Hey guys, I’m not sure if this is right place to post this. I do not have my repeater setup with AllStar yet but that’s the intention, and because so many have this system I figured you guys are the most current and involved folks to ask. I am going through preliminary checks just to make sure the repeater is functioning before I connect it to AllStar and my RPi - here is my issue:
I have a GR300 repeater with 2 GM300s, and the RICK acting as repeater interface - standard setup. I do not have a duplexer so have 2 separate antennas, one on my roof and one in the room, separated by about 40 ft or so in space. I have poured through repeater-builder and batlabs and I remember seeing a forum or page where someone was talking about this or a similar issue but I just can’t find it. I am not getting audio on the TX frequency.
I can key the repeater, and it seems to function normally, just no audio. However, if I turn the Repeater function off on the RICK, I can hear the audio on the TX radio speaker. So I’m fairly certain the RX radio is good.
Some more details:
The GM300s in my repeater are completely unmodified, serial M43GMC20D2AA - this means they are 8-channel, masked logic board, VHF radios. I have successfully programmed them and I am using test freqs RX: 146.400 and TX: 147.000 (standard repeater offset of -0.600) This IS within the range of the radios. The squelch type is set to TPL: 67.0 (standard CTCSS code of 67.0) I’ve confirmed my handhelds for testing are properly programmed to match this.
What am I missing? I have seen various pages/forums talking about flat audio vs preemphasized/deemphasized audio, but I’m not sure that’s my issue. Are there some jumpers on the radios I may need to change? Do I need to make any mods or change any programming parameters?
I wouldn’t think you’d hear audio in the TX speaker only in the RX speaker. Maybe that’s what you meant to say.
I’ve never set up a RICK based GM300 repeater but I bet plenty of folks around here have. So even thought the forum is about using app_rpt maybe some one here will help you. I suspect the problem is programming on the accessory connectors. I have set up a few CDM’s (which aren’t much different than GM300s) as repeaters and you do have to program the accessory connector pins for audio. Preemphasis and deemphasis are not the problem. That would only make the audio tinny or basey.
I did a quick Goodle search for site:www.repeater-builder.com RICK and got lots of hits. So check that out. Repeater-builder (both site and list) is the goto place for this kind of stuff.
Thanks for the reply Tim. I have read basically everything on repeaterbuilder haha. So much great info. I do recall reading what I think was a forum or maybe it was a page on repeaterbuilder mentioning this same issue but I just can’t find it anymore. It is indeed the TX radio that I hear it on, but only if I turn off the repeater function on the RICK, not otherwise.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear: the -0.600 is what my handhelds are set to. Meaning handhelds RX on 147.000 and when I key them they TX on 146.400 (that being the RX freq of the repeater)
You hear RX audio on the repeater TX (147.000) with the RICK repeat off? That’s very odd I would even say impossible. How can there possibly be an audio path from the receiver to the transmitter if the repeat function is off? Makes me think something very basic is wrong.
Disconnect the cable from the ric to the TX radio. Plug a mic into the front of the radio and see if you have TX audio when you key the mic. If you don’t you either have a bad audio amp on the TX or you may need to attach the programmer and check you mod levels.
If you do have mod out of the TX radio using your mic then you either have a bad ric, an improperly wired ric, or improperly wired cable from from the RX radio to the ric or the cable from the ric to the TX radio.
If you have two wires with alligator clips on each end or a test cable to use with a service monitor and know what you are doing you could check the TX Audio out of the Rec radio to the ric and see if you have audio when the RX radio goes into repeat mode. If you don’t then chance are the radio has been programmed wrong.
I would suggest, if you truly are a nooby, that you locate a ham club in your area or a two-way radio shop and see if they can help you. As told earlier this is probably not the site for this kind of help, but there are many other website/forums that can help.
My guess is that your TX sig completely overloads the receiver. You might want to be careful that you don’t damage the RX front end. If one antenna were directly above the other and separated by 200 ft you might be able to make it work. John AF4PD
Hey guys, finally back home and had the time to go through this once more. It appears screwed the pooch on this one: I forgot I had stacked the radios opposite and was plugging into the RX radio the whole time when testing the mic
I just went in, double checked both radios’ programming, and double checked my handhelds I’m testing with and all is well. The repeater is functioning now, no probs! Now to test some different frequencies - provided that still works, I’ll be linking up to AllStar! Woohoo!
Thanks again to all those who chimed in. I’ll let you guys know if I have any other (real) issues!
73
