antenna. However, when I have tried them with several different external antennas (a couple of j-poles and a couple of mobile antennas)--I am able to transmit well with these antennas, but the better antennae seem to overload the front end of the Baofeng, and I get zero reception. I would love to set up a repeater system like the one described here, but would like to do it with a couple of good external antennas and some elevation. For those that have done it, how did you solve the desensitization (overload the front end) problem?
The UV-5R and UV-5RTP stock antennas are atrocious! They are basically a random wire stuffed down a black straw and not even tuned properly. My last ones had almost 2cm of variation over 5 identical models. I originally fitted some very cheap Chinese (counterfeit) Nagoya NA-771's and the difference was incredible. There are also some ultra cheap SRH850S (also counterfeit) helicals which seem to put out almost twice the field strength as the stock antenna, despite being a third of the size - and the performance of those almost rival the far lengthier Nagoya NA-771 I always say that if you really want the best out of a baofeng - dump the stock antenna in the bin on day 1 : ) It's a terrible radiator. The little $2 stubby SRH805S clone is now my go-to antenna for baofeng HT's I've never seen any real front-end overloading issues with any of the baofengs I've owned - and I've tested them on my main 5 element/8 element dual-band Co-linear with 15/19db gain ... they still work well and don't even noticeably saturate when the transmitter is literally a couple of metres away putting out 25w In fact, there are endless youtube videos with people quite happily keying them up just centimetres apart. If anything, I'd say there's far too much headroom in the pre for their just-about-adequate sensitivity.
All these radios are capable of multiband operation so why not set the system up for crossband repeat? That avoids de-sense and the need for antenna separation and/or duplexers.
the FRS radio transmit with only 1 watt so you can use the beofeng and just turn down the power. The freq are found really easy online I have 2 FRS radios and a Wouxun HT and I have been able to use my wouxun HT to communicate to the FRS that my wife or both that family members have. I didn't see anything online that said you couldn't use a HAM radio on FRS as long as you lowered your power setting.
+Shawn Rigoulot technically you cannot transmit at more than 500 milliwatts which means you're still breaking the law. but in all honesty who gives a shit, and you WILL NOT be caught because nobody actually cares. As long as you are not abusing the frequencies, using bad words, playing music etc. You will be fine. You should monitor your signal just to make sure you're not causing splatter onto other channels of the FRS though - high power settings can create issues for FRS type radios if the channels are closely spaced, you get bad static every time someone on a nearby channel talks with their high power radio.
if you can't transmit at any higher then 500 milliwatts.. then why do the ones they sell for both frs and gmrs say 1 watt or 2 watts or 3 watts??? Just curious why is it on the packaging by most companies including motorola.. maybe the FCC should send them a nice little note..
+Shawn Rigoulot to make things simple goto fcc.gov website part97 the info is all there, we wouldn't be having this conversation if you paid more than $25 for the cheap Chinese radio
+bryon clemons yeah, because someone who responds to a video must have the same equip that the video is about. First off myself and prob tons of Hams would love to know where to get our hands on a good $25 ham radio. My two radios were more then $25 and they great. I do not now or have I ever owned a baofeng, but people love them. I prefer to own American products but there are no real American made Ham radios. The so called American made radios of Icom and Motorola are not made here. Icom has Asian boards and more most of the time and even Motorola when you pop the battery out of the HT or look at the back they all say made in Malaysia. So, Ill take the made in China or Japan over Malaysia any day. I am aware of the issues in part 97 but if a natural disaster or worse happens it's good to know how to do this kind of stuff. It's the people who don't take the time to learn new skills that will be in trouble if something major were to happen.
To answer the question of "why can't I just use a straight cable from one radio to the other?" the answer is that the earphone jack outputs about 350 millivolts .... while a microphone outputs about 15 millivolts. So with a straight cable you would be ramming 350 millivolts into an input that expects 15 millivolts and severely overdriving the mic input on the transmitter.
@@democratpro these guys are wrong. It works with vox setup on your baofeng. And the volume can be turned down. These Jack's are analog. Less volume = less volts
Awesome! I’ve purchased one for GMRS, volume up, programmed correctly. Radio received while unconnected, but when I plug in K1, audio is VERY quiet, and Roger beep comes in full volume. Any idea why audio is quiet but ruger beep comes on correct volume???
They can say all the want about power, its always based on PEP peak envelope power, thats what the input is, the out put is at the legal amount, CB radios were always listed at 5 watts, but that was pep the out put was usually between 3-4 watts out
I like this idea. How would I intigrate a nano node into the repeater system? Radio A (input) talks to repeater, output talks to Nano Node (low power simplex) to transmit to IRLP. Then Nano Node talks back to Radio C (low power simplex) which connects to Radio D (repeater output) Is this logic right? It would take 4 radios plus the simplex radio inside the nano node? Or is there a better way to do this?
I would like to know how he got it to work on 146 MHz? The box works flawlessly on 70cm, nothing but headaches and hangs and loops on 2m. The relay box states 400-470 MHz.
And Ken Page, your probably right! But if you were trying to do a cross band setup, it would probably would not be an issue. I don't cross band much, but I'd rather burn up a $30 Baofeng than a $400 Kenwood due to the 100% duty cycle. And if you had the real estate to separate the antennas far enough apart, it's a cheap setup.
So I have a random couple question. 1) will the box transmit a repeater ID? 2) is this only for VHF and UHF? Like if I connect one of these to a 900mhz radio would it work the same?
1) No, ID must be done by the sender (there is no separate ID for the repeater) 2) You can use UHF on both, or VHF on both, or either on one and something else on the other. 3) Whatever comes into 1 radio will be transmitted out the other radio. For example: if you had your receive radio on a Ham radio frequency and your transmit on a GMRS frequency, then when you transmit on your Ham radio, the GMRS radio was receive your signal. However, this configuration would be illegal. I just used it to give you an example to better understand the operation and the differences.
I did a test with a EM1000R talkabout with a bs888 Baofeng one of 16 channels and has no display. I used that cable p1 to p2. I made the connection P2 in Baofeng mic with active Invox. Called P1 in talkabout. I set the radio in 3 462 725 repeater on channel 22 for receiving and talkabout 462 625 20 channel talkabout in the Baofeng. I did my test and did not work the connection by cables. This test only works with two Baofeng? Does not work with the talkabout to receive the signal and to transmit the Baofeng? Set up a Baofeng UV-5R Repeater System
But how can this work without a duplexer? Radios side-by-side are going to deafen one another. If using VHF aren't you better off buying a cheap 5MHz Chinese mobile duplexer and using a VHF antenna or use a discone? Also, what about cross-banding where RX on side A is VHF; TX is UHF. RX on side B is UHF and TX is VHF. Can this be done? Placing this at a high point makes a a simplex VHF repeater.
I use Baofeng & Chirp software to program my radios.For the"two repeater radios" all I need to do is: Type in 145.800 on the receive (RX) line for radio one & on the second radio type in 146.400 on the receive line for the transmit radio. Is this correct? My radio & my buddy's radio will have both the receive freq. 146.400 & transmit freq. 145.800 on each radio. Could I add a PL tone to this set up and if so I guess I would have to place it on the two repeater radios as well. Last question; would this work just using a simplex freq like:467.68750 on both the receiving & transmit freqs or does it have to use a duplex freq?
Why can't you use a simple audio crossover cable? Set Squelch on the Rx side and then VoxOp on the Tx side ? Does the repeater module provide the periodic ID and remote control required for Licence Compliance? Because if not, I'm struggling to see the point of using the module : / hmmmm... actually, Morse Identity and DTMF Remoting seems like a nice easy little microcontroller project to add onto the Squelch+VoxOp system. Still, I'd love to know the advantages of using the module over a simple audio cable.
Yeah, it's a fun little free repeater setup. I was island hopping by yacht with a few friends. We visited an island and put a baofeng repeater with a 7AH battery up in a tree on the hill so we had comms from both sides of the island. The baofengs pull so little power in receive that it lasted all week. Simple APRS from a baofeng using a mobile phone as the terminal+gps is kinda cool too. That's what I love about baofengs, they're so cheap you can just mess about with them and not worry. I stripped one down and used it to monitor POCSAG pager messages for a bunch of typical first responders services nationwide I'd gathered by monitoring on my PC... so now by watching for a statistically anomalous volume of messages across about 100 users I have an Early Warning System for emergency events. I'd never have dedicated a more expensive receiver to something like that. Interestingly, It's gone off twice. The first was a 'red activity alert' due to sustained multi-agency activity during a national emergency response exercise. I plugged it in again last July, after about 18 months in a cupboard, and left it running - I totally forgot about it until it triggered an 'orange' activity alert on new years eve. So I know it definitely works when there's something going on. For their price you can squeeze a lot of fun out of these little FM-Only radios... and in a disaster you can afford to hand them out like candy.
+MelloB Outdoors Two ways of doing this, depending on whether you need really long term running, or easy portability. Remember that the Baofengs need 7.4v (But work fine from 9v to 6v) *Method 1 - 12v batteries, with voltage regulator* If you search ebay for "Battery Eliminator Baofeng" and order by price, you'll find car cigarette adaptors for Baofeng UV-5R's for around £1.50... you'll need two. You can either: 1. Cut the ends off and wire both into the 12v battery terminals, but make sure you salvage the regulator from inside the plug you cut off - you'll need this wired inline because UV5R's don't like 12v so much ; ) You should also use an inline fuse for safety, a 500mA slow-blow fuse is fine. or 2. You can buy two car cigarette lighter sockets and wire those to the 12v battery so that you have two cigarette lighter sockets to plug the adapters into. The advantage is that the car adapters can still be used in a car. If you don't know what you're doing, use this second option - as the plug has a voltage regulator built in (and the line sockets tend to come with fuseholders fitted already, which is also important) I like this method because my yacht (and cars) are good at charging up 12v packs and the batteries last forever when only running two baofengs : ) I use a fairly portable 7AH 12v SLAB battery sometimes, it's just something I had lying around from my QRP days... but a car battery would run for months. *Method 2 - Either 6v or 7.2v batteries, Efficient because no voltage regulator needed* If backpacking a lighter and more efficient method involves using a 7.2v battery pack (like a LiFePo pack) ... Or if you prefer a lead acid battery you can use a 6v SLAB battery using this method and it is still more efficient than the 12v SLAB method above (because no voltage regulation is needed) To use this more efficient method you need an 'AA type' battery pack. Search ebay for "AA battery baofeng" ... they cost about £1.20 each, you'll need two. These are designed to take six AA batteries... but instead, you can put a little hole in the bottom for a cable (use a cable entry grommet for strain relief, or just hot glue it) ... and connect the wires to the exit terminals inside the pack. Now you can connect both battery packs (in parallel) to any battery from 6v - 9v ... like a 6v Sealed Lead Acid or a lightweight 7.2v high capacity Lithium pack. Works beautifully and the current drain is a little bit lower because there's no regulator drop... it's also far lighter too which is important if you're backpacking the thing up a hill. Either way, I'd suggest fitting a fuse too... always : ) SLABs and Lithiums can get pretty scary if shorted out, so a fuse is a REALLY good idea. *Project - A single-purpose portable emergency repeater* (If you use this a lot, want a semi-permanent setup or in poor weather conditions) Grab an environment-proof plastic enclosure suitable for outdoor use, large enough to hold your battery+radios. Wire it all up using one of the methods above, and affix two SO-239 plugs through the box, using O-rings and hotglue to keep it waterproof. You can wire these connectors to an SMA pigtail inside, and connect the SMA's to the radios antenna mounts. Fix everything down inside so none of the parts move and the cables are not flexing all the time. You can even add a charge controller too with an external connector for wiring up a solar panel. This makes a great little self-contained repeater box with no weather worries, capable of taking much larger antennas than the baofeng can fit. It also allows you to place the box lower down and hoist the antennas up separately, so that you can get really good line-of-sight signals (For hoisting antennas I use a common technique - a golfball with a screw-in eyelet and fishing line, to throw over high tree branches ... the temporary fishing line can then haul up my paracord, and my paracord is then used to haul up antennas) But the simple back-to-back baofeng using cheap NA-771 whip antennas is usually all you really need for a quick fast ad-hoc repeater : ) Hope that helps, Gary
Hey Eric...I got into radio due to the fact im partially disabled- I Passed my tech and general last September but I am still a total noob.... I have a uv5r in my truck as a mobile rig running through a btech vhf amp with a tram mag mount antenna. It works very well and i often hit repeaters over 60 miles away. ( im in very rural Mississippi) When i do go fishing or a woods walk, i bring along a uv5r mostly for NOAA weather,but also in case of emergency and my cell has no signal.... here is my question- Is there a way to use the radio in my truck to re-transmit a tx from my handheld using all of its power and antenna?? I have the genuine Nagoya on the ht but i cannot hit any repeater near me barefoot.... Thanks for your time and for all you do to help us noobs out. 73 de KI5GEV Randy in the North Mississippi woods.
do you have a link for antenna on your amplifier? thinking of setting up this same thing. obviously we need a 3rd UV5r for the walkabout radio, then the other 2 would be at the truck to rX/repeat out from the Amp side
I have been wanting to set up a mobile field repeater for camping site. I have a 8ft painter pole that extends to 50ft. I want to put 2 antennas on the tower/pole for this. With the 2 antennas so close, what kind of filtration should I need on each to prevent crosstalk? Both radios will be on UHF, not on VHF.
The tx unit is turned on by voice activation ? Or is the ptt being closed by the cable ? The reason I ask is because voice activation has a noticeable lag. To have the rx unit ptt the tx unit directly would be far better.
Unfortunately there is no 'carrier detect' signal available from the receiver. Therefore, you either have to use voice activation or take the receiver apart so you can 'find' the carrier detect signal so you can connect it to the PTT input on the transmitter.
Thanks for the video! I plan to get a few of these boxes and a few baofengs. One mobile system in my truck, one I can carry with me in a backpack (to be the envy of everyone at ham fest) and one to put on a pole with a control box in a yard, which I don't know about mine or my friends
Reading on a repeater site, do these really work ok, since they do not output more than 5 watts? Does the transmitting radio interfere with the receiving radio, since they are in such close proximity to each other? Most repeaters use 1 antenna and a rf filter to filter out cross talk.
cant you just use a 3.5mm to 2.5mm audio jack from speaker and then run 3.5mm aux to the mic port on the other radio and set the offset? then set roger tones on the transmit radio? once you do that with the cable if the radios are on the transmitter will just start transmitting on its own, they need to be off while ur plugging everything in.
I used the 3.5mm to 2.5mm male jack.the problem was my tx radio was draining fast and it overheated the tx radio.the worst was when i walk 15 meters away the repeater didn't repeat my voice.it only light up that is indicate that their is someone pressing the ptt.how can you fix this problem?plz give me an idea..
I do see problems with a baofeng repeater. 1. They run on battery's and will eventually die. 2. If they were run while in the charging base the radio would overheat. 3. Baofengs will cut off after 600 seconds of use These could be fixed but I just wanted to get that out
Can this go both ways? For instance, I am trying to connect a network radio system to a transceiver. but the Walkie Talkie Repeater Box would need to work in both directions to pass the network radio to the transceiver and the transceiver back to the the network radio.
I have all the pieces and parts to build a GMRS Repeater. How do I program the 2 different radios? I am totally new to GMRS and hopefully soon will also take the ham test. Any help would be appreciated.
What is that cable that is interfacing between the two radios in the repeater? I think you are calling it an, "interface." What does it do? Is it necessary? I've seen similar videos that just use a mini headphone cable going between the two HTs. What does your baofeng "interface" cable do differently?
Hey just out of curiosity before I invest in one of these, is this one of the ones that actually uses the PTT button or does it require VOX? Thanks. :)
This is a really cleaver idea, but it has one drawback: Repeaters are legally required to identify themselves every 10 minutes. This setup does not permit that. Being temporary you will probably be able to get away with that, but it's something you should know. For an emergency or very remote application it would probably be OK.
@@waylonk2453 True! And for Damir, the reason is simple. There's an impedance mismatch which the repeater box handles for you. My experience with my repeater box is the volume of the RX is roughly one-half turn, or barely over half-range when using it for optimal modulation.
i bought that interface, but it only works for me when i set it up backwards. meaning: the little black box that is labeled "receive/emission" i have to have my "emission" cable plug go to my "receive radio" and my "receive cable end" go to my "emission radio". if i plug stuff in back wards it works, if i follow the sticker arrows the transmits radio doesn't begin transmitting until the recieve radio is done receiving, which at that point there is no audio to pass along so it transmits nothing. i played with this about a year ago, but tonight i am only now discovering that it only works backwards for me. i watched your video again, thinking maybe someone put the sticker on upside down which would invert the cables, but using the oval shaped indention on the top of the black box as a reference shows my sticker matches your process for some reason. can you offer any advice?
okay I get setting up the first two radios what do you set radio B on ...the exact same frequency and offset? because I am thinking if you do that both radios will receive. I guess my question is what would you program into radio B to have it transmit out of the repeater?
They do have to be different frequencies, or else the transmitting side would hold open the receiving sides squelch and you'd just get a big feedback loop that would never stop transmitting till you turn off the radios. Here's a scenario ... Output Radio - set to 145.650Mhz Input Radio - set to 145.050Mhz So, all your users are listening to the repeaters output on 145.650Mhz, and they need to go DOWN by 600khz whenever they transmit, because that's where the repeaters input frequency is. We call this 'the repeaters offset' ... In this case, the offset is -600khz An offset can be - or + ... depending on whether the repeaters input frequency is lower or higher than it's output frequency. In this case it's minus 600khz. So an offset of -600khz just means (The repeaters Tx frequency - 600khz = the repeaters Rx frequency) Great! So... now your repeater is happily listening on one frequency and (re)transmitting on another. We also know that our repeaters output is 145.650Mhz and we know that its offset is -600khz Now we have to go program the users radios to do the same thing, but in reverse. So, on the users radio: set the receive frequency to : 145.6500Mhz, so it listens to the repeaters output. set the repeater offset to : -600khz, so whenever you transmit it goes down 600khz to the repeaters input frequency. Now the users radio will listen on 145.650 - but will transmit on 145.050 Because this is the opposite way around to the repeater, the system works. Hope that helps
You could make this with just an audio cable between rx-speaker and tx-mic, but than you'll have to have vox activated on the tx-radio. Finding a 2.5mm male jack to 3.5mm male jack-cable might not be easy. The only extra function of the repeater box is automatic ptt toggling and perhaps an amplifier?
@@belliduradespicio8009 Get a 3.5mm wire plug and a 2.5mm wired plug. You have to wire the red on one to the black on the other, use two wire plugs only and you wont have this problem, set the VOX to 10. I saw that set up on another video FWIW.
Ok, very sorry I know nothing about radios but trying to learn. I have 3 Kenwood tk-3360 radios and need to extend my range. would this work for them and if you wouldn't mind telling me how? What I am looking to do is Leave one at home and put the other 2 in both my cars, but right now it only has a range of about 100 yards. I need at least 2 miles. Can you please help me. Thank you.
***** This setup would not work for you. The tk-3360 radios that you have are not repeater ready meaning that you can only transmit from radio to radio directly (aka simplex) for all intents and purposes. Also, you would need 2 radios at home and then one in each car for this setup. If you do not wish to buy new radios, being that you have a removable antenna, I would invest in a external omnidirectional antenna for your home. This will only improve communications between your home and each car respectively. It will not improve communications between the cars. Adding a fairly inexpensive magnet mount antenna to both cars, and you will improve communications all around. Talking on a rubber duck antenna inside a car will ensure that your calling party will not hear you.
Hi Eric, Can you share how you configure, bec my set up with same box is not working properly and both are transmitting continuously. it will damage the tripple 1 units. Please.... Please.... Help me.
Hi guys. I need some help. I have done the setup on the UHF frequency. The problem I have is that I can send perfectly over a long distance, but the person responding the channel opens but nothing comes through. What could that be?
You *can* just hook them up with cables. I've done it. It works. The transmitting unit would be set to VOX in this case. Unfortunately, the Baofeng VOX doesn't work all that great. The add-on controller box is more reliable to actually key up the transmitter when the receiver picks up a signal. Squelch? No. Triggering? Yes.
+Hangfire No idea what's in the box, but I'd assume it simply triggers on audio voltage and closes the PTT on the second radio. I'd also expect there's some simple level protection rather than a direct link between speaker and mic too... because setting the levels correctly can be a pain in a back-to-back (vox-operated) configuration. I'm in the process of building my own repeater harness for radios like the UV5R with Kenwood K1 speaker/mic connectors. I did have a play with a PIC microcontroller over the last few weeks and found that you can implement the periodic morse idents quite easily and even transmit tails (short hold-opens) with a soft K... which I've always found helps weaker break-in stations. These PICs are less than 50p per unit so I figured why the heck not : ) I'm meaning to have a go at some DTMF decoding sometime next week to see if I can't set up a remote shutdown but I'm at a loss for what else I'd want DTMF control for. Setting scheduled power-up/power-down times could be useful I suppose, for extending battery life when deployed for a weeks camping. Luckily the radios handle the CTCSS so that's one thing I don't have to worry about implementing. I'll be posting up the code and schematic once I've got something I'm happy with though.
Question. Can GMRS fixed channels be repeated in any way? I get the Ham radios part, I have both. But the GMRS transmit and receive on the same frequency, they don’t have offset options.
You do not address the settings between the two radios that have the interface. So any settings will work with all frequencys, no matter the output radio settings?
Wondering if there are adaptors that would connect from ht to the internet so the ht's would not need to be in the same physical location. Not sure if this is even permissable
zello,allstar , dmr, etc all do exactly this but in most cases a cheap radio is modified with a few resistors and soldered to a cheap sound fob to solve ptt type problems.
A is set to Rx on ch1, b is set to Tx on ch2 - the Tx on A and Rx on B does not matter. Since you listen to ch2, you need an offset when you transmit which + or - a frequency to match the repeaters Rx. So -- Repeater A: Rx 145.500 -- Repeater B: Tx 145.900 -- You setup your radio to Rx on 145.900, and Tx on 145.500 - the offset here is -0.400.
Dude, you're a genius. I purchased a cheaper version of this mini repeater from an eBay seller but it came with a few numbers on the little repeater box, a few abbreviations and some Chinese characters, but no instructions! Zero. I had no idea how to set it up and went round and round with my radios as well as the seller who didn't know how to set it up, didn't care, didn't know anybody that knew how to set it up, etc. So, I spent the money on the more expensive one reviewed on this video supposedly designed by Baofeng, but it also came with no instructions! But you figured it out. So, I dug these things out of the trash and by God they work. Thanks. 73.
Your walkie talkie "transmits" the offset frequency of one radio. That radio passes along and transmits through the other antenna, on the actual repeater receive frequency. You transmit - frequency X (offset frequency) and the other radio transmits on frequency Y (repeater frequency) ... and all radios set to receive on the repeater frequency receive the repeated signal.
So let's say the repeater is 145.67 and everyone in the neighborhood can connect. How would it be different than just using that frequency as a simplex net?
in semplex you get the worst possible transmit and receive situations some times. Radios in vhf and Uhf both only do good when they have line of site. If you put this repeater set up, up somewhere high, that most anywhere can talk clearly to, then it able pass along your message much farther than if you were in simplex from two ground locations.
Because if you havent tried that idea already, it doesn't work. the VOX on these radios are the weak point, and it causes the radio to hang in transmit. Trust me i have tried using a straight through cable, it doesnt work on these Baofeng radios. On my Yaesu VX-8GR or my Kenwood D72A it will work, but of course look how much those radios cost. 73
you can but you need to understand how the radio works and custom wire some cables. i recently setup a echolink, link using baofeng radios. in MK I of the system i just made a custom cable and found the tx hanging on. after fixing that the only problem was the lag before it would tx. now the MK II version uses a serial ptt controller i made and it is working quite well. i am designing the MK III version that will detect the rx by serial connection so i don't have to use the vox in echolink. i will make a youtube video when i have that completed.
I used simple straight cable for months while camping and never had an issue! Added external antennas and 50Watts amplifier on transmit site to extend the range. IMHO if the box could add hang time and ID tone, I would get it, otherwise I don't see the reason why spending even $20 for something what the radio already has built in.
@@HamRadioConcepts you are right, so i bought this cable and it still doesnt work, same problems; it keeps transmitting, i have changed the FOX from 1-10; keeps transmitting...
Please help me :( Ive got a similar setup that i cannot get to work. Ive got two baofengs acting as my repeater, a duplexer that is properly tuned (467.675 and 462.675) and an amplifier hooked up to my TX radio. The setup works flawlessly when I am close, works as it is supposed to. However from about a block away it will no longer carry voice transmissions even though its within range and can be pinged for a curtesy tone. Any insight would be much appreciated
In spite of your duplexer the transmit side is desensitizing the receiver. My solution was to get the two radios as far apart from each other as I could and use a looooong audio cable between the radios. But I still had some desensitizing going on because I didn't have a duplexer available.
@@marcspeth4850 One thing also to consider is the possibility of the cable bringing in RF from TX to RX. Consider adding some toroid iron cores along the cable, especially before the TX or "emission" end of the box (although it can work either direction, truth be known!)
I I’ve wanted to do this with a pair of radios, chargers, solar panel and a waterproof enclosure and stash it on the top of a mountain ridge where we like to hunt both sides of the mountain… guess it may become a thing sooner than later.
Forgive me what I'm a bit confused. I thought the primary characteristics of a repeater what more power (greater range) and a larger (raised above the tree line/building/hills/etc). I'm not seeing what difference a 5w radio with a 16 inch antenna could possible make that a single radio (same wattage and antenna length) in simplex mode couldn't. With all that said, I'm open and willing to learn. Obviosly I'm more ignorant than skeptical. Someone please take me to school on this.
If a handheld transmits 5 miles, to this setup, then radio B from this setup transmits 5 miles, to the second radio, thats a 10 mile hop. If anyone came here looking to make a repeater with a 17 dollar part, you started searching with the wrong idea. This is only for a temporary basis or just for fun. Nothing commercial or professional about this item.
+RETiredGM I am looking at this as a fix for my handhelds H777's and H888's, we work in a hilly, mountainous area where cell phone signal is impossible. This small repeater system would work well in our small bubble. For safety reasons i need all o my teams to be able to call for help, and for production to keep supplies and equipment routed while we build our pipeline. Thanks
Scenario: 350 acre thick woods and 5 watt handhelds are not able to reach from end to end. There is no good area in the middle to set up 1 repeater. There are good trees 1/3 of the space apart. Does anyone know if 2 of this exact setups will work with each other and all radios tuned according? Thanks for helping out!:)
-“350 acres of thick woods where two radio can’t reach from one end to the other..” -Response- .. “find a tall building. You’re not that smart are you?
It depends on your definition of "better". Suppose you have radios that have only one band, i.e. the Baofeng 888S (UHF only). No crossband/split frequencies there. Two UV-5Rs would be fine in a crossband setup, though.
Hey Nathan. Not a dumb question at all. Yes, cross-banding usually reduces swamping/splatter problems... but it's usually best to solve the problem and run a normal single-band repeater where possible. In addition to what Austin said - remember also, that even if your users do have dual-band units ... not all can be set up for cross-band duplexing. The baofengs are a bit weird - they cannot access cross-band repeaters using duplex mode from the radio settings - you have to use the chirp programming software to create a cross-band duplex memory channel. To set up cross-band user operation without chirp you have to use two simplex channels and the dual-watch mode. 1. Set up VFOa (repeater input) and VFOb (repeater output) on their correct band/frequency 2. Turn on dual watch, so that the radio scans both VFO's for activity 3. Set VFOa as the active VFO (The one that is used when you press transmit) 4. Lock the keypad - that ab button is too easy to hit accidentally ; ) You should now be able to access the cross-band repeater easily. If you get out of range of the repeater, your group-members radios will automatically communicate directly via VFOa. That can be useful, but can also leave you with a false sense of security and not realising that you're out-of-range of other groups or your base camp. So, remember to check in regularly if that's important. TIP: If you ARE in range of the repeater and a member comes in barely readable on VFOa (direct) ... briefly raise the squelch. This cuts off the signal briefly and causes the dual-mode monitor to move on to VFOb, where it gets locked on the better VFOb signal. If there is no VFOb signal (maybe out of repeater range) it will just land right back on the VFOa signal anyway. So, it's always worth 'jogging the monitor' Obviously, if you can set all the radios up in advance you can use the 'split' option in the chirp software to create a proper cross-band channel, but it's always useful to know how to set up cross-band operation manually in case you need to do it in the field. Also, remember that cross-band for the sake of it is always a bit of a trade-off and means asymmetric performance. But I'd still say look at your repeater setup and try to resolve the swamping issue first. Gary
+Jerry Kuhn Thanks for that, and you're absolutely right. I do think it depends on when/where your Baofeng was made though. I have two that don't properly create crossband offset from the interface. My friend has a unit which does, so we sat them side by side and mirrored the exact same keypresses ... same problem. We finally did a factory restore but the affected units still don't set up crossband. I think there have been some poorly documented revisions to the firmware over time. But you're absolutely right, I've bought others since which work perfectly. Luckily, my old two are now both stripped down to the boards and I'm controlling the SDR (RDA1846) directly from a PIC chip for long range telemetry with my yacht alarm system. Basically, it chirps me with alarm state, battery voltage, bilge pump seconds, inside/outside temperature and inside humidity from 3 miles away. The local unit decodes the data and writes to a display panel in my shack. The UV-5R's are amazing little things : )
What I meant by cross band repeating originally was UHF on one radio to transmit and VHF on the other radio to receive or vice versa. Receiver sensitivity gets completely smashed when one of the radios is transmitting this close to the receiving radio on the same band, which is why the amateur satellites always do cross band repeating. The radios in the video are both capable of UHF and VHF, so it only made sense in my opinion to cross band repeat, since the capability is there. Has nothing to do with the firmware or anything like that. All that is needed hardware and firmware wise is shown in this video. I have a UV8D that is capable of cross and repeating on it's own, but that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about using two radios with the cable shown, one on VHF, one on UHF, one receiving and one transmitting. And as far as the operators using UV5Rs, it is capable of cross band splits programming it through chirp.
+Nathan JR Agreed. The only proper way to repeat in the same band is to use tuned cavities (notching) as far as I am aware, but the cost of those defeats the purpose of an ad-hoc baofeng repeater. With 5w units it IS possible with a little distance, careful choice of frequency offset, etc ... but it's a hassle. Vertical separation of antennas is more effective than horizontal separation but then you're sacrificing height which can make the whole endeavour pointless unless you've got natural height by virtue of a hill or crag. It ain't always straightforward by any means but it's certainly doable, particularly at low wattages, with a little experimentation. I've deployed them many times in the same band without major problems, but placement is key. I guess the best advice is to always favour cross-band if at all possible.
But there is ONE problem that NONE of these videos address. Receiver desensitization. I set one of these up and while the transmitting handheld (that is NOT part of the repeater) is sitting two feet away from the repeater it works perfectly. But in my test, when the transmitting handheld reached about 50 feet away the repeater's receiver could still receive the carrier but the repeater's receiver was being so desensitized by the repeater transmitter being so close to it that the handheld transmitter could no longer be received. In other words, when you got 50 feet or more away from the repeater it became useless because its own transmitter was interfering with its own receiver. I tried moving the receiver and transmitter 5 feet apart .... no help. So a MUCH wider separation will be needed between the repeater transmitter and receiver to make it practical.
I am a noob in the radio world. I was wondering if you could set this up to connect to other repeaters? A little explanation: I recently built my first quarter wave antenna. I'm now able to hit repeaters using my HT. I would like to use my other HTs without being tethered to my antenna. Could I set this up so that I would be able to hit this repeater and then that would transmit and receive to other repeaters?
@@democratpro Well, now I'm a little further into my radio journey and a little more experienced. If You use a part accepted radio then you set it up as a crossband repeater. It would work and it would be legal right? For example: You would set your TX (part 95 certified) radio in this repeater setup to whatever frequency and PL tone the repeater has. You would set your RX radio to whatever frequency you needed. You would then transmit from a third HT to the RX radio. That would then shift the transmission to the TX radio and send it out on the frequency with the proper PL tones for the repeater. You would set your third HT to receive on the repeaters, TX frequency and PL tones. At that point you would only be transmitting to the repeater on a part certified radio. And you can receive on a the non part 95 certified HT. What do you think? Legal workaround? Maybe there's something I'm missing.
I'd like to have Zello PC Repeater connect with my Baofeng UV-5RA may it will have an interesting idea using Android or my old blackberry being connected to group ham radio without range limits.. using WiFi Do you interested to try and makes a video for this ?
Yes a Technician can make your own repeater. Just make sure that you are not using the same repeater pair as a nearby repeater. Otherwise, you might get a pink card from the FCC from an upset repeater owner. Best way to do it is contact your repeater coordinator in your area and find out if there are any repeater pairs that are available, fill out the appropriate paperwork that they require and hope that you get a pair. If not, then you need to do research on the area you are in and make sure that your repeater doesn't interfere with another one using the same frequencies.
This device is basically used as a range extender, not to be set up as an area wide permanent repeater. This cant be programmed for that. Its more for emergency communications on a temporary basis.
Doesn't work!!! I was once a Sub but I notice when these UA-camrs doing it for $ and not the Hobby...YOU Dont get A RESPONSE from the creator...but when its them spending there money all you get every Question in the comments ANSWERED...LMAO..WOW
Morning and what a great Vid, were in the UK can i get the repeter interface? Could you send me a link if you no were in the UK i can get the interface
Doesn't work here..., tried it with different Baofengs; UV5R's and UV82-s, but nothing. The problem is that the TX unit keeps transmitting, i changed all FOX possibilitys, but nothing, keeps transmitting. Changed the offset from + to - , from 0,6 Mhz to 10 Mhz; nothing... And an other problem; both the RX as the TX unit's display's are on line "A" both when you connect the cable they both changed to line "B" and there is no way to go back to line "A" (dual watch is off) So i gave the lines A&B the same frequencie but that also don't work, the TX unit keeps tramsmitting no matter what... Any suggestions?
@@jasonbrown467 I ended up buying the interface anyway and you are correct. There is no audible output from radio B when transmitting and connected. Which is precisely what I hopped for.
The VOX function on Baofeng is disabled in factory default settings, why change that? Also remember to set a Tone function (CTCSS and DCS) for Repeater Use in order to not transmit in every little noise interference.
I was cussing mine until I went back to Amazon and read the note that the volume on the Baofengs should be turned up all the way. Worked like a charm after that.
Is that on both radios?
@@salopsniper22 yes.
To answer another question of "what advantage does this have over just using two radios?" The answer is that if the repeater is located at a central point and one handheld is 4 miles to the east of the repeater while the other handheld is 4 miles to the west of the repeater The first handheld can transmit to the repeater while the repeater transmits to the send handheld. This would not work with using just two handheld radios that were 8 miles apart.
By the way, I made one of these repeater interfaces from two cables from junk headsets and added two resistors to cut down audio level from the receiver to the transmitter. You have to decrease the audio level by at least a 10 to 1 ratio. I did this with a resistor divider network consisting of a 100k resistor and a 10k resistor. (I wish I could put a diagram in here). Wire the two resistors in series .... feed the audio output from the receiver into the 100k resistor .... connect the loose end of the 10k resistor to ground of the receiver... connect the grand of the transmitter to the ground of the receiver .... connect the mic input to the junction of the two resistors (where the two resistors are connected to each other).
Why
Just turn the volume down, 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Ooooh, thanks for the tip. I've tried this with cables directly and it's awful, so using resistors will clean up the signal and keep it from clipping!
Great video. I love the idea of the repeater providing the roger beep.
i have cool idea maybe somebody do with it a phantom 3 drone that give you 300ft repeater for 23mins put radios in small bag fly them up in the air.
300 ft!? LAME! Try 1600
Big balloon like they use at car dealerships. Thated be it.
I was literally thinking this but with an RC plane that could loiter for hrs.
With a solar charger
The phantom 3 is so good
I purchased one of these and the tx and rx are inverse of the way they are supposed to be. The thing never transmits until you let go of the PTT... Then you just get the Rgr tone.... I'm glad you found one that worked!!!
I've had the same problem it seems these only work when your within a few feet of the receiving radio
I know this is an old comment, but your reciever is being overloaded by your transmitter.
This won't work, the minute you get a 100 yards from the repeater the the transmission radio signal is diluted by the the receive. This is due to the repeater using two seperate antennas. When a repeater uses seperate antennas for TX/RX they need to be around 30ft apart and the interface cable on these prevents that.
The solution is to add a duplexer and move to a single antenna that is tuned to a specific frequency, or to get them spread far enough apart (duplexer).
or put a good filter on the antennas
How well does the "repeater" function? Are there delays detectable? Is the system responsive and fast-switching? Is the transmitter VOX or carrier operated? Thanks!
Simple video, however you forgot the part about desensing. You see, even a small simple repeater like this needs a duplexer or at least, a notch filter to notch the TX Fr from the RX Fr. Without the duplexer (properly tuned) your transmitter will overload (desense) the receiver. After you get more than a few feet from the system, all you will hear is static, or at best the radios will begin to cycle, as the receiver is cut off by the transmitter, then keys again. The basic concept however, works... you just need to add the filters and cables and you're off to the races.
I agree with the cycling part.
Or just have the antennas separated
So, with a duplexer I can run my TX radio through an amplifier, to the duplexer, to the antenna.
I can run the RX radio to the duplexer to the same antenna.
Do I need to be aware of any other technical issues?
I can’t run this on HAM frequencies, but could I use this as an FRS / GMRS repeater?
@@memowilliam9889 sounds like you got it. There's videos on here with a guy doing exactly that. He used a retevis repeater, but swapped the duplexer to a 50w.
RETiredGM, I can get out an easy 30 mile radius with 250 millawatts on 2 meters. I am sure many repeaters have amps hooked up to them. And many do not. You don't need much power when you are up 400 feet. They are just demonstrating the ability to setup a simple repeater. But with external antennas, and some height, you have something that is cheap, simple, and it works well in a small radius. The idea isn't to use the rubber ducky antennas. And your right, it wouldn't produce any better results than just using the HT. The idea is to use external antennas, or put the setup on a hill or other strategic location. Think about that, what if you built a box to put the whole setup in, to protect it from the weather. And then you hoisted up to the top of a 60 ft tree. Even the rubber ducky antennas would provide an advantage due to their height.
+Bill Oldham Even a copper J-pole and maybe a small 2m amp. I'm thinking about picking up another Baofeng just to experiment with this idea. Might need to buy another sma to so-259. Looks like a fun project. 73
+Bryan Solo dont drop it, its junk
In the end i end up spending 90 dollars for the conector 2 raidos and long range antenna thanks so much for the video now i have a repeater for where ever i go
The sound is awesome, Command and conquer generals zero hour, nostalgic
Several comments talk about using an external antenna for the Baofeng UV-5R. I have several of these radios--if I use them with the stock antenna, or with a small whip antenna, they work fine. In fact, their reception is much better than I would expect with such a small antenna. However, when I have tried them with several different external antennas (a couple of j-poles and a couple of mobile antennas)--I am able to transmit well with these antennas, but the better antennae seem to overload the front end of the Baofeng, and I get zero reception. I would love to set up a repeater system like the one described here, but would like to do it with a couple of good external antennas and some elevation. For those that have done it, how did you solve the desensitization (overload the front end) problem?
The UV-5R and UV-5RTP stock antennas are atrocious!
They are basically a random wire stuffed down a black straw and not even tuned properly. My last ones had almost 2cm of variation over 5 identical models. I originally fitted some very cheap Chinese (counterfeit) Nagoya NA-771's and the difference was incredible. There are also some ultra cheap SRH850S (also counterfeit) helicals which seem to put out almost twice the field strength as the stock antenna, despite being a third of the size - and the performance of those almost rival the far lengthier Nagoya NA-771
I always say that if you really want the best out of a baofeng - dump the stock antenna in the bin on day 1 : ) It's a terrible radiator. The little $2 stubby SRH805S clone is now my go-to antenna for baofeng HT's
I've never seen any real front-end overloading issues with any of the baofengs I've owned - and I've tested them on my main 5 element/8 element dual-band Co-linear with 15/19db gain ... they still work well and don't even noticeably saturate when the transmitter is literally a couple of metres away putting out 25w
In fact, there are endless youtube videos with people quite happily keying them up just centimetres apart. If anything, I'd say there's far too much headroom in the pre for their just-about-adequate sensitivity.
All these radios are capable of multiband operation so why not set the system up for crossband repeat? That avoids de-sense and the need for antenna separation and/or duplexers.
the FRS radio transmit with only 1 watt so you can use the beofeng and just turn down the power. The freq are found really easy online I have 2 FRS radios and a Wouxun HT and I have been able to use my wouxun HT to communicate to the FRS that my wife or both that family members have. I didn't see anything online that said you couldn't use a HAM radio on FRS as long as you lowered your power setting.
+Shawn Rigoulot technically you cannot transmit at more than 500 milliwatts which means you're still breaking the law. but in all honesty who gives a shit, and you WILL NOT be caught because nobody actually cares. As long as you are not abusing the frequencies, using bad words, playing music etc. You will be fine. You should monitor your signal just to make sure you're not causing splatter onto other channels of the FRS though - high power settings can create issues for FRS type radios if the channels are closely spaced, you get bad static every time someone on a nearby channel talks with their high power radio.
+Shawn Rigoulot note it is not legal to use them for gmrs or frrs, detachable ant and power, not part 97 compliant, quit hidding the truth
if you can't transmit at any higher then 500 milliwatts.. then why do the ones they sell for both frs and gmrs say 1 watt or 2 watts or 3 watts??? Just curious why is it on the packaging by most companies including motorola.. maybe the FCC should send them a nice little note..
+Shawn Rigoulot to make things simple goto fcc.gov website part97 the info is all there, we wouldn't be having this conversation if you paid more than $25 for the cheap Chinese radio
+bryon clemons
yeah, because someone who responds to a video must have the same equip that the video is about.
First off myself and prob tons of Hams would love to know where to get our hands on a good $25 ham radio. My two radios were more then $25 and they great.
I do not now or have I ever owned a baofeng, but people love them.
I prefer to own American products but there are no real American made Ham radios. The so called American made radios of Icom and Motorola are not made here. Icom has Asian boards and more most of the time and even Motorola when you pop the battery out of the HT or look at the back they all say made in Malaysia. So, Ill take the made in China or Japan over Malaysia any day.
I am aware of the issues in part 97 but if a natural disaster or worse happens it's good to know how to do this kind of stuff. It's the people who don't take the time to learn new skills that will be in trouble if something major were to happen.
To answer the question of "why can't I just use a straight cable from one radio to the other?" the answer is that the earphone jack outputs about 350 millivolts .... while a microphone outputs about 15 millivolts. So with a straight cable you would be ramming 350 millivolts into an input that expects 15 millivolts and severely overdriving the mic input on the transmitter.
So being a nube, I saw a guy who used a strait cord with an adapter (2.5 to 3.5). Your saying that he is going to fry his radio?
@@LM-uz4pr yes, in time.
@@LM-uz4pr That is very likely. Or the retransmitted audio will be severely distorted to the point of being useless.
Darn, too bad you cant just TURN THE VOLUME DOWN! Oh well, shucks
@@democratpro these guys are wrong. It works with vox setup on your baofeng. And the volume can be turned down. These Jack's are analog. Less volume = less volts
Awesome! I’ve purchased one for GMRS, volume up, programmed correctly. Radio received while unconnected, but when I plug in K1, audio is VERY quiet, and Roger beep comes in full volume. Any idea why audio is quiet but ruger beep comes on correct volume???
They can say all the want about power, its always based on PEP peak envelope power, thats what the input is, the out put is at the legal amount, CB radios were always listed at 5 watts, but that was pep the out put was usually between 3-4 watts out
I like this idea. How would I intigrate a nano node into the repeater system? Radio A (input) talks to repeater, output talks to Nano Node (low power simplex) to transmit to IRLP. Then Nano Node talks back to Radio C (low power simplex) which connects to Radio D (repeater output) Is this logic right? It would take 4 radios plus the simplex radio inside the nano node? Or is there a better way to do this?
I would like to know how he got it to work on 146 MHz? The box works flawlessly on 70cm, nothing but headaches and hangs and loops on 2m. The relay box states 400-470 MHz.
Very helpful review.
Would this box eliminate the problem of 'receiver desensitization'?
Bruce Wayne Try crossband. Much more better even if theres no duplexer. Just have vertical separations.
And Ken Page, your probably right! But if you were trying to do a cross band setup, it would probably would not be an issue. I don't cross band much, but I'd rather burn up a $30 Baofeng than a $400 Kenwood due to the 100% duty cycle. And if you had the real estate to separate the antennas far enough apart, it's a cheap setup.
Couldn't you put a 40 watt amp on the tx to a outdoor antenna and make a long range repeater?
So I have a random couple question. 1) will the box transmit a repeater ID?
2) is this only for VHF and UHF? Like if I connect one of these to a 900mhz radio would it work the same?
1) No, ID must be done by the sender (there is no separate ID for the repeater)
2) You can use UHF on both, or VHF on both, or either on one and something else on the other.
3) Whatever comes into 1 radio will be transmitted out the other radio.
For example: if you had your receive radio on a Ham radio frequency and
your transmit on a GMRS frequency, then when you transmit on your Ham
radio, the GMRS radio was receive your signal.
However, this configuration would be illegal. I just used it to give you an
example to better understand the operation and the differences.
I did a test with a EM1000R talkabout with a bs888 Baofeng one of 16 channels and has no display.
I used that cable p1 to p2. I made the connection P2 in Baofeng mic with active Invox. Called P1 in talkabout. I set the radio in 3 462 725 repeater on channel 22 for receiving and talkabout 462 625 20 channel talkabout in the Baofeng. I did my test and did not work the connection by cables. This test only works with two Baofeng? Does not work with the talkabout to receive the signal and to transmit the Baofeng?
Set up a Baofeng UV-5R Repeater System
But how can this work without a duplexer? Radios side-by-side are going to deafen one another. If using VHF aren't you better off buying a cheap 5MHz Chinese mobile duplexer and using a VHF antenna or use a discone? Also, what about cross-banding where RX on side A is VHF; TX is UHF. RX on side B is UHF and TX is VHF. Can this be done? Placing this at a high point makes a a simplex VHF repeater.
I use Baofeng & Chirp software to program my radios.For the"two repeater radios" all I need to do is: Type in 145.800 on the receive (RX) line for radio one & on the second radio type in 146.400 on the receive line for the transmit radio. Is this correct? My radio & my buddy's radio will have both the receive freq. 146.400 & transmit freq. 145.800 on each radio. Could I add a PL tone to this set up and if so I guess I would have to place it on the two repeater radios as well. Last question; would this work just using a simplex freq like:467.68750 on both the receiving & transmit freqs or does it have to use a duplex freq?
Wondering if you still use the repeater box, if so how is it holding up? Great video!
Why can't you use a simple audio crossover cable? Set Squelch on the Rx side and then VoxOp on the Tx side ?
Does the repeater module provide the periodic ID and remote control required for Licence Compliance? Because if not, I'm struggling to see the point of using the module : / hmmmm... actually, Morse Identity and DTMF Remoting seems like a nice easy little microcontroller project to add onto the Squelch+VoxOp system.
Still, I'd love to know the advantages of using the module over a simple audio cable.
GaryChap I did this just to try it. pretty neat
Yeah, it's a fun little free repeater setup.
I was island hopping by yacht with a few friends. We visited an island and put a baofeng repeater with a 7AH battery up in a tree on the hill so we had comms from both sides of the island. The baofengs pull so little power in receive that it lasted all week.
Simple APRS from a baofeng using a mobile phone as the terminal+gps is kinda cool too.
That's what I love about baofengs, they're so cheap you can just mess about with them and not worry.
I stripped one down and used it to monitor POCSAG pager messages for a bunch of typical first responders services nationwide I'd gathered by monitoring on my PC... so now by watching for a statistically anomalous volume of messages across about 100 users I have an Early Warning System for emergency events. I'd never have dedicated a more expensive receiver to something like that.
Interestingly, It's gone off twice. The first was a 'red activity alert' due to sustained multi-agency activity during a national emergency response exercise. I plugged it in again last July, after about 18 months in a cupboard, and left it running - I totally forgot about it until it triggered an 'orange' activity alert on new years eve. So I know it definitely works when there's something going on.
For their price you can squeeze a lot of fun out of these little FM-Only radios... and in a disaster you can afford to hand them out like candy.
I have another one for digital DMR radios, like the Baofeng DM5r. These tier1 radios can't be used on repeaters, so why not use them this way??
GaryChap how did you hook up the battery to the ht's?
+MelloB Outdoors
Two ways of doing this, depending on whether you need really long term running, or easy portability. Remember that the Baofengs need 7.4v (But work fine from 9v to 6v)
*Method 1 - 12v batteries, with voltage regulator*
If you search ebay for "Battery Eliminator Baofeng" and order by price, you'll find car cigarette adaptors for Baofeng UV-5R's for around £1.50... you'll need two.
You can either:
1. Cut the ends off and wire both into the 12v battery terminals, but make sure you salvage the regulator from inside the plug you cut off - you'll need this wired inline because UV5R's don't like 12v so much ; ) You should also use an inline fuse for safety, a 500mA slow-blow fuse is fine.
or
2. You can buy two car cigarette lighter sockets and wire those to the 12v battery so that you have two cigarette lighter sockets to plug the adapters into. The advantage is that the car adapters can still be used in a car. If you don't know what you're doing, use this second option - as the plug has a voltage regulator built in (and the line sockets tend to come with fuseholders fitted already, which is also important)
I like this method because my yacht (and cars) are good at charging up 12v packs and the batteries last forever when only running two baofengs : ) I use a fairly portable 7AH 12v SLAB battery sometimes, it's just something I had lying around from my QRP days... but a car battery would run for months.
*Method 2 - Either 6v or 7.2v batteries, Efficient because no voltage regulator needed*
If backpacking a lighter and more efficient method involves using a 7.2v battery pack (like a LiFePo pack) ... Or if you prefer a lead acid battery you can use a 6v SLAB battery using this method and it is still more efficient than the 12v SLAB method above (because no voltage regulation is needed)
To use this more efficient method you need an 'AA type' battery pack. Search ebay for "AA battery baofeng" ... they cost about £1.20 each, you'll need two.
These are designed to take six AA batteries... but instead, you can put a little hole in the bottom for a cable (use a cable entry grommet for strain relief, or just hot glue it) ... and connect the wires to the exit terminals inside the pack. Now you can connect both battery packs (in parallel) to any battery from 6v - 9v ... like a 6v Sealed Lead Acid or a lightweight 7.2v high capacity Lithium pack. Works beautifully and the current drain is a little bit lower because there's no regulator drop... it's also far lighter too which is important if you're backpacking the thing up a hill.
Either way, I'd suggest fitting a fuse too... always : ) SLABs and Lithiums can get pretty scary if shorted out, so a fuse is a REALLY good idea.
*Project - A single-purpose portable emergency repeater*
(If you use this a lot, want a semi-permanent setup or in poor weather conditions)
Grab an environment-proof plastic enclosure suitable for outdoor use, large enough to hold your battery+radios. Wire it all up using one of the methods above, and affix two SO-239 plugs through the box, using O-rings and hotglue to keep it waterproof. You can wire these connectors to an SMA pigtail inside, and connect the SMA's to the radios antenna mounts. Fix everything down inside so none of the parts move and the cables are not flexing all the time. You can even add a charge controller too with an external connector for wiring up a solar panel.
This makes a great little self-contained repeater box with no weather worries, capable of taking much larger antennas than the baofeng can fit. It also allows you to place the box lower down and hoist the antennas up separately, so that you can get really good line-of-sight signals (For hoisting antennas I use a common technique - a golfball with a screw-in eyelet and fishing line, to throw over high tree branches ... the temporary fishing line can then haul up my paracord, and my paracord is then used to haul up antennas)
But the simple back-to-back baofeng using cheap NA-771 whip antennas is usually all you really need for a quick fast ad-hoc repeater : )
Hope that helps,
Gary
got a ? so if i set this up with a outdoor antenna up around 30/40 ft how far u think i can talk looking to talk around 40 miles
Cool video, thanks.This guy set up a UV-5R repeater station using 2 HTs WITHOUT using a controller box:
Set up a Baofeng UV-5R Repeater System
Looks like He did
Hey Eric...I got into radio due to the fact im partially disabled- I
Passed my tech and general last September but I am still a total noob....
I have a uv5r in my truck as a mobile rig running through a btech vhf amp with a tram mag mount antenna. It works very well and i often hit repeaters over 60 miles away. ( im in very rural Mississippi) When i do go fishing or a woods walk, i bring along a uv5r mostly for NOAA weather,but also in case of emergency and my cell has no signal.... here is my question- Is there a way to use the radio in my truck to re-transmit a tx from my handheld using all of its power and antenna?? I have the genuine Nagoya on the ht but i cannot hit any repeater near me barefoot.... Thanks for your time and for all you do to help us noobs out. 73 de KI5GEV
Randy in the North Mississippi woods.
do you have a link for antenna on your amplifier? thinking of setting up this same thing.
obviously we need a 3rd UV5r for the walkabout radio, then the other 2 would be at the truck to rX/repeat out from the Amp side
I have bought that kind of interface please help how I will do it..is there any settings?? It doesn't work for me..
I have been wanting to set up a mobile field repeater for camping site. I have a 8ft painter pole that extends to 50ft. I want to put 2 antennas on the tower/pole for this. With the 2 antennas so close, what kind of filtration should I need on each to prevent crosstalk?
Both radios will be on UHF, not on VHF.
Would this work on the Baofeng's GMRS channels as well (obviously only for emergency situations)?
@Jacob Trent what do you mean, make sure vox is configured properly?
@Jacob Trent Oh, okay. Thank you!
The tx unit is turned on by voice activation ? Or is the ptt being closed by the cable ?
The reason I ask is because voice activation has a noticeable lag.
To have the rx unit ptt the tx unit directly would be far better.
Unfortunately there is no 'carrier detect' signal available from the receiver. Therefore, you either have to use voice activation or take the receiver apart so you can 'find' the carrier detect signal so you can connect it to the PTT input on the transmitter.
Thanks for the video! I plan to get a few of these boxes and a few baofengs. One mobile system in my truck, one I can carry with me in a backpack (to be the envy of everyone at ham fest) and one to put on a pole with a control box in a yard, which I don't know about mine or my friends
Are you one of the 22 people at hamburgerfest who are not too fat to walk, or do you ride a scooter and weigh 1700 lbs, too?
@@democratpro I weigh less than 150 lb buddy
@@seanjuth not bad for being 4'8". Comrade lives matter✊🏿💉💉
Reading on a repeater site, do these really work ok, since they do not output more than 5 watts? Does the transmitting radio interfere with the receiving radio, since they are in such close proximity to each other? Most repeaters use 1 antenna and a rf filter to filter out cross talk.
What is the name, model # or description of the repeater interface you used? Thanks
cant you just use a 3.5mm to 2.5mm audio jack from speaker and then run 3.5mm aux to the mic port on the other radio and set the offset? then set roger tones on the transmit radio? once you do that with the cable if the radios are on the transmitter will just start transmitting on its own, they need to be off while ur plugging everything in.
That is the exact problem that I am having. How did you fix this?
I am having same problem!! did you get the issue solved??
I used the 3.5mm to 2.5mm male jack.the problem was my tx radio was draining fast and it overheated the tx radio.the worst was when i walk 15 meters away the repeater didn't repeat my voice.it only light up that is indicate that their is someone pressing the ptt.how can you fix this problem?plz give me an idea..
wouldn't a 2.5mm to 3.5mm cable do the same thing? hook up the transmit input to the receive output and use VOX on the transmit radio?
+SheepdogSupply Yes, there are other videos showing how it can be done. It's no where near as simple, elegant and reliable though.
I do see problems with a baofeng repeater.
1. They run on battery's and will eventually die.
2. If they were run while in the charging base the radio would overheat.
3. Baofengs will cut off after 600 seconds of use
These could be fixed but I just wanted to get that out
Can this go both ways? For instance, I am trying to connect a network radio system to a transceiver. but the Walkie Talkie Repeater Box would need to work in both directions to pass the network radio to the transceiver and the transceiver back to the the network radio.
You explained radio a frequencies but not radio b. Are they the same? What are the other settings. Mine just goes to permanent send.
I have all the pieces and parts to build a GMRS Repeater. How do I program the 2 different radios? I am totally new to GMRS and hopefully soon will also take the ham test.
Any help would be appreciated.
Can a in car repeater with antenna, be set up for use with 8w baofung 2 way radios
Witch antenna needs to be the highest when u don't have the douplxer . The Rx or Tx antenna
What is that cable that is interfacing between the two radios in the repeater? I think you are calling it an, "interface." What does it do? Is it necessary? I've seen similar videos that just use a mini headphone cable going between the two HTs. What does your baofeng "interface" cable do differently?
With that interface you don`t need to have VOX on the transmitter radio or it has to be on?
You have to configure VOX properly.
Also add tones (CTCSS/DCS) for smoothing out noise interference.
Hey just out of curiosity before I invest in one of these, is this one of the ones that actually uses the PTT button or does it require VOX? Thanks. :)
It works either way. You choose what mode you want to use. For a repeater setup VOX is easiest
This is a really cleaver idea, but it has one drawback: Repeaters are legally required to identify themselves every 10 minutes. This setup does not permit that. Being temporary you will probably be able to get away with that, but it's something you should know. For an emergency or very remote application it would probably be OK.
shut up
Nice video, but, can I connect two radios only by audio kabel to make them work as repeater?
Yes, but the audio will be so harsh that you may not be satisfied with it
@@waylonk2453 True! And for Damir, the reason is simple. There's an impedance mismatch which the repeater box handles for you. My experience with my repeater box is the volume of the RX is roughly one-half turn, or barely over half-range when using it for optimal modulation.
i bought that interface, but it only works for me when i set it up backwards.
meaning: the little black box that is labeled "receive/emission" i have to have my "emission" cable plug go to my "receive radio" and my "receive cable end" go to my "emission radio".
if i plug stuff in back wards it works, if i follow the sticker arrows the transmits radio doesn't begin transmitting until the recieve radio is done receiving, which at that point there is no audio to pass along so it transmits nothing.
i played with this about a year ago, but tonight i am only now discovering that it only works backwards for me. i watched your video again, thinking maybe someone put the sticker on upside down which would invert the cables, but using the oval shaped indention on the top of the black box as a reference shows my sticker matches your process for some reason.
can you offer any advice?
I want to see somebody use a couple of the 8-watt radios on high power using mobile antennas and do a range test
Curious what duplexer would be appropriate?
okay I get setting up the first two radios what do you set radio B on ...the exact same frequency and offset? because I am thinking if you do that both radios will receive. I guess my question is what would you program into radio B to have it transmit out of the repeater?
They do have to be different frequencies, or else the transmitting side would hold open the receiving sides squelch and you'd just get a big feedback loop that would never stop transmitting till you turn off the radios.
Here's a scenario ...
Output Radio - set to 145.650Mhz
Input Radio - set to 145.050Mhz
So, all your users are listening to the repeaters output on 145.650Mhz, and they need to go DOWN by 600khz whenever they transmit, because that's where the repeaters input frequency is.
We call this 'the repeaters offset' ... In this case, the offset is -600khz
An offset can be - or + ... depending on whether the repeaters input frequency is lower or higher than it's output frequency. In this case it's minus 600khz.
So an offset of -600khz just means (The repeaters Tx frequency - 600khz = the repeaters Rx frequency)
Great!
So... now your repeater is happily listening on one frequency and (re)transmitting on another. We also know that our repeaters output is 145.650Mhz and we know that its offset is -600khz
Now we have to go program the users radios to do the same thing, but in reverse.
So, on the users radio:
set the receive frequency to : 145.6500Mhz, so it listens to the repeaters output.
set the repeater offset to : -600khz, so whenever you transmit it goes down 600khz to the repeaters input frequency.
Now the users radio will listen on 145.650 - but will transmit on 145.050
Because this is the opposite way around to the repeater, the system works.
Hope that helps
You could make this with just an audio cable between rx-speaker and tx-mic, but than you'll have to have vox activated on the tx-radio.
Finding a 2.5mm male jack to 3.5mm male jack-cable might not be easy.
The only extra function of the repeater box is automatic ptt toggling and perhaps an amplifier?
@@belliduradespicio8009 Get a 3.5mm wire plug and a 2.5mm wired plug. You have to wire the red on one to the black on the other, use two wire plugs only and you wont have this problem, set the VOX to 10. I saw that set up on another video FWIW.
I just used a 2.5 to 3.5.....perfectly fine. .......AFTER buying 3 boxes🤦🏾♂️
Can you add a uhf repeater duplexer to this setup. Also will this work on the Baofeng BF-888s radios.
Hi sir Eric my order for repeater systen just arrived . Have test it and it works like what you show on video. Thanks :)
How do u make it work Ive been trying for months . my antennas are 30' apart horizontally and 10' vertically . all I get is an almost but not quiet
Ok, very sorry I know nothing about radios but trying to learn. I have 3 Kenwood tk-3360 radios and need to extend my range. would this work for them and if you wouldn't mind telling me how? What I am looking to do is Leave one at home and put the other 2 in both my cars, but right now it only has a range of about 100 yards. I need at least 2 miles. Can you please help me. Thank you.
***** This setup would not work for you. The tk-3360 radios that you have are not repeater ready meaning that you can only transmit from radio to radio directly (aka simplex) for all intents and purposes. Also, you would need 2 radios at home and then one in each car for this setup. If you do not wish to buy new radios, being that you have a removable antenna, I would invest in a external omnidirectional antenna for your home. This will only improve communications between your home and each car respectively. It will not improve communications between the cars. Adding a fairly inexpensive magnet mount antenna to both cars, and you will improve communications all around. Talking on a rubber duck antenna inside a car will ensure that your calling party will not hear you.
Hi Eric, Can you share how you configure, bec my set up with same box is not working properly and both are transmitting continuously. it will damage the tripple 1 units. Please.... Please.... Help me.
Hi i got the same box you have and i did all the same steps u did and mines not working can you help out?
Thanx. This was helpful. I can now set up an emergency repeater in my neighborhood.
Hi guys. I need some help. I have done the setup on the UHF frequency. The problem I have is that I can send perfectly over a long distance, but the person responding the channel opens but nothing comes through. What could that be?
Can you not just hook them up with cables to do this? What's in the box?
I guess there's something about squelch and triggering.
You *can* just hook them up with cables. I've done it. It works. The transmitting unit would be set to VOX in this case. Unfortunately, the Baofeng VOX doesn't work all that great. The add-on controller box is more reliable to actually key up the transmitter when the receiver picks up a signal. Squelch? No. Triggering? Yes.
+Hangfire
No idea what's in the box, but I'd assume it simply triggers on audio voltage and closes the PTT on the second radio. I'd also expect there's some simple level protection rather than a direct link between speaker and mic too... because setting the levels correctly can be a pain in a back-to-back (vox-operated) configuration.
I'm in the process of building my own repeater harness for radios like the UV5R with Kenwood K1 speaker/mic connectors. I did have a play with a PIC microcontroller over the last few weeks and found that you can implement the periodic morse idents quite easily and even transmit tails (short hold-opens) with a soft K... which I've always found helps weaker break-in stations. These PICs are less than 50p per unit so I figured why the heck not : )
I'm meaning to have a go at some DTMF decoding sometime next week to see if I can't set up a remote shutdown but I'm at a loss for what else I'd want DTMF control for. Setting scheduled power-up/power-down times could be useful I suppose, for extending battery life when deployed for a weeks camping. Luckily the radios handle the CTCSS so that's one thing I don't have to worry about implementing.
I'll be posting up the code and schematic once I've got something I'm happy with though.
Yes there's a video here in youtube that did exactly that. Using the built in VOX to activate the Tx radio.
Do I need to set the radio volume on A or B? That repeater intermediate does not need volume?
Do both Baofeng's have to be the same model number? Thank you. Ernest Bazzinotti KC1LKB
What do you think?
Question. Can GMRS fixed channels be repeated in any way? I get the Ham radios part, I have both. But the GMRS transmit and receive on the same frequency, they don’t have offset options.
Actually, the GMRS frequencies do have an offset. The transmission out of a gmrs radio on a repeater channel is 467.xxx and the receive is 462.xxx.
You do not address the settings between the two radios that have the interface. So any settings will work with all frequencys, no matter the output radio settings?
In this set-up what will be max range
Is VOX necessary or is the TX smart enough to PTT?
Wondering if there are adaptors that would connect from ht to the internet so the ht's would not need to be in the same physical location. Not sure if this is even permissable
zello,allstar , dmr, etc all do exactly this but in most cases a cheap radio is modified with a few resistors and soldered to a cheap sound fob to solve ptt type problems.
Hola, quería saber por qué se escucha más bajo el equipo que transmite cuando estoy lejos del repetidor thanks
Thaks
Hi, great video. So you set the same frequency for both A & B radios? I don't get the offset here.
A is set to Rx on ch1, b is set to Tx on ch2 - the Tx on A and Rx on B does not matter. Since you listen to ch2, you need an offset when you transmit which + or - a frequency to match the repeaters Rx.
So -- Repeater A: Rx 145.500 -- Repeater B: Tx 145.900 -- You setup your radio to Rx on 145.900, and Tx on 145.500 - the offset here is -0.400.
Dude, you're a genius. I purchased a cheaper version of this mini repeater from an eBay seller but it came with a few numbers on the little repeater box, a few abbreviations and some Chinese characters, but no instructions! Zero. I had no idea how to set it up and went round and round with my radios as well as the seller who didn't know how to set it up, didn't care, didn't know anybody that knew how to set it up, etc.
So, I spent the money on the more expensive one reviewed on this video supposedly designed by Baofeng, but it also came with no instructions! But you figured it out. So, I dug these things out of the trash and by God they work.
Thanks. 73.
Your walkie talkie "transmits" the offset frequency of one radio. That radio passes along and transmits through the other antenna, on the actual repeater receive frequency.
You transmit - frequency X (offset frequency)
and the other radio transmits on frequency Y (repeater frequency)
... and all radios set to receive on the repeater frequency receive the repeated signal.
Is there not supposed to be a duplexer installed?
So let's say the repeater is 145.67 and everyone in the neighborhood can connect. How would it be different than just using that frequency as a simplex net?
in semplex you get the worst possible transmit and receive situations some times. Radios in vhf and Uhf both only do good when they have line of site. If you put this repeater set up, up somewhere high, that most anywhere can talk clearly to, then it able pass along your message much farther than if you were in simplex from two ground locations.
Why would you need this when you can just make a straight cable going from the output of one into the input of the other and turn on VOX?
Because if you havent tried that idea already, it doesn't work. the VOX on these radios are the weak point, and it causes the radio to hang in transmit. Trust me i have tried using a straight through cable, it doesnt work on these Baofeng radios. On my Yaesu VX-8GR or my Kenwood D72A it will work, but of course look how much those radios cost. 73
you can but you need to understand how the radio works and custom wire some cables. i recently setup a echolink, link using baofeng radios. in MK I of the system i just made a custom cable and found the tx hanging on. after fixing that the only problem was the lag before it would tx. now the MK II version uses a serial ptt controller i made and it is working quite well. i am designing the MK III version that will detect the rx by serial connection so i don't have to use the vox in echolink. i will make a youtube video when i have that completed.
I used simple straight cable for months while camping and never had an issue! Added external antennas and 50Watts amplifier on transmit site to extend the range. IMHO if the box could add hang time and ID tone, I would get it, otherwise I don't see the reason why spending even $20 for something what the radio already has built in.
@@HamRadioConcepts you are right, so i bought this cable and it still doesnt work, same problems; it keeps transmitting, i have changed the FOX from 1-10; keeps transmitting...
Please help me :( Ive got a similar setup that i cannot get to work. Ive got two baofengs acting as my repeater, a duplexer that is properly tuned (467.675 and 462.675) and an amplifier hooked up to my TX radio. The setup works flawlessly when I am close, works as it is supposed to. However from about a block away it will no longer carry voice transmissions even though its within range and can be pinged for a curtesy tone. Any insight would be much appreciated
In spite of your duplexer the transmit side is desensitizing the receiver. My solution was to get the two radios as far apart from each other as I could and use a looooong audio cable between the radios. But I still had some desensitizing going on because I didn't have a duplexer available.
@@marcspeth4850 One thing also to consider is the possibility of the cable bringing in RF from TX to RX. Consider adding some toroid iron cores along the cable, especially before the TX or "emission" end of the box (although it can work either direction, truth be known!)
What kind of distance can you get using a setup like this?
How do i decide what frequencies to run the repeater on?
I I’ve wanted to do this with a pair of radios, chargers, solar panel and a waterproof enclosure and stash it on the top of a mountain ridge where we like to hunt both sides of the mountain… guess it may become a thing sooner than later.
This might help you... ua-cam.com/video/y2sk7o2KBR4/v-deo.html
Forgive me what I'm a bit confused. I thought the primary characteristics of a repeater what more power (greater range) and a larger (raised above the tree line/building/hills/etc). I'm not seeing what difference a 5w radio with a 16 inch antenna could possible make that a single radio (same wattage and antenna length) in simplex mode couldn't.
With all that said, I'm open and willing to learn. Obviosly I'm more ignorant than skeptical.
Someone please take me to school on this.
If a handheld transmits 5 miles, to this setup, then radio B from this setup transmits 5 miles, to the second radio, thats a 10 mile hop. If anyone came here looking to make a repeater with a 17 dollar part, you started searching with the wrong idea. This is only for a temporary basis or just for fun. Nothing commercial or professional about this item.
Depending location. You can get more then a couple of mile. I hook mind to a outdoor antenna and get about 25 miles.
Keith Mitchell I want to use a setup like this with external antennas and a solar panel on quite a high hill and see what kind of range it would get
+RETiredGM I am looking at this as a fix for my handhelds H777's and H888's, we work in a hilly, mountainous area where cell phone signal is impossible. This small repeater system would work well in our small bubble. For safety reasons i need all o my teams to be able to call for help, and for production to keep supplies and equipment routed while we build our pipeline. Thanks
Scenario: 350 acre thick woods and 5 watt handhelds are not able to reach from end to end.
There is no good area in the middle to set up 1 repeater.
There are good trees 1/3 of the space apart.
Does anyone know if 2 of this exact setups will work with each other and all radios tuned according?
Thanks for helping out!:)
Build a tower?
I would suggest finding a tall building to build an actual repeater on. Not this. This is typically used for a temp setup.
-“350 acres of thick woods where two radio can’t reach from one end to the other..”
-Response- .. “find a tall building.
You’re not that smart are you?
Question-
Where is the least likely place on earth to find a tall building.. in any country?
Answer- in the middle of 350 acres of thick woods.
Hey dumb question - wouldn't it be better to cross band repeat so that the receiver isn't de sensetized every time the Tx comes on?
It depends on your definition of "better". Suppose you have radios that have only one band, i.e. the Baofeng 888S (UHF only). No crossband/split frequencies there. Two UV-5Rs would be fine in a crossband setup, though.
Hey Nathan. Not a dumb question at all.
Yes, cross-banding usually reduces swamping/splatter problems... but it's usually best to solve the problem and run a normal single-band repeater where possible.
In addition to what Austin said - remember also, that even if your users do have dual-band units ... not all can be set up for cross-band duplexing. The baofengs are a bit weird - they cannot access cross-band repeaters using duplex mode from the radio settings - you have to use the chirp programming software to create a cross-band duplex memory channel.
To set up cross-band user operation without chirp you have to use two simplex channels and the dual-watch mode.
1. Set up VFOa (repeater input) and VFOb (repeater output) on their correct band/frequency
2. Turn on dual watch, so that the radio scans both VFO's for activity
3. Set VFOa as the active VFO (The one that is used when you press transmit)
4. Lock the keypad - that ab button is too easy to hit accidentally ; )
You should now be able to access the cross-band repeater easily.
If you get out of range of the repeater, your group-members radios will automatically communicate directly via VFOa. That can be useful, but can also leave you with a false sense of security and not realising that you're out-of-range of other groups or your base camp. So, remember to check in regularly if that's important.
TIP: If you ARE in range of the repeater and a member comes in barely readable on VFOa (direct) ... briefly raise the squelch. This cuts off the signal briefly and causes the dual-mode monitor to move on to VFOb, where it gets locked on the better VFOb signal. If there is no VFOb signal (maybe out of repeater range) it will just land right back on the VFOa signal anyway. So, it's always worth 'jogging the monitor'
Obviously, if you can set all the radios up in advance you can use the 'split' option in the chirp software to create a proper cross-band channel, but it's always useful to know how to set up cross-band operation manually in case you need to do it in the field.
Also, remember that cross-band for the sake of it is always a bit of a trade-off and means asymmetric performance.
But I'd still say look at your repeater setup and try to resolve the swamping issue first.
Gary
+Jerry Kuhn
Thanks for that, and you're absolutely right.
I do think it depends on when/where your Baofeng was made though. I have two that don't properly create crossband offset from the interface. My friend has a unit which does, so we sat them side by side and mirrored the exact same keypresses ... same problem. We finally did a factory restore but the affected units still don't set up crossband.
I think there have been some poorly documented revisions to the firmware over time. But you're absolutely right, I've bought others since which work perfectly.
Luckily, my old two are now both stripped down to the boards and I'm controlling the SDR (RDA1846) directly from a PIC chip for long range telemetry with my yacht alarm system. Basically, it chirps me with alarm state, battery voltage, bilge pump seconds, inside/outside temperature and inside humidity from 3 miles away. The local unit decodes the data and writes to a display panel in my shack.
The UV-5R's are amazing little things : )
What I meant by cross band repeating originally was UHF on one radio to transmit and VHF on the other radio to receive or vice versa. Receiver sensitivity gets completely smashed when one of the radios is transmitting this close to the receiving radio on the same band, which is why the amateur satellites always do cross band repeating. The radios in the video are both capable of UHF and VHF, so it only made sense in my opinion to cross band repeat, since the capability is there. Has nothing to do with the firmware or anything like that. All that is needed hardware and firmware wise is shown in this video. I have a UV8D that is capable of cross and repeating on it's own, but that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about using two radios with the cable shown, one on VHF, one on UHF, one receiving and one transmitting. And as far as the operators using UV5Rs, it is capable of cross band splits programming it through chirp.
+Nathan JR
Agreed. The only proper way to repeat in the same band is to use tuned cavities (notching) as far as I am aware, but the cost of those defeats the purpose of an ad-hoc baofeng repeater. With 5w units it IS possible with a little distance, careful choice of frequency offset, etc ... but it's a hassle. Vertical separation of antennas is more effective than horizontal separation but then you're sacrificing height which can make the whole endeavour pointless unless you've got natural height by virtue of a hill or crag.
It ain't always straightforward by any means but it's certainly doable, particularly at low wattages, with a little experimentation. I've deployed them many times in the same band without major problems, but placement is key.
I guess the best advice is to always favour cross-band if at all possible.
how about antenna separation ? especially if you used external gain antennas
But there is ONE problem that NONE of these videos address. Receiver desensitization. I set one of these up and while the transmitting handheld (that is NOT part of the repeater) is sitting two feet away from the repeater it works perfectly. But in my test, when the transmitting handheld reached about 50 feet away the repeater's receiver could still receive the carrier but the repeater's receiver was being so desensitized by the repeater transmitter being so close to it that the handheld transmitter could no longer be received. In other words, when you got 50 feet or more away from the repeater it became useless because its own transmitter was interfering with its own receiver. I tried moving the receiver and transmitter 5 feet apart .... no help. So a MUCH wider separation will be needed between the repeater transmitter and receiver to make it practical.
At least 20 feet is needed on UHF and 60' on VHF.
I am a noob in the radio world. I was wondering if you could set this up to connect to other repeaters? A little explanation: I recently built my first quarter wave antenna. I'm now able to hit repeaters using my HT. I would like to use my other HTs without being tethered to my antenna. Could I set this up so that I would be able to hit this repeater and then that would transmit and receive to other repeaters?
Absolutely No way, not possible and highly illegal💉💉💉
@@democratpro Well, now I'm a little further into my radio journey and a little more experienced. If You use a part accepted radio then you set it up as a crossband repeater. It would work and it would be legal right? For example: You would set your TX (part 95 certified) radio in this repeater setup to whatever frequency and PL tone the repeater has. You would set your RX radio to whatever frequency you needed. You would then transmit from a third HT to the RX radio. That would then shift the transmission to the TX radio and send it out on the frequency with the proper PL tones for the repeater. You would set your third HT to receive on the repeaters, TX frequency and PL tones. At that point you would only be transmitting to the repeater on a part certified radio. And you can receive on a the non part 95 certified HT.
What do you think? Legal workaround? Maybe there's something I'm missing.
@@blottermad yer goin to PRISON, comrade!
I'd like to have Zello PC Repeater connect with my Baofeng UV-5RA
may it will have an interesting idea using Android or my old blackberry being connected to group ham radio without range limits.. using WiFi
Do you interested to try and makes a video for this ?
Please tell me, which brand and model of the antenna on the right device?
I am trying this with (2) Baofeng uv-82's and it's not working, constatntly transmitting
Hey, Any special Laws regarding making our own Ham repeaters? Can technicians do this?
Yes a Technician can make your own repeater. Just make sure that you are not using the same repeater pair as a nearby repeater. Otherwise, you might get a pink card from the FCC from an upset repeater owner. Best way to do it is contact your repeater coordinator in your area and find out if there are any repeater pairs that are available, fill out the appropriate paperwork that they require and hope that you get a pair. If not, then you need to do research on the area you are in and make sure that your repeater doesn't interfere with another one using the same frequencies.
What about the required call sign announcement? Can that repeater interface be programmed with the announcement to announce every 10 minutes?
This device is basically used as a range extender, not to be set up as an area wide permanent repeater. This cant be programmed for that. Its more for emergency communications on a temporary basis.
Doesn't work!!! I was once a Sub but I notice when these UA-camrs doing it for $ and not the Hobby...YOU Dont get A RESPONSE from the creator...but when its them spending there money all you get every Question in the comments ANSWERED...LMAO..WOW
What antenna are you using on the TX unit with the extended battery? and is it covered for 136-174/400-520mhz?
Morning and what a great Vid, were in the UK can i get the repeter interface? Could you send me a link if you no were in the UK i can get the interface
is a duplexer?
Doesn't work here..., tried it with different Baofengs; UV5R's and UV82-s, but nothing.
The problem is that the TX unit keeps transmitting, i changed all FOX possibilitys, but nothing, keeps transmitting.
Changed the offset from + to - , from 0,6 Mhz to 10 Mhz; nothing...
And an other problem; both the RX as the TX unit's display's are on line "A" both when you connect the cable they both changed to line "B" and there is no way to go back to line "A" (dual watch is off)
So i gave the lines A&B the same frequencie but that also don't work, the TX unit keeps tramsmitting no matter what...
Any suggestions?
What radio is programmed to what though?
Please explain how to set a and b radio if a is 146.460 - offset what would you set b radio too? Thank you
This is very simple. 146.460- .600 offset would be 145.860.. just count up or down .600
@@HamRadioConcepts can u please explain it like I was a 5 year old child . what is radio b set for ?
my two radios and the san sonic inbetween dohickie came today .
Are we hearing you on radio B or on the GT3 in the background? I want the pair ( radio A and B ) to be silent.
i assumed we wouldnt hear him on radio b and that it would light up as if its transmitting, albeit i know its doing both
@@jasonbrown467 I ended up buying the interface anyway and you are correct. There is no audible output from radio B when transmitting and connected. Which is precisely what I hopped for.
@@TheModularDiver nice, glad to hear, i want to set this up as well
ive seen people have issues with that setup because the unit uses VOX?
The VOX function on Baofeng is disabled in factory default settings, why change that?
Also remember to set a Tone function (CTCSS and DCS) for Repeater Use in order to not transmit in every little noise interference.