The feedline may be fine at 2m, yet at 444 Mhz. ( 70cm band )- anything over 50 feet will take most of your transmit power. Check out ABrind as a local source of supply for a cable similar to LMR-400. If you do go with LMR-400, be aware that there are two or more versions- regular and ultraflex. The more flexible cable is fine, yet the regular cable has less loss ( though it is stiffer, a consideration for some installations ). Since we have had some static-electric disturbance, did you consider your station surge protection?
Jon L. Livingston, Electronics Technician 9520 Wilcrest Drive #3110 Houston, Texas 77099-2193 (832) 591-0082 When not installing ( Short SMS text pls.) [email protected] New employee of Alfred J. Perez independent business- This is not an official opinion of Mr. Perez at this time... www.linkedin.com/in/jon-livingston General Radiotelephone license PGGB062294 CET Wireless Communications WCM-R185658 Amateur Radio license KB0MNM ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gayle Dotts via BVARC" <[email protected]> To: "BRAZOS VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB" <[email protected]> Cc: "Gayle Dotts" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, April 16, 2018 6:49:25 AM Subject: Re: [BVARC] 2/70 uhf/vhf home base antenna 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 This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com _______________________________________________ BVARC mailing list [email protected] http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org Message delivered to [email protected] _______________________________________________ BVARC mailing list [email protected] http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org Message delivered to [email protected]
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