Field Test Of The Retevis RT97 UHF Portable Repeater!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ส.ค. 2024
- Get it here: bit.ly/Lewis-RT97
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I can’t tell you how many videos I’ve watched on TH-cam in my lifetime and while I’ve found many helpful or useful, I’ve never done the thumbs up or left a comment until now. First off, THANK YOU to the both of you for purchasing, testing and videoing the process. And of course a HUGE thank you for uploading the video to TH-cam and making it possible for all of us to see (and hear). I’m right in the middle of upgrading my organization’s radio system from VHF high band simplex (with very old and outdated equipment) to UHF and while the majority of our response area does fine in a simplex mode we have some outlying areas that are sketchy (to bluntly put it) and I’ve been trying to come up with a solution. I purchased the strongest wattage portable handheld) radios and other than purchasing multiple mobiles a minimum of 7) for use in when operating in those outlying areas which would have “broke the bank”, the only other option was a repeater system. Every other repeater setup I’ve been able to find not only requires a rather large footprint but seems to be a bit complicated for an amateur like myself not to mention above all else the HIGH, make that RIDICULOUS price tag associated with these systems has made it unattainable. Our requirements only dictate the need for a lower wattage system (and a really good base antenna) but that really didn’t seem to make much of a difference on the price tag of any repeater systems available today until I saw this repeater offered on Amazon. I was wondering (again, me being an amateur at this) if this unit would actually work as stated by the manufacturer and if it would deliver a quality performance. After watching this video (the one Retivis has really was no help), the decision is an easy one (and yes, that means we’re going to purchase one). Not only will it ensure a strong coverage area but it’s simple, AFFORDABLE and seems to deliver a quality transmission which are all positives. So, again I thank you for taking the time to make and post this video as you couldn’t have timed it any better.
Thanks again, John C - Florida/USA
Excellent test of the repeater. Thanks for braving the weather to bring us this video.
Cheers Chris
Thank you so much for this video! I've watched a few videos regarding this little portable repeater and it seems to perform well, given its inherent limitations (like no auto ID function and a lack of remote controllability). Of course, like all VHF/UHF systems, the primary limitation is going to be the relative altitude and gain of the repeater's antenna, more so than power output. So, 10 watts should be quite sufficient, if you give proper attention to location of the repeater's antenna relative to the coverage area.
At $399US, it's a bargain. But, I would be willing to pay as much as $200US more, if it had a programmable automatic ID system and the ability to remotely control the unit using DTMF tones to input a programmable password and control code to enable/disable the unit's repeater function, while maintaining its ability to listen for future control codes. To externally add such functionality would kind of defeat the benefit of it being compact and easily implemented. This unit has been around for a few years so I would have expected such enhancements, by now. I know I'm not the only one who sees the lack of these features as a significant deficiency in an otherwise nicely designed product.
Thanks, again!
Richard you are really dumb 3 watts is nothing unless you want to talk to your neighbor.
Great results from the tests. It's looking like a really nice bit of kit. Many thanks to you both for running the tests in such cold conditions. Cheers, 73
Thanks mate! :)
brilliant, enjoyed this a lot
That worked really well. What a great piece of kit Lewis.
That was a good repeater,
As you said, it could be used during emergency communications, or everyday use. Great video.
Am amazed with your new toy works very well brilliant video got like you lads with tomato sauce 👍🏻
Dedication that lads. Great video nice one.
Excellent video guys 👍
Well done Lewis... Making the sacrifice to test out in the wild... Sounds good and the repeater sounds stable, no self de-sense. You lads are very posh with the Earl Grey tea! 73, Brian
Thanks Brian! I'm just waiting for all the 'legal' comments... ;)
@@RingwayManchester Well I don't see too many of the nay-sayers out freezing their whatevers doing their bit to demo new radio gear? "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"...etc...etc... Well done regardless Lewis!
great teamup
It was a fantastic day Lewis... loved the fine food and drink and was amazed at the quality of the repeater.. You Had to be their to appreciate the quality of audio. Looking forward to more tests .👍👍
I used to love going up on Cannock Chase as a kid, really enjoyed this video guys, I'll have to join you one of these days.
i wish that you guys tried to simplex from these locations as an experiment.
They mentioned that HTs did not work between those two points.
nice again Lewis.
that a great test .I am in western NY ,USA across the pound. this video is helpful that I go camping and hiking. not all of us are license hams so we use GMRS and FRS UHF hear in US we get 24 channels and a group lienee covers us for 10 years. The FRS is lienee free UHF in the US just low power. we have trouble at times making contact. I have a simplex repeater that goes to GMRS radio. take a bit to get used to . hearing you self. I did get a repeater working buy putting to radio's together and do a channel split far enough apart. that worked ok. setting the PL tones on all radios was a small challenge . In the US we have 5 set repeater channels . not always a repeater where we camp or hike. some of us are hams and them HT go farther .we also have 220Mhz ham band hear as well as a 900 MHz . no 70 MHz hear. 2 meter and 70 cm same hear. think the 6 meters same as well . we do have some free channels in VHF band in us but only 2 radios in out group have them . also we have some old 49Mhz radios . Fisher price kids walkie talkie's ort CB 27 MHz am does not work well . we tried. so far UHF works the best. 73's
I'd be very interested to see a video about your ammo box battery. I've seen many similar projects in ham videos on TH-cam and would like to make my own, so I'm curious to see what you've done.
a great idea and how much to buy and i wonder if it will work pmr and a great video
sounds good good low powered Repeater how how do theses Units cost ? 10 watts is some good distance ive done Clent, hills on just 2 watts to bristol ,good test keep up the good work : )
Thanks for the vid Lewis, as for a suggestion.....GET IT OPEN AND LET'S SEE INSIDE!
Coming soon :)
I am soooo interested in setting up a community repeater, howvever, in an emergency situation (radio ethics), the repeater remains in duty care of this.
I'm not exactly sure of the channel spacing here in Australia, but will look into it. :)
Also, i'm attemping to consilate with a local ham do get this set up legally!!
but for now, 10watts on a high elevation platform should do the job.
sounds like a nice project...just add an amp and it'll fly!!!!
Cheers!
this repeater you guys are playing with sounds like it could be a cheap start to getting into managing a system, I use to own "still do" and run a cross band type system until squirrels decided to take over the damn site and use the antenna mast as their climbing ground to get up on top of the house. I still do have the mag mount antenna that was being used though so if I were to buy that model, it'd be easier to install, manage, and operate. a five-minute set up vs a twenty-minute hook up would really be a cool thing. and the range on it sounds like it could be an impressive range too.
I cant believe you ate some other guys sausage 😩
Well what you could do is program the repeater frequency without an offset that way it’s direct and then show us that it’s not possible without the repeater
I love that with all those years of experience some ham operators never learn simple things. Like for example not eating the mic.
Yeah, home boy sounds like ass. For a minute I thought Luis had his volume maxed out, but no, his buddy is basically blowing up his own mic and coming across over modulated as all hell. Yikes! Almost unlistenable
@@paaao always problem. Best fun is when you teach people to use laryngophone 😂 mainly when that is in noisy environments where you need head sets. Most of folks just cannot stop screaming even thou you explained million times they just have to talk like they normally do and everyone will hear them just fine 😂
Hello thanks for your video
Can you have the manual (pdf) of the product ? And could you made a video how to program by PC (the program, how to use etc...)
Thanks a lot
Jérôme from belgium (Liège)
I’m going to get this unit.
Lewis mate, thanks for showing us the bacon & sausage butty, now Im homesick lol.
Cheers mate! hope you're ok
@@RingwayManchester Yes, were ok on this end, maybe a trip over there next year :) for my bacon fix.
What kind of antenna did you use for the repeater?🐈🌷🌷🌳🐇🌴
dont know if its just the video or what but that retavis radio sounds over modulated and muffled sound. The cheap baofeng sounded much better.... wonder what the issue is there? even after you turned down the volume it was still bad on the retavis.
Good repeater
I'm curious to know how much further you both could have distanced yourselves from this repeater since the signal was excellent in this demo. As always line of sight is a big help :-) You might want to do these sort of tests in the summer (or is that in the rain here up North lol).
I'm confident it'd do double mate
3 watts after the duplexer is garbage you are a fool to buy this junk.
@@rockytop441 It worked well so what is your problem other than mommy issues and a sh!tty personality?
Interesting review, thanks for doing it. I'm curious about the built in duplexer. I'd be using this potentially on several different frequencies, some in the 440 MHz bands (US 70cm Amateur ) in the 460 Mhz band (US GMRS ). How precisely does the duplexer need to be tuned? Is that something a user can do, or is it better left to skilled folks with expensive tools?
Duplexers have to be precisely tuned in order to notch out specific frequencies. That is why having the ability to program up to 16 channel pairs is totally worthless! While it may "work" with less that a MHz frequency difference, it will do so only poorly. Tuning a duplexer properly requires a calibrated service monitor with a tracking signal and scope.
"James is going to stay here and freeze his arse off while I drive 6 miles back in the car...with the heater on..." LOL
Great video and impressed with the repeater. Thanks for braving the cold weather fella.
Can you say what antenna you used please? Was thinking of using something like this for connecting two sites up with the repeater and a small deploy antenna At top of building or loft.
Hi mate I'm not sure on the antenna model, it wasn't mine. Cheers :)
you didnt show what kind of antenna you had attached to the repeater -- that makes a whole lot of difference in how the repeater preforms
Would the vhf repeater work better in that enviroment,more distance
Should have done a simplex test simultaneously.
I play Milsim Airsoft. I’m retired US Military. What if you put that setup in a back pack exposing the antenna, during gameplay? Is that practical? Thank You
Queation please, how long can that repeatwr last on that 12 volt battery without been charge. Since is not running a fun or a TV or another running non stop device im wondering if it will last days on a single 12 volt battery power without been charge
Hello! Just wanna know if these repeater instructional manual? Thanks for replying me
Great video guys. Does it cross and or a same band split. Are the frequencies pre programmed or programmable. Art. K2ADC
Found my answers only. Still a great video. Art. K2ADC
You actually could’ve used DMR with the repeater. It would just pass through the signal, and the other DMR Radio would just decode it normally.
DMR requires precise timing to support the time slots, it might work if both radios think they are receiving simplex, but I doubt it.
Does this box come programmed where my retevis rb85 would connect to it right out of the box?
Anyway to eliminate the tail squelch at the end?
Do they have higher watt output repeaters in this price range?
Now try and see if it will pass DMR, if you use no ctcss on the repeater haha
Can you program a CW callsign, callsign TX interval and TX timeout etc? If not it will still need some kind of controller for amateur repeater use.
you cannot on this particular product, that would put it over the top with a courtesy tone and IDer
No, it would only require that everyone use their callsign.
What kind of guns do you guys use in your militia!
Tune is catchy
Cheers Phil, Andy Kirby made it
have i missed it again ?? are you on 446 mate ..
5:52 looks suspiciously like the place where police officers Dim and Pete (his former droogs), take Alex to beat and dunk him in a horse trough...
Ey up. Interested to know a) what is the ambient operating temp range and b) is the unit CE marked ? Cheers
Hi Nick, temp, it stayed cold throughout the test. The unit is CE marked too
Ringway Manchester Thanks Lewis - re the ambient temp, I was wondering what the min and max temperatures the unit is designed for without potentially killing itself long-term? EG if left in a waterproof box outdoor at -10 deg C then would it do it harm? There should be something in the spec sheet or on its nameplate. Cheers
What is the. Maximum range of communication using this repeater?
Out of interest, what's the legality of setting up a temporary repeater in the UK, does it not require a variation? If not then I might give this a go!
When they get it down to 5 MHz offset it might actually sell.
Wednesday night 6pm uk time ;)
Im sure it "sells" just fine. This just in but there are other radio users besides ham🙀
This fits the bill for alot of users.
You have to be careful on Cannock Chase, there is a mad old Woman Who doesn't like anyone playing radios... Its an ancient scheduled monument!
Haha! Saw your vid
I don't see any mention of a controller anywhere. Without a controller this isn't legal in the US unless someone is literally sitting next to it. Any way to get past that major issue?
We have ours set up with a smart plug WiFi with Google. Have the repeater plugged into that outlet and have the ability to turn the whole unit off or on from anywhere in the world. The FCC said that was fine as it acts just as a controller would. As you know, the FCC is not too worried about this field as they have lost a lot of control over it just like the CB bands.
How does licensing work on this? I thought you had to have a full license to be in charge of a repeater ( in ham bands)
On the amateur bands you have to be a full license holder and have an NOV
@@RingwayManchester Yeah I thought so, what was the process for getting the license for the GMRS?
Where did James get the portable battery pack/unit/ammo box?
he made it :)
Are we just going to ignore the old school car phone mounted on the center console? Are those still a thing in the UK?
They are if you’re RingwayManchester 😎😎
I have a question I can’t get an answered. Does this repeater have a built-in duplexer or do I have to use an external duplexer? Thanks.
It’s built in vince
Meals on wheels please !
Should've stuck it up Werneth Low
I have ben playing around with a 6 watt HT on GMRS with a Abbree AR-771 Antenna & i can talk to a Buddy that is 6-8 Miles Away on a 4 Watt Stock Antenna Across the Hills & Hollers /Woods Where we are at Just HT to HT So these numbers really aren't Impressing at all ! Very Disappointing to me in fact Because I Am Very Interested in Getting The RT97 But if 6-8 Miles is all it can Do then i would be way better off just sticking to my HT !
6 to 8 miles on simplex with a 6 watt radio? What is your terrain like?
@@shawnrusselldI am in the Hills & Hollers of Eastern KY at the Bottom/Start of the Appalachian Mountains i am kinda down in a valley at about 550-600ft above sea level it is kinda a bad spot to radio from in comparison to just down or up the road a couple of miles where the elevation is 1000-1200ft above sea level ! about any 5w HT should do 4-5 miles more or less depending on terrain & as long as you are not in a major City !
Shouldn’t it have a uhf connector vs pl 259?
Yes I have told Lewis to tell them to swap it out for an N type connector, PL259 is only rated at 300MHz and thats a good one, these will likely be cheapo PL259 connectors, only good for HF/CB and low power work, VHF should be OK but still N Type is better, cheapo N type will be better than quality 259 on VHF.
Will this work With Motorola
I wonder with a bit of height how far that 10 watts could reach out????
Very far :)
Can it be tuned Lewis like 446 be handy if it could
Sure can mate
Does this repeater have any method of transmitting it's ID?
No mate
@@RingwayManchester Shame, it would be much better if they added a minimal controller. I could probably find 10 people locally to buy them...
There doesn't seem to be an ID function. That's a serious shortcoming...
What HTs were you using!
Watch the video again... one is a Retevis RT3S and the other is a BaoFeng UV5.
I'm disgusted Lewis!! Everyone knows that should have only used Brown Sauce 😠
Sorry Paul my license doesn’t cover brown sauce!
And no call signs
I found this video awesome, but i think James was over modulating...or was it the recording that made it sound crappy??
AHHHHH!!...talking too close to the mic...... :)
James was about to eat the mic, over modulating. Ive done the same thing, backing off the mic would have cleared James up, good job you all. WWG1WGA
Why reverse the image?
What?
@@RingwayManchester Look at the name badge for the Radio, Retevis is printed backwards........Am I the only person who notices these things?
5 and 9 ???? whats that ???? ya i am a ham also but loud and clear works a whole lot better -- also turn down the volume on YOUR radio is wayyy toooo louddddd dang -- also keep the radio 4-6 inches away from your mouth because you can over deviate the repeater and also the other users radio you will sound muffled - just saying
Do you understand the legal aspects of setting up a repeating station?
Absolutely
@@RingwayManchester Can you share? Can a foundation licence holder legally run a repeater? Do you need a NOV for one of these? Can anyone just pick a frequency and allow others to use their repeater?
😂😂😂😂
No, Yes and No on the above.
@@RingwayManchester So you just don't give a shit? Lol
You could have walked just out of earshot from him and tried it then. There was no technical reason to go to the other side of the repeater if you are only checking for distance.
I live by them towers
Did we see your antennas at your QTH today? There's 3 big arrays round there.
Full quieting and entirely unintelligible. Couldn't understand a word he said on the radio. Pure distortion until the ten-minute mark. Repeated audio is way too hot.
This is a 10 watt repeater and after the duplexer it only puts out around 3 watts, what good is it at this price you must be kidding me. If you want a good repeater get a 40 or 50 watt repeater not a 3-watt toy but a real working repeater. Get some education or get somebody to learn you the basics of electronics 3 watts is pissin in the wind and you get your pants all wet. Get an education.
1st
Barely Can make out a word he is saying
Clean your ears out then!
Old James there needs to back off the mic…
10km with a repeater is nothing!!!! 10km you get with a simple baofeng!!!