Thanks Mike, I was trying to connect to Digital Fusion repeaters but DMR I know nothing about. Antenna is on top of my chimney, I have no building shielding with a good line of sight...open fields to my north and north-east. Using rg8x power at 25 watts. I live at FM 1093 and FM 723 ....Westheimer Lakes subdivision. Thought I had good reception with initial connection (new just got radio 4 days ago) but had totally no connection on 444.000 from Friday through to Sunday night at 10pm which worried me. Thought it was my FTM100dr so I kept resetting it to factory default settings all weekend. It finally it connected for me Sunday at 10pm. That's why I thought it might be my antenna. Please advise. Thank you for your help.
Gayle KF5LVZ On Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 12:15 AM Mike Hardwick via BVARC <[email protected]> wrote: > Need more information than you provided: > > > > 1. Are you talking about analog repeater or digital repeater? > > 2. There are not very many digital/fusion repeaters in Houston. > There are many more UHF DMR repeaters in the area. > > 3. You did not say what part of Houston you are in. I checked the > BVARC roster and couldn’t find your address. > > 4. How much power are you using? Twenty five to thirty watts should > hit anything around Houston, especially if the repeater has some height to > it - >500’. > > 5. What kind of coax are you using? For UHF you need to be using > LMR400. > > 6. Are you shielded behind a building between you and the 444.000 > repeater? > > 7. Are you shielded behind any other structures for the other > fusion repeaters. Several of the DMR repeaters have handheld coverage > around Houston. > > 8. You just may need more height on the antenna. You can use Google > Earth and do a profile to see if there is any “dirt” between you and the > repeater. > > 9. If you have decent coverage on analog – 20 to 30 miles – then > your installation is fine. I would try and get about 30’ feet if you could. > That does help you get over the ground clutter. > > 10. You could go to the 50A but it only offer 1.8db gain on UHF and 1.5 > on VHF. That is not a big improvement on VHF/UHF. As I mentioned, elevation > would be the thing to work on. > > > > Of course the repeater could be sick and that is all you are going to get. > > > > Lots of variables to consider before changing antennas. > > > > Mike > > N5VCX > > > > > > > > *From:* BVARC [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Gayle Dotts > via BVARC > *Sent:* Sunday, April 15, 2018 11:05 PM > *To:* BRAZOS VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB > *Cc:* Gayle Dotts > *Subject:* [BVARC] 2/70 uhf/vhf home base antenna > > > > Currently have a Diamond 30a up 18 feet. With my FTM100dr rig only hitting > 444.000 repeater off and on..... I think I am needing an upgrade..... would > a Diamond 50a work better? > > > > Gayle > > KF5LVZ > > > ------------------------------ > > [image: AVG logo] <http://www.avg.com/internet-security> > > This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. > www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com/internet-security> > > > > _______________________________________________ > BVARC mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org > Message delivered to [email protected] >
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