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We use wireless
communications
in a lot of different ways. That's good!
But sometimes our needs expand and we need more range. That's when we need a REPEATER!
Public safety users have long used repeaters to extend coverage. Generally, a repeater can be defined as booster station that picks up a transmission from an originating radio and retransmits the message over an extended area. More recently, repeaters have been used by churches, facilities management in larger buildings, hospitals, manufacturing plants, motels, restaurants and schools. The cost of the repeater will depend on a number of variables. If you would like to know more about the theory of repeaters and how they work, click here. We could spend a lot of time in explaining how repeaters work, but our objective at this point is to acquaint on-site users on repeater basics for practical applications to provide more coverage for VHF or UHF radio systems. Let's start with an example.
Back
in the 60's, the Hillman Hospital (See photo on left), now a part of the
University of Alabama in Birmingham, was one of the larger buildings
on the south side of Birmingham. Over time, the original Hillman
building became a part of a much larger complex known as the University of
Alabama - Birmingham. The picture below will give you some idea as
to how much this single complex has grown (actually there are many other
large buildings covering multiple city blocks with a land area larger than
many small towns!). Can you spot the old Hillman building in the
picture at the right?
The hand held radio system designed for use in the 60's was adequate for coverage (just barely) in the single Hillman Building, but obviously not capable of covering the much larger complex that developed over the years. Now you can see the basic purpose of a repeater - to expand coverage as your needs grow or to provide adequate coverage over large areas for new users.
Suffice it to say that if our current operating range between hand held radios is one mile and we want to double that range to two miles, the most common solution is to add a repeater. If the power of the repeater is equal to that of the associated handheld radios, the result will be a doubling of operating range if the repeater is located in the center of the operating area (i.e. the repeater would allow handheld radios to communicate over a distance of two miles since the repeater would allow a user one mile east of the repeater to communicate with a user one mile west of the repeater. Now, the trick is to determine how to make this thing work since a repeater requires TWO frequencies - one to transmit to the repeater, and one for the repeater to transmit to the hand held radios.
Without going into a lot of technical details, let us just say that we offer two different devices to provide repeat capabilities.
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Need more range for your UHF
radios? Get a Liberty UHF Repeater complete with antenna ready
for mounting on standard 1.5 inch pipe. Programming, antenna,
and a 50 foot cable kit also included for our incredibly low price
of just $1,295 complete. Repeater specifications are available
by clicking here.
Order Code CP304. You can order this item on line by click on
the EZ-Buy button at the right.
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A new high powered version of the Liberty Repeater is available for the UHF band with your choice of narrow band 12.5 kHz or 25 kHz. This new unit has up to 8 watts of power. That's up to four times more powerful than the original highly acclaimed 2 watt model. Our low price of just $995 includes antenna, power supply and duplexer. In most installations an external antenna is not required. Order Code LIBRPT08. |
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Need more range for your VHF radios? Get a RadioNexus VHF Repeater complete with antenna ready for mounting on standard 1.5 inch pipe. Programming, antennas, and a 50 foot cable kit also included for our incredibly low price of just $1,295 complete. Repeater specifications are available by clicking here. Order Code CP308A. You can order this item on line by click on the EZ-Buy button at the right. |
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Again, without getting technical, let us share some additional information relating to repeaters. A repeater, unlike a handheld or mobile radio, transmits and receivers simultaneously (i.e. "repeats" in real time). In order to accomplish this function, we must either use separate antennas (as is shown with the RadioNexus VHF units above). Otherwise, and more commonly, we use an internal device known as a duplexer. This device (incorporated into the UHF Liberty repeater allows us to use a single antenna IF the transmit and receiver antennas are separated by at least 3.5 MHz for VHF or 4.5 MHz for UHF.
The Liberty repeater is not available in VHF, primarily because of case size restrictions. The RadioNexus is available for either VHF or UHF, or even VHF to UHF cross band since it does not use a duplexer. Additionally, RadioNexus allows the use of close spaced (less than 3.5 MHz) frequencies. This makes RadioNexus ideally suited for VHF license free MURS channels. Both the Liberty and the RadioNexus can be used on the 2 watt color dot channels and be programmed to other commercial or public safety channels as desired for either 25 kHz or 12.5 kHz spacing.
The UHF Liberty repeater above is supplied with a 4X power gain antenna and cable kit. This effectively quadruples range in both the receive and transmit mode over that of a unit operating with the standard mobile type antenna. The VHF RadioNexus repeater uses two 2X gain antennas with associated cable kits. Both units are available with mobile type antennas when maximum range is not required. This results in a price reduction of $300 on the RadioNexus or $400 or the Liberty repeater. This units can be purchased by using the Buy-Me Buttons below.
| UHF Liberty repeater with standard mobile type antenna @ $775. Order code CP304AN |
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| VHF RadioNexus with standard mobile type antenna @ $995. Order code CP308 |
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Custom antenna systems are optionally available for more range. More powerful repeaters are also available for longer range. These repeaters are most often mounted in an area of high elevation with power ranging from 40 to 100 watts. Prices range from $1,895 to $4,495 with antenna systems designed to meet specific coverage requirements. If you have a need for long range coverage, please call us at 1.800.489.2611.
User information. Products sold by USA Radios are warranted to be technically compliant with the manufacturers specifications. No other warranty relative to use of the equipment or related service, when applicable, is expressed or implied. USA Radios makes no claim for suitability or fitness of users purpose or application. USA Radios is not responsible for claims arising from the use of equipment or services provided by or through Falcon USA Radios in which there are losses attributed to the use or application of equipment and/or related services. User agrees to these terms as a condition of purchase.
Copyright 2007 - USA Radios of
Alabama Inc.
This page was last updated on 01/21/2007
American quality at prices
below the imports!
36 - 20th Avenue NW - Birmingham, AL 35215
Phone Toll Free - 1.800.489.2611