Batboard

Looks like a nice 5W repeater package with internal duplexer. Anyone using one ?

Ritron makes reasonable quality products at a low price point. I have worked with a lot of their other products, but not the Liberty repeater. I would go in expecting a no frills, limited duty cycle radio, and low current drain.

I don't have a Liberty Repeater, but, do have an older RR454 crystal unit on GMRS. It's quite a little beast. While rated for 5 watts, according to my Moto tech friends Bird wattmeter, it is putting out 6 watts at the antenna connection after the duplexer. It also, according to him, has one "heck of a hot receiver".

As it runs on either 120VAC or 12volt DC, even on a Moto center-load UHF mobile antenna on a vehicle roof, this little bugger really performs well. Using it with this setup, it allows portables even 2-3 miles apart to communicate with no problem.

Using that same Mobile antenna with a ground plane kit up about 40 feet in the air we could ring this thing up with no trouble with 1 watt on a portable while inside a restaurant 10 miles away!

Hopefully, Ritron built the same performance and durability into the Liberty series.

Thanks guys, I have one enroute.

Good luck. I realized afterward that I had forgotten to mention my Ritron has a 100% duty cycle!

We have pushed it and it has never failed this far.

That's a nice unit, I likely would have gotten one years ago if I knew they existed. I've been cobbling stuff together the last couple of years with mixed results unaware of something that fit the bill and ready to go being available. Looks like our usage is about the same, was planning on rotating it between the car and a campground using a fishing line to snag a branch and haul the antenna up. Yup I have that Motorola Mosaic center load as well for the occasions that the 1/4 wave doesn't make it.

I remember installing the Ritron Repeater Plus units, back in the mid-1990's. They were an all-in-one UHF Repeater (RX Radio, TX Radio, Duplexer, & controller/interconnect), designed for a low duty-cycle usage. We had a few systems, which were scattered across our service area, for some of the lower-end (budget) customers. The repeaters were cheaply made, had sub-audible tone issues, and were always blowing some sort of propitiatory IC. I can honestly say it was the worst repeater we ever sold & installed. Unfortunately, our sales department saw the low-end investment, & substantial mark-up to the customer as a win-win, for the company from their perspective. Unfortunately, the maintenance contracts on those units absolutely killed us.

To add more 'fun', they sold Motorola P50+ portables to the customers with those Ritron Repeaters. Crystal-Controlled portables, with a DTMF Keypad & Tone Encoder/Decoder, programmed via a computer. P50's were the high-power version of the P10's. Tin Cans & String would have been better, or perhaps smoke signals. I really felt bad for those customers, that got stuck with such a lemon of a system. A GR300 would have been better, but they also cost more $$$, and that cut into the profit. There was a time, when I likened our sales department to the snake oil salesmen, of years gone by. All focus was on sales, with little or no concern given to the delivery of goods, or the promise of reliable service.

And isn't that why service pukes hate sales pukes? Esp. when the sales pukes are the ones who rise in the company and take over? I've seen this happen sooo many times.

Pretty much so. And eventually, those wonderful salesmen leave with their golden parachute, after effectively destroying the reputation of the company & driving-off the last of the customers, just before the whole operation comes crashing down. That's it in a nutshell.

When a local hospital was testing the coverage of their portable radios around their campus, they discovered several "dead spot" areas where there appeared to be no coverage. After installing the Ritron Liberty repeater, not only did the coverage improve dramatically, but also, the audio quality seemed more crisp. The small, lightweight Ritron Liberty repeater was simply placed above the ceiling tiles in an office near the center of the campus along with its power supply and magnetic mount antenna.

Do yourself a favor and get something a little more robust. Lots of great used gear on eBay The Ritron Liberty repeater is a 2 watt unit made for inter building use with a low duty cycle and narrow band usage. This is not a good choice at all. If you have a great location (top of a mountain or tower over 100') set up something decent, do it right the first time. Putting up a proper repeater that has any real coverage (25 to 30 miles) is going to cost yea if you want to do it right.