When you receive the Retevis RT97 repeater, do you already check the RT97 repeater range and coverage?
We have a customer who does that and writes a review as below
Setting
After setting up the RT97 on my base station antenna, I went for a drive. I started recording on my
voice recorder sitting on my desk so I could hear what I sounded like as I drove around town.
Anything you have that can receive the repeater output works for this. I used a police/fire scanner.
How to test
I drove around town, from one end to the other, roughly 2 miles in each direction. I would transmit a
message like “this is [my callsign] on a range test, at 12:34 local time from Main Street and Route 617.”
During the first part of the test, I used my full 50 watts mobile transmitter power and then switched to 5
watts on the way back in case there would be a difference in how I sounded to the repeater. (There
was!)
During this test I brought my handheld radio with me and keyed up the repeater, using that, a few
times, just to see how well that worked and to compare it to the mobile radio with the external antenna.
Once I hit the main road, there was a big difference, as you might expect. But for local coverage, inside
my RV park, there was little or no difference.
My goal for this repeater is to be able to set up quickly and use it for local coverage in my RV park. We
have a group of a couple of dozen hams here during the winter months. There are a few more hams who
live outside the park, and it would be nice for them to monitor and join in too. Another goal is to
NOT interfere with anyone who might be using this frequency, no matter how far away they might be.
Using a frequency in the repeater UHF band will keep us away from any weak-signal stations. And
using the CTCSS or subaudible tone will prevent us from keying up someone else’s system.
Conclusion
From this test alone, the RT97 is proving 100% successful in reaching goals as a local easy-to-use
ham radio repeater. if you also do a test about RT97 repeater range and coverage, welcome to leave a review by this email, partner@retevis.com
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