Monday, May 23, 2016

Hytera RD965 - Tactical DMR Repeater Project

Hytera RD965 - Tactical DMR Repeater Project:
In testing UHF DMR in simplex mode, I found on typical terrain or on road convoys, the DMR radios gave us approx 2-3x the distance and had many fewer coverage holes in a given set of terrain. Another anecdote, from the basement of my house in Fort Collins, I can hit the Boulder area DMR-MARC repeater, using a HT, in DMR mode. This is pretty amazing considering the distance and stuff in the way. On analog UHF, I am lucky to hit the local Fort Collins (Horsetooth) repeater from the exact same position.

Only problem, the DMR repeaters Kent deals with are fixed position enterprise-level units, and the "manpack" repeaters he builds are typically built around ultra low power VHF/UHF. So I did a bunch of research online and found the Hytera RD965 repeater. It's small, a little larger than an old Hayes Courier HST modem. The downside compared to the other manpack repeaters was going to be its power requirements. I said that I didn't mind if we needed to have more batteries or solar panels, so we just went ahead with the project.

The idea is that we ID the best mountain-top position for the repeater to give maximal coverage of the event area, drive/hike it up there, and then leave it there for about to two weeks, until we're done with the site. The repeater is to run autonomously during that time.
Click the link for the full details (including pics) of the solution.

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