TO: ALL WOOD COUNTY ARES MEMBERS (OFFICIAL)
ALL ARES AND NON-ARES AMATEURS ANYWHERE (INFORMATION)
FROM: KEN HARRIS WA8LLM ARRL DISTRICT 3
EMERGENCY COORDINATOR WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INC.
WOOD COUNTY ARES BULLETIN NR 20.04 DATE: January 26, 2020
SUBJECT: MOBILE REPEATERS
In last weeks ARES Bulletin 20.03, we talked about carrying your Handheld radio with you at all times. At the times that you're unable to take your vehicle right up to the scene of an incident you should have a Handheld radio with you. What happens if your Handheld radio doesn't have enough power to communicate either direct, or through a repeater to someone?
If you have a mobile radio in your vehicle, it would be nice if it were a dual band radio that has cross band repeat capability. With a dual band/cross band radio, you could set it up so you could use it's as a mobile repeater that your Handheld radio could communicate through.
You could set your dual band mobile radio to receive and transmit on one band, and receive and transmit on the other band, and vice versa. Example, if you are trying to communicate direct, or through a high profile repeater that's on a VHF system, the mobile radio could be set up transmit and receive on that band, and transmit and receive on UHF on the other. A cheap UHF Handheld could be carried into the scene of the incident.
If you have a dual band radio that doesn't have cross band capability, you could still set it up to extend the range of your Handheld radio. With the help of a simplex repeater controller, you could set your mobile to transmit and receive on one band and set up the other band to communicate with Handheld radio. The simplex repeater controller could be used to repeat the communications between the two bands.
Think of different ways to extend the distance of you Handheld radio, and practice setting them up before you need them.
Ken Harris WA8LLM
WCEC
Wood County WV