Retevis RT97 Repeater - Ham / GMRS Portable SHTF Repeater - Emergency Communications, Camping, & Fun

The Retevis RT97 is a fully portable Ham OR GMRS repeater, capable of transmitting on either GMRS or HAM bands AND digital / DMR. I give an overview of the Retevis RT97 Ham and GMRS repeater, test the power output and test the range.
Links:
You can get the Surecom SW-102 Power/SWR Meter here:
You can get the 50W dummy-load that I use, here:
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#GMRS #Repeater #HamRadio

[Jacob-lyvs]

Holy shit, you're a massive dick. I'm here to learn how to get into a hobby and you're throwing out the r-word like it's nothing. God damn, I'll find someone else to learn from.

[bendeleted]

That leather strap is made of genuine disappeared dissidents.

[NonyaDamnbusiness]

This guy has mastered YouTube. You literally have to watch every minute to catch all the gags.
Not bad for a guy with a face made for radio and a voice patented for silent film.

[jeffrooke]

I have one of these on our ranch in the coastal bend area of Texas, fairly flat except for creek and river areas. It is located in area without any power so we Run it off of deep cycle batteries and solar.Comet CA-712EFC GMRS antenna at 65 feet, 20-25 mile coverage depending on direction.
Been operational for a year, 0 problems ! cousins also have one at the hq of their ranch, running on 110v with 0 problems ! Everyone that has used it have been really impressed with how well this sucker works!

[arnelledeguzman]

I am a HAM and also in the IE. I finally took the plunge and submitted my app for my GMRS license yesterday because of your videos. Thanks for the informative content.

[WetCanoot]

I love this guy, literally been binge watching him for 5 hours.

[Factory]

Repeater in a box seems like a cool idea.

[teddiehl]

As your favorite viewer, despite being a ham operator, I felt compelled to tell you that this was my favorite video of yours yet.

[hardtruth]

I chose GMRS for family SHTF comms. Your channel is why I learned about GMRS and when through you site to get my license. No way I could get my family member to get their ham license. Thanks for everything brother. I do have some ham HT’s but I haven’t studied for my test yet.

[PWarmuskerken]

I got my RT97 last week. Programming was super easy with their software. Connected to a Nagoya 770G antenna using Nagoya magnetic base I measured output of 6.64 watts w/ SWR of 1.00. Connected to a Harvest BC-200 base antenna and 15’ of LMR-400 the output measured 7.12 watts and SWR remained at 1.00.

[fnordhorn]

We got a GMRS and a 2 meter both running on 12v DC on a mountain top here in WV so we can talk between several holler's communities Solar panels for the power and a 40 ft telephone pole 35 ft in the air. Took 2 days to get the pole to the top of the mountain but the 4 communities did it. we get a lot of Cell Phone and Landline phone outages along with power outages. So it total Solar power. This way in SHTF or loss of power, telephone, cell service we can talk between the communities

[realgameplayfootageonly]

Spent past 48 hours watching your entire playlist. I’m now a licensed gmrs man. I’ve told all my friends I’m a radio 📻 man now. Get a boofeng if you wanna talk to me. Def buying this repeater with my tax return. 😅 and your jeep antenna … I already have a few jackeries to power it all.

[mmostwill]

Great video! If anyone is interested in making a little project out of this, I purchased one of these & mounted it in a watertight ammo box. I added a LifePo battery & fusebox. I tossed in an external SO-239 connector & terminals going right to the LifePo for charging. It's all controlled via a marine power panel (with a few USB/Cigarette plugs as an added bonus)... I keep a couple HTs programmed accordingly & it all serves as a nice little shit-hit-the-fan repeater setup.

[minionkevin]

Just an update for ya, I just recently received my Retevis RT97 Repeater and it is aluminum.🤘 I was pretty pumped about that. Thanks for the videos, they are really helping me out. 🤘... I know I just posted this but I went to edit comment and somehow deleted it entirely 🤦🏼‍♂️.

[orvillelewis]

Love this guy at least he, s not fake he tells it like it is.

[chriscasmaer]

I love the combination of technical topics AND HUMOR...well done sir!~

[zackaryradford]

I subbed because unlike all those other YouTube content creators….you … did not pressure me to do so. Love your content. As a newbie it’s incredibly helpful

[jmr]

We had a power outage a couple months ago that made our cellphones nearly useless. The cell towers batteries died after around 12 hours. Local internet was also down even though my equipment has backup battery power. We had limited connectivity from a tower much further away if you stood on your head with one hand doing a swirl pattern outside 309 paces from the back door. Had the power outage been just a little wider that may not have been an option. I'm happy I have backup communication.

[richardwiehrdt]

Just a quick note. If you power the repeater (or any other transceiver) from your vehicle, you will get approximately 13.8 volts. If you use a battery pack you will get about 12.6 max. This does make a difference.

[AKChryslertech]

Things do get serious real quick. I live in Alaska and our last big earthquake knocked out cellphones for several hours after. Even when cellphones were back online, there was so much celluar traffic, most people could not even get a call in to emergency services. Thats why im getting my own repeater. Also should note, in Alaska, we have ways of contacting emergency services using radios because of how remote our state is.