Now, instead of having to use high power transmitters and large antennas, small handheld radios have unprecedented range. Repeaters allow us to do some amazing things with our radios. A handheld on simplex has a range of maybe a mile or so. A repeater can extend that 20 fold or more. Amateur radio clubs use their repeaters to provide health and welfare communication support for local events.
Emergency communications groups use repeaters to stay in touch while storm spotting. Now, with using internet linking technologies, we can even talk to other hams half-way around the globe on our local repeater. The repeater, in essence is the glue the holds a local ham radio group together. Repeaters systems break down into three types: single site, multi-site receive, and linked systems.
These repeaters can run either analog or digital communication modes. Analog has been the mainstay of repeater systems for decades, but the digital modes are fast catching on in both commercial and amateur radio systems. Single Site repeater systems are monolithic in their operation. One receiver and one transmitter operate in concert to extend the range of a radio signal.
Single site systems are the most prevalent and simplest of the repeaters available. The downside of single site repeaters can be their limited coverage in difficult terrain or urban environments. There may be locations were the transmitter give excellent coverage, but the receiver has a hard time picking up a weak signal.
Adding remote receivers to a repeater helps pick up these weak signals and relay them to the main site for retransmission. When there are multiple receivers listening, a device called a voter will analyze all the incoming signals and select the strongest signal for retransmission.
A remote receive repeater can have any number of voters to strengthen the receive coverage of the repeater. A linked repeater system is, in essence, a network of repeaters retransmitting the same signals. Repeaters are complex systems with many components working in concert. But once you start breaking it down, the individual parts are quite simple. This is a large, multi-site receive repeater system that serves a large geographic area in North Central Wisconsin. Every repeater has a receiver and a transmitter.
Repeaters operate in full duplex, that is, they are simultaneously transmit the signal they receive. The receiver listens for a signal on one frequency and the transmitter simultaneously transmits it on another.
Typically these radios are commercial grade equipment designed for heavy duty cycles. In building our repeater, it would be too simple to take these two radios and connect the output of one into he mic jack of the other. The controller is the brains of the repeater system. It provides the functionality required of a repeater system. It also has timers and filters to help prevent spurious signals from inadvertantly activating the repeater, or excessively long transmissions from locking up the system.
The controller also manages the remote links and voter system although most voters are separate from the controller. At some repeater sites, the controller and radios may be all in one package, or as separate devices. There is no real advantage of one style over the other, other than the size and convenience of the all-in-one package. The controller activates when the microvolt level of the signal rises above the noise floor, and a CTCSS tone code is present.
When this happens, the controller keys the transmitter and relays the signal out. In this cabinet, the voter system above takes the signals received from the link sites radios below and selects the best signal to send to the controller for retransmission.
Our repeater now has two radios and a controller to run the show. If you purchase anything through one of these links we will earn a commission. How do those ham repeaters work?
What about all the equipment and how it all fits together? Just got into the hobby and have been trying to understand the theory behind these repeaters. This was straight to the point thank you. No excessive junk i dony need to know. I think radio-line-of-sight is best thought of as optical-line-of-sight but if you had superpower eyesight capable of seeing 10 miles, 50 miles or even more sometimes into the distance. You are the first video of many that I have watched that actually explained how this works in a way that a beginner like me can understand.
So many others instruct as if I should already know what they're talking about instead of teaching me the basics. Thank you! So I want to talk to my brother who is 50 miles away, who just got his General. I have my General too. I cannot reach him directly, nor can he reach me directly, as we only have 5 watt Baofengs. How do I find the repeater s and the frequencies they work on which are between us so that we can link up? And ideas? Great video guys.
Wish this was around when I first started. TeamReplay for the win!
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