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Cell Phone Site and Repeater Site

Jun 25th 2016, 04:06

K7IHI

Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
A new cell tower and site will started soon in my area.

Is it possible to co-locate a 2 meter or 440 machine at the same site?
We would share the cell phone tower.

Are there interference problems between the two services? Is one band(2m/440) more preferable over the other.

Thanks for your response.

K7IHI
Larry-
Jun 25th 2016, 13:56

aa6e

Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
One opinion FWIW: Technically possible, although some cell services are in the high UHF range, so I can't be 100% sure. Getting physical access to the tower or a support building might be very difficult however -- at a price you could afford. Risk for the tower operator, insurance issues, etc.

73 Martin AA6E
Jun 27th 2016, 16:43

WA0CBW

Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
As Martin said the bigger issues are site access and installation costs of the antenna, coax, hardware, grounding and AC power. Most cell sites are managed by site management companies many of which are not friendly to ham radio. Their job is to make money for the site owners and the monthly cost can be quite high for amateur operators. Security and access is not easy at most sites. It is mandatory that main and secondary methods of remote repeater control be implemented as access can sometimes take weeks. Lastly is the fact that ANY interference issues become the problem of the last guy on the tower.
BB
Apr 30th 2018, 09:47

WA8NVW

Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
Expanding on WB0CBW's comments, before you commit any funds, wait until the new site is on the air. Go out there with a communications analyzer and measure the noise floor on the repeater's proposed receive frequency. You are likely to find that the site noise cloud from other tenants equipment degrades repeater performance by 10 dB or more. Nobody wants to pay for building a repeater that is effectively wearing earplugs.

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