How to Cross Band Repeat - Ham Radio using the Yeasu 8800

 Cross Band Repeater many uses   - Easy 

Here are quick start instructions to set up the Yeasue FT-8800FT or FT8900 use as Cross Band Repeater.

FT 8800R UHF/VHF radio. 

I am using a Yeasue FT-8800R in my operation. Please note there are many Dual Band UHF/VHF radios that are designed to operate in Cross Band Repeater mode.

You may need a little help with your Yeasue - Manuals below if needed for set up for your  specific frequencies. 
Full manual for FT-8800R "CLICK"
                                                        Full manual for FT-8900R "CLICK"

1. Set up your radio to the frequencies needed for your specific installation . In my installation I am using a simplex frequency of 443.00Mhz for the talkie side at the farm.  Set the squelch so the background noise is silenced.

The linking frequency is set our Local Club Repeater Frequency to receive on 147.210Mhz and transmit on 147.810Mhz - that is a positive offset of  0.600Mhz and a tone of 114.8hz. The linking frequencies to the Local Club Repeater are determined by the local Club Repeater requirements - we have no control over these frequencies.

Needed information for Farm simplex radio's.
The simplex frequency I am using on my farm talkies is my choice.  You should check the suggested band use frequencies that are in the band plan for repeater use.  I am using UHF simplex and the band plan for UHF repeaters is 442Mhz to 445Mhz.  I choose to use 443Mhz.

You should keep these things in mind when setting your simplex frequency. 
1. Check to be sure you simplex frequency is not the same as any local repeater input or output frequency.  If you overlap a local repeater frequency you may cause interference to the users of that repeater -  and have some unhappy hams. This would be specially bad if you were interfering with the emergency use of the repeater.

2. Press the (SET) key to enter the set mode.
3. Rotate the "Main" band DIAL knob to select menu #45 on FT-8800R and on the FT-8900R #44 (X-RPT) . See photo to left.

4. Press the "Main" band DIAL knob momentarily, "XSTART" will appear on the display. See photo to left.







5. Press the "Main" band DIAL knob again to active the Cross Band operation.  See photo to left to operate. The microphone will not be active and the radio is now controlled by the channel transmitting. The operation is outside of local radio control however ----
                                                      6.To exit the Cross Band mode, Press the (SET) key.

This may seem a little complex however once you do this you will find it very easy and fast to make operational.




Discussion about Cross Band Repeater operation and my specific application. 


Cross Band Repeaters have many uses to enhance uhf/vhf communications by extending the range of HT's and Mobile radios. I will talk about several of the uses and first  how the individual amateur radio operator can take advantage of this awesome technique.

I will use one of my own applications  to demonstrate how useful and easy it is to implement.
Here is the problem I needed to overcome.

I needed to be able to access the local club repeater from any location on my farm with a handheld talkie. The talkie does fine from the hill tops into the local club  repeater but no connection from some of  valleys or low areas.

The Cross Band Repeater on the farm with full size dual band antenna can easily  work the club Repeater and a talkie on the farm only needs to transmit less then 1/2 mile in simplex mode to the Cross Band - easy for the talkie.  Here is the basic operation - the talkie on UHF communicates with the Cross Band in simplex mode - that is transmitting and receiving on the same UHF frequency.   The Cross Band repeats the talkie simplex frequency audio on the VHF Local Club Repeater frequencies - VHF link to the Club Repeater is about 7 miles.

The need for this application was to help with a bicycle event of several hundred riders starting from the farm and doing a 100 mile ride and ending up back at the farm. The farm is the hub and control location for the entire ride.  Using ham radio to make sure all the bikers make it back and do not end up in the ditch somewhere along the route.  The plan is to have ham radio stations at about 5 locations along the route and making sure all riders passed there check point.  The five ham radio stations at the check points need to communicate with each other and the farm control locations.  Using the Local Club Repeater and Cross Band Repeater at the farm made this possible.  The ham radio stations at the 5 check points are mobile units and running 50 watts or more making it possible for them to reach farm talkies via the Local Club Repeater transmitting to the Cross Band Repeater located on the farm.  If the mobile units have a problem reaching the Club Repeater they can use antennas with more gain.

I am using a Yeasu FT-8800R for my application - there are many UHF/VHF radios that can do Cross Band operation.

FT 8800R UHF/VHF radio. 

I will use a Yeasue FT-8800R in my operation. Please note there are many UHF/VHF radios that designed to operate  Cross Band.

1. Set up your radio to the frequencies needed for your specific installation . In my installation I am using a simplex frequency of 443.00Mhz for the talkie side at the farm.

The linking frequency is set the Club Repeater Frequency to receive on 147.210Mhz and transmit on 147.810Mhz - that is a positive offset of  0.600Mhz and a tone of 114.8hz. The linking frequencies to the Club Repeater are determined by the Club Repeater requirements - we have no control over these frequencies.

Needed information for Farm simplex radio's.
The simplex frequency I am using on my farm talkies is my choice.  You should check the suggested band use frequencies that are in the band plan for repeater use.  I am using UHF simplex and the band plan for UHF repeaters is 442Mhz to 445Mhz.  I choose to use 443Mhz.

You should keep these things in mind when setting your simplex frequency. 
1. Check to be sure you simplex frequency is not the same as any local repeater input or output frequency.  If you overlap a local repeater frequency you may cause interference to the users of that repeater -  and have some unhappy hams. This would be specially bad if you were interfering with the emergency use of the repeater.

Crossband radios have many ways to extend communication range.  one we also use is to set up our home station on 146--- Mhz simplex and 44043Mhz simplex then set to crossband and setting up the farm as crossband on the same frequency scheme .

1. At home we use a talky on 440430 communicating with the home crossband - we can operate into the home crossband for several miles and talk to the farm with our home talkie.

2. At the farm we have the crossband set up on the same VHF frequency of 146.00 and UHF frequency of 444000.   Our talkie here at farm is communicating to the farm crossband on the 444000 simplex.

Using this scheme the crossband repeater talks to each other on the VHF frequencie of 146.000. This scheme gives our talkies the range of the base station  at each location and keeping the ability to have the personal mobileity of several miles from the local crossband.






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