Seeking Advice: How to Map Repeaters for a Trip?

Stryder106

Explorer
You guys may or may not recall that I recently got my Tech license (KM6LSU) and I purchased a Yaesu FTM400-XDR along with a Diamond 55 antenna and installed them in my vehicle. I've programmed in a couple of local repeaters and the reception and transmission are extremely clear - so I'm happy with all of that. I'm getting ready to go on a trip that will take me from SoCal through Vegas, diagonally across Utah (the 5 parks) and then through Central and Southern Colorado. What I'm trying to figure out is when planning for a trip - how do you know which repeaters to program in advance?
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I purchased the ARRL Repeater Directory that lists repeaters by area - but is there a way to know the range of a particular repeater? Which ones may be at higher elevations (like Keller Peak in SoCal) and offer a further coverage area? That sort of thing. It's very daunting looking at a particular area and then looking in the directory and seeing 50+ repeaters for that area - how do you know or decide which one to pick, program, and use?
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Thanks in advance for the help.
 

captadv

Spectator
I also wonder about this. I'm even considering replacing all my Yeasu gear so I can use rigs that work with repeater book apps and can update the memories over Bluetooth.

But the other answer is use an application called chIrp to lead the repeaters. It's just that it requires a laptop while your out and about.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 

aearles

Observer
I haven't found a good solution to this, I travel full-time so I never have any repeaters programmed into memory. I just use the Repeater Book app to look for repeaters within 30-50 miles (2M/70CM) depending on terrain, sometimes there are good details about elevation that can give you a good idea. Sometimes it takes a few tries to find a working repeater/tone combo, but since the radio automatically handles the offset, it's usually pretty quick to try a few, even while driving if necessary. This works pretty well. The repeaterbook website has a lot more details than the app, and you can map their locations to a GPX/KMZ file to work with on a map. Honestly I just spend most of my time on simplex and only look for a repeater when needed, there's usually not much interesting repeater chatter that I want to scan for anyway.

Icom has a feature, I guess they simply call it "Repeater List", that can list nearby repeaters from a database on an SD card based on proximity from your current GPS location. I don't beleve the other mfgs have anything similar though. http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/mobile/id5100a/default.aspx
 

Klierslc

Explorer
Super newb here, but I just took a trip down to Jacksonville, FL from Virginia Beach and did the following:

1. Didn't bother with looking up repeaters along I-95. Driving at 75 mph means you are in range of a repeater for 40 min max and there typically isn't anything to listen to anyway. I did constantly scan the 2m band with the idea that if I came across an active repeater\freq, I could look it up on the repeater book app and program it on the fly.

2. Peruse the local club websites near your destination to see which repeaters the scheduled nets are on. If the local clubs schedule a net on a particular repeater, there is a good chance that you'll have a few Hams monitoring it at any given time.

Cheers,
Dan
KN4FEH
 

BrianV

Observer
I'm far from an expert but rfinder.net seemed to be the best way to find repeaters in the area and what the potential coverage may be.
They also have Android and iOS apps. Also googling the repeater callsign and finding the club website they will often times describe what kind of coverage you can expect.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
I have the iOS app by ZBM2 Software, I think it's called Repeater Locator. Does the job, gives you a list of repeaters by proximity to your current location and it's free, no ads.

Like BrianV says, getting actual coverage maps is going to require more than a repeater finder or Repeater Book. It takes someone running propagation software to estimate this. Some repeaters owners aren't even able to do this so it's not really going to be universally available anyway.

Probably the best way to know which repeaters work best is to listen for the most active or at least ask on one that has a lot of traffic.
 
There are a few radios on the market with Geo-tagging of repeaters built in.

The icom ID-51+ (and +2), the 5100, and the 4100 all have a "DR" memory mode where you can tag a slot with a gps coordinate. They have the ability to scan through the 20 slots that are closest to your current location. It keeps the location up to date while you move so it always scans a reasonable subset.

Those are not as good as a dedicated scanner though. The Uniden BCD536HP can be programmed to scan through all repeaters within a specific distance. I have a programming file the has all ~2500 repeaters in California at 50 mile distances, and another with 100 mile distances for when I'm in the central valley. The distance means "listen to this repeater if I'm within xx miles of it".

The scanner does a better job because it listens to all repeaters within a set distance instead of the "20 closest" where 20 might be too many in the middle of nowhere and might be too few in the urban areas. The scanner also covers (with a discone antenna) 10m/6m/2m/1.25m/70cm/33cm/and 23cm in FM/FM-N/DMR/P25 where the icom rigs only do FM and DStar in DR mode (no fm narrow in DR memories, it's also strangely missing DCS triggered squelch in DR memory). There is pretty much *always* some kind of activity to listen to, even in the middle of nowhere.

Both if these solutions are very "driver friendly" "set it and forget it" options where you are not looking up the repeaters. The hardware does the lookup for you.

The underlying geo-data is available in repeaterbook. I use some custom scripts to program the scanner. RT systems makes a software package that can do the icoms.
 
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Frdmskr

Adventurer
Best suggestions:

1) always program simplex in a bank and set a VFO to scan V/UHF analog simplex. Monitoring 146.52 can find folks and is the Wilderness Protocol.

2) If I do not know the area I look up ARES/RACES and SKYWARN groups for those counties along my route. The repeaters these folks use usually are maintained and cover wide areas. Also, they usually get used by local ops. (The local ops pick the best repeaters/most popular repeaters for EMCOMM usually since they know them best.)

3) If you have a radio like mine (IC5100) it can store a huge number of repeaters. These are geocoded. Thus, it will help you find repeaters along the route. There are 2 caveats. First, no guarantee these repeaters are popular or work. Second, they may not always be the ones that cover the biggest area. They are the closest to you.

I've used all methods with varying success.


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Stryder106

Explorer
Thanks for all of the help. I downloaded the apps on my phone. And am looking at the K5ehx.net site - not sure if these are active as many listed haven't been updated. Guess I can cross reference them with Repeater Book and my ARRL guide. But the plan a route feature is extremely useful. Thanks!!!
 

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