[Anonymous / Deleted User]

I purchased one of those very cheap Baofeng Dual Band HTs from Amazon, and I can’t help but think about if two of these inexpensive HTs could be effectively used for an OpenRepeater project. For about a hundred bucks, you could have a fully functional, portable repeater. Sure, the reception might be marginal, but for emergencies or casual use, it just might work.

Thoughts?

Jim Barr, N9ONL

[Aaron, N3MBH]

Jim,
Welcome to the forums. In theory, yes they should work, but with unfavorable results. There is an art/science to building a repeater and ORP is only the “brain”. I’d say it should work within close range away from other RF generating devices, but there is still a strong likelihood of desense on the RX side from the simultaneous use of the TX. The RX in the Baofengs is pretty cruddy compared to other radios. You’d almost need some kind of duplexer to notch the frequencies. Many of the cheap compact duplexers won’t work on 2m ham because they don’t have enough separation between the input and output. They would probably work on 70cm, but they need to be tuned.

If you are looking for a good resource for the radio end of repeaters, check out
repeater-builder.com
Not a pretty site, but lots of good info.

73,
Aaron – N3MBH / WRFV871

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