We use wireless communications in a lot of different ways.  
That's good!

But sometimes our needs expand and we need more range.  
That's when we need a REPEATER!

Public safety users have long used repeaters to extend coverage.  Generally, a repeater can be defined as booster station that picks up a transmission from an originating radio and retransmits the message over an extended area.  More recently, repeaters have been used by churches,  facilities management in larger buildings, hospitals, manufacturing plants,  motels, restaurants and schools.  The cost of the repeater will depend on a number of variables.  If you would like to know more about the theory of repeaters and how they work, we have a short video that graphically explains the benefits of a repeater.  Click here to see the video. We could spend a lot of time in explaining how repeaters work, but our objective at this point is to acquaint on-site users on repeater basics for practical applications to provide more coverage for VHF or UHF radio systems.  Let's start with an example.

Back in the 60's, the Hillman Hospital (See photo on left), now a part of the University of Alabama in Birmingham,  was one of the larger buildings on the south side of Birmingham.  Over time, the original Hillman building became a part of a much larger complex known as the University of Alabama - Birmingham.  The picture below will give you some idea as to how much this single complex has grown (actually there are many other large buildings covering multiple city blocks with a land area larger than many small towns!).  Can you spot the old Hillman building in the picture at the right?

The hand held radio system designed for use in the 60's was adequate for coverage (just barely) in the single Hillman Building, but obviously not capable of covering the much larger complex that developed over the years.  Now you can see the basic purpose of a repeater - to expand coverage as your needs grow or to provide adequate coverage over large areas for new users.

Suffice it to say that if our current operating range between hand held radios is one mile and we want to double that range to two miles, the most common solution is to add a repeater.  If the power of the repeater is equal to that of the associated handheld radios, the result will be a doubling of operating range if the repeater is located in the center of the operating area (i.e. the repeater would allow handheld radios to communicate over a distance of two miles since the repeater would allow a user one mile east of the repeater to communicate with a user one mile west of the repeater.  Now, the trick is to determine how to make this thing work since a repeater requires TWO frequencies - one to transmit to the repeater, and one for the repeater to transmit to the hand held radios.

Without going into a lot of technical details, let us just say that we offer two different devices to provide repeat capabilities.

Again, without getting technical, let us share some additional information relating to repeaters.  A repeater, unlike a handheld or mobile radio, transmits and receivers simultaneously (i.e. "repeats" in real time).  In order to accomplish this function, we must either use separate antennas Otherwise, and more commonly, we use an internal device known as a duplexer.  This device (incorporated into the UHF Liberty repeater allows us to use a single antenna IF the transmit and receiver antennas are separated by 5 MHz .The Liberty repeater is not available in VHF, primarily because of case size restrictions.  

The UHF Liberty repeaters are supplied with a 2X gain antenna.  This effectively doubles range in both the receive and transmit mode over that of a unit operating with the standard portable type antenna.  Optional long range antenna systems are available when maximum range is not required.  If you have a need for long range coverage, please call us at 1.800.489.2611.

User information.  Products sold by USA Radios are warranted to be technically compliant with the manufacturers specifications.  No other warranty relative to use of the equipment or related service, when applicable, is expressed or implied.  USA Radios makes no claim for suitability or fitness of users purpose or application.  USA Radios is not responsible for claims arising from the use of equipment or services provided by or through Falcon USA Radios in which there are losses attributed to the use or application of equipment and/or related services.  User agrees to these terms as a condition of purchase.

Copyright 2012 - USA Radios of Alabama Inc.
This page was last updated on 06/01/2012

     American quality at prices below the imports!  
36 - 20th Avenue NW - Birmingham, AL 35215
Phone Toll Free - 1.800.489.2611