Batboard

Midland is making a 110 watt mobile that has an inband mobile repeater built in to it. I have heard the State of Illinois is using these and they work great. I have a pyramid coupled with a Kenwood now, and it is just ok. Does anybody know anything about these.
"Midland Titan"

Our fire department has two syntec II low band radios (A range spilt 29 to 37 mhz) with a built in UHF repeater. It is a nice neat package and worked very well. When we went to upgrade, Midland was no longer making the Syntech II. The Titan series which replaced the Syntech II was not being manufactured in the A range low band. A midland tech said that this was primarily used buy the military and they were phasing it out. I told him that most fire departments in my area still used this range. Since Midland was not an option, we ended up buying TK690/890 dual band single head with pyramid repeaters. These have worked out great. We can repeat on either VHF Lowband 33.XX or UHF 450.XXXX. I liked the departments setup so much that I built my own system in my personal vehicle. I have since heard that Midland went back to making A range radios. It also sounds like they are having internal company issues as well. Our local radio shop who had been a midland dealer for many years recently dropped them and switched to Kenwood. Hope this helps.

Mark

Your Kenwood dealer must have not known that the 90 series in a dual band configuration, has a crossband repeater function,he sold you a pyramid you didn't need.
Mark

n5tbu wrote:Your Kenwood dealer must have not known that the 90 series in a dual band configuration, has a crossband repeater function,he sold you a pyramid you didn't need.
Mark

Unless he wants to carry a lowband and a highband handheld and have some way changing how the x90's repeat from outside of the car, it sounds like he got what he need to do the job.

Maybe I misunderstood his post,but it sounds like the same thing to me,with the added cost of the pyramid.

I've always wanted one of those Midland units, in VHF hi, or UHF, whatever I could get. Used to have the model #, but it escapes me at the moment.
I have seen the Pyramids, always wondered how they compared to the Vertex, which I have used, and REALLY like?

Anyone?

Tom

The model we use in our apparatus on the fire dept are 50 watts and the model # is 70-1344B for the mobile and 70-2945-1 for the repeater option. They are the best thing since sliced bread when you get into dead areas where a 5 watt portable can't hit the repeater or dispatch is very weak and garbled. The only draw back is they are a little pricey @ $900.00 list for the mobile and $1,000.00 list on the repeater option. If you are looking for one PM me for a price as I am an authorized Midland Dealer. They are very nice units with LCD display 128 ch capable and well worth the extra money IMO.

The kenwood cross band repeater option did not allow for the cancelling protocol that the midland radios and the pyramid repeaters offer. Too many mobile repeaters active on a scene are a big problem. We also on occasion want to repeat on UHF and the kenwood system without the pyramid does not offer that.

The new Titans look like a great radio, I have never used them. Not having the VHF Low band range "A" (29-37mhz) was the only big problem for us in our decision process.

Mark

Thanks Spoon... that model # now looks familiar.

I'll remember you as a Midland dealer, for the future. Can't afford it right now, hehe.
I do have some nice Midland stuff I am thinking about unloading tho... contact me direct if you are at all interested.

Tom

n5tbu wrote:Maybe I misunderstood his post,but it sounds like the same thing to me,with the added cost of the pyramid.

We can repeat on either VHF Lowband 33.XX or UHF 450.XXXX

With the cross band repeater mode you would only be able to do say UHF to Lowband or the other way around, not both.

Cam

We have been over this many many times on the Board.

"Will's" repeater maker & Extender work super.
and the cost is small.

Susan157

eMail [email protected]

I am still confused.....what freq is the Pyramid on? Also,if the signal is coming in on the low band then you can only repeat it to the uhf and/or the pyramid freq.

Our pyramid repeater is on 453.XXXX and is used to relay our 33.xx freq through our uhf portables. Our UHF portables do not always reach our tower due to geography. The low band radios are rated at 110 watts. Believe it or not there are still a few dead spots even with the in vehicle repeaters.

Mark

We have been over this many many times on the Board.

"Will's" repeater maker & Extender work super.
and the cost is small.

But getting him to return you emails and answer your questions is next to impossible!

Tim

I can already picture the response I'm going to get to this but is there a good stand alone vehicualr repeater??

Matt

Define Stand-Alone... do you mean a REAL vehicular repeater not using a cross-band function within the radio? Yes, the Vertex VX-1000 is a good unit at about 300.00
Many folks seem to be using the Pyramid, but have not gotten any feedback at all to my question on how it compares to the Vertex above. They sell well on eBay, holding price for over a year now.

Of course, there's also the Motorola VRS in a X9000 or Spectra setup... they rock as well.

Tom

We are using several Vertex VXR-1000 UHF vehicular repeaters with CDM1250 low band mobiles and have found they work very well. They have a Vertex only feature which sends a DPL tone as a priority "first in, last out" mode instead of an audible lock tone so only one repeater transmits on scene. Installation was easy using the 16 pin accessory connector on the CDM. Power on & repeat is programmed via the P1 option button on the mobile so no external switch is needed. I believe Vertex offers an integral vehicular repeater option on the VX-4000 or the VX-6000 mobile but I'm not sure. The VXR-1000 is about half the cost of the Pyramid and does what we need.

Big Blue, thanks for the advice. What I ment by stand alone is a real vehicular repeater not integrated in a radio, a unit onto itself. Was thinking of putting one together to boost up my coverage on my portable w/o adding a full system to my truck....I know that would be the best way to go but not what I'm going for right now...just an idea....

Matt