 | What's the best base station for YOU? |
What is a base station? In simple terms, it is, in most cases, a 12 volt mobile radio with an AC power supply and external antenna attached. Most people use the palm type microphones normally used with mobiles, although optional desk microphones are also available. One model is completely self contained in a desk calculator sized package with a built in AC power supply and microphone.
The power of a fixed station (another term for a "base station") can range from 2 watts to over 100 watts depending on the needs of the user. The most versative Stationary Radio Unit or SRU (yet another term for "base station") is shown below.
 | The incredible Patriot base station with 2 watts of power provides the performance of stations of stations with much more power. The Patriot makes an ideal office control station with 10 channel scan capability, paging encode and built in intercom type microphone. Optional external outputs allows the Patriot to be used as a station monitor with standard squelch, tone squelch, or 2-tone signalling. It's a whole lot of radio for a little bit of money - just $299 complete! Additional information is available at www.usa-radio1.com/prices/basestations. |
There is another type of fixed station that not only can talk to and from mobiles and/or portable radios for extended distances. This station has the capability of repeating calls between mobiles and/or portable radios to provide extended range between radios. Here's an example. Let's say we have a fixed station at a typical base station with a range of five miles to portable radios in all directionsl
Now, let's convert this station to a repeater station. Now we can have a portable five miles to the east, talking to another portable talking five miles to the west for a total distance between portables of 10 miles! On average, one portable can talk directly to another one for a distance of about two miles. The station to portable range in this example is 5 miles, but through the function of repeating calls between portables, we now have a range of ten miles, portable to portable!
 | Repeaters come in all shapes and sizes with power ranging from 2 watts to 100 watts with prices ranging from under a thousand dollars to ten thousand dollars and more for P25 digital 100 watt models. We offer all the best brands and models from Daniels, HYT, ICOM, Midland, Motorola, Relm, Ritron, and TecNet. Additional info at www.falcondirect.com/repeaters. |
