Dabble Den

BTech RPT50 GMRS Repeater

Written by

Dan Carter

in

This is the first time I’ve ever bought a radio the day it gets released!

Expectations

A buddy of mine and I were discussing how we wanted to set up a repeater for ourselves to have control over who we network it with and when. We also wanted to learn more about radio and see if this was feasible for a couple of newer-to-radio tinkerers to figure out.

I also wanted to see if I could get more people into GMRS and radio in general by hosting my own nets and being more community-involved than some of the local clubs in my area.

I also wanted a repeater to put in one of my vehicles or RV in the future for when I go camping with my family. So an all-in-one unit was best.

Does it match expectations?

At this point, no.

I wanted to network this repeater, and it has a network port… you would think it would be able to do the thing, right? NOPE!

In the user manual, it states “reserved for future use.”

So at the time of writing this, which will be updated, it has ports that aren’t usable yet. I’m expecting with it being within a week of release that it will be updated in future firmware updates. Right now it’s JUST a repeater.

Otherwise, I had a BTech GMRS 50v2 as a base station for a little while and it matches the 50W output range and quality I was getting before.

It does repeat!

Yup. It takes in signal and outputs signal!

It’s out-of-the-box ready, so you turn it on and it’s already set to select a channel for you to tune your radios to with tones and everything.

Changing the tones is easy, just enter the menu and a couple items down is the option to change the tones for TX and RX. So between the standard 8 repeater channels you can easily change your tones if you’re accidentally overbearing someone’s chatting channel.

So for ease of use and ease of setup, it couldn’t be easier. Plug in your antenna and you’re golden!

But for it to not have working ports makes it feel like an Early-Release video game with DLC.

Review

Ease of Use: 5

Shipping time: 5

Quality: 4

Chinese: Very

Overall it’s not horrible. The user manual is almost useless as the English is so bad that you have more questions than answers when trying to read through it. The menu navigation is easy enough but mainly because there aren’t many options to navigate through. It’s solid metal, and it doesn’t feel like it will break.

The mic is just a copy from the BTech 50v2 with a slightly adjusted layout. It’s only for typing in letters and numbers, so it doesn’t serve much of a function other than a keypad you can hold.

The knobs are plastic and feel that way. But you only need them for a few moments so they don’t see much action.

The computer software is very… fresh. To say the least. It’s very reminiscent of Windows XP software, and has even fewer options than the knob-menu. It’s easier to type using a computer, but the keypad isn’t much more difficult.

They made this repeater very user-friendly. There really is not much “figuring out” this machine. If you’re looking for a simple repeater machine with an internal duplexer, and don’t need it to be hooked up to the myGMRS network immediately, then this will be great. It beats the price of the BridgeCom Repater with internal duplexer.

All in all, It does the job, but you save a few bucks and get what you pay for. Until the network module and more become usable it’s rather basic for the price. Hoping a new firmware update happens soon!

Comments

3 responses to “BTech RPT50 GMRS Repeater”

  1. Bill Johnston Avatar
    Bill Johnston

    Well written and totally agree; network module is holding me up from taking the plunge. I’m a bit concerned that there is no telephone number publish for sales but no uncommon these days. Not sure what the date that Dan wrote this review on the RPT 50. There isn’t very much written on the net reviewing the RPT 50. There was a firmware update this year, and there was an addition of a “complementary tone“ what I am assuming is a Roger beep. That would be an additional thing that I would not want to enable and unsure if there is any way to disable it since this new firmware update doesn’t clarify. I tried to sign on their website, but the “ log into account” does not work. Yet another red flag.

    Reply
  2. Bill Johnston Avatar
    Bill Johnston

    Your review is spot on and apparently a year old at this point. I set up my 50 a month ago and as an experienced ham I’ve learned, like many of us, the art of interpreting Chinese produced manuals. I’ll play devils advocate here: They have come along way with providing manuals at some point that are more concise and clear. I guess they get tired of emails and telephone inquiries for clarification and decided to invest time and money and producing a manual that is more in line with what the customers need. As in the case of the RPT50 I guessing that it hasn’t generated enough sales/profit to invest in cleanup their operating manual. It is an art and there are people that make a living producing product manuals here in United States. It is expensive but well worth the investment and have been evolved with a big project that cost us thousands of dollars but in the end it was a manual written by native English speakers for native English consumers. The company that produces this repeater have apparently numerous variations planned. All pretty much are the same function (repeater), but different modes, i.e. VHF version, business, digital, etc. The build quality is excellent. Given that frequently repeaters are set up and operating in some harsh environments dealing with dust and heat the engineers took that into. consideration and made a good box. My concern is how well the internal duplexes will fair in time. This is new cutting edge technology, and has not been adopted by any other repeater builders that I know of so uncharted waters. Fortunately, their system is taken that into consideration and allowed for potential external duplicator implementation; smart. This system is basically a turn key, but even so there are many options with poor or no explanation in the present manual. For example, the ID/morse code option (every 15 mins if running an open system here in the US) has options that if set wrong would conflict and it’s poorly explained in the manual and it is not intuitive. That’s the only problem I’ve had with the system to date. I set it for 15 minutes and it’ll do that for several hours and then stop sending the ID. Many repeater owners just ignore that rule and I haven’t heard of anyone getting a letter from the FCC, but there is a potential. It’s a rule and not a law. In my case, I have to make it so that it abide by the rules given that the system is mainly provided for CERT teams (FEMA trained) but the system remains in a open configuration unless our Emergency Operation Center is activated. Given time I’m sure that if not the RPT50 team someone will produces a much needed clear precise manual.

    Regards, WRBQ468 / KD7GXN

    Reply
    1. Dan Avatar
      Dan

      Thank you Bill for your comment!

      I haven’t seen much more activity by way of updates/emails on this, and that linked-repeater fiasco may have stunted the use of the network port still. I’ve had it running constantly for over a year, and no issues. It has served me well.

      At this point, I still consider it overpriced, which may be what has prevented a lot of perspective buyers from jumping in. I had a need, this fit the need, and I had a respectable budget that allowed me to test the “uncharted waters”. So, in all, I would not say I regret this box at all. I’d buy it again if I went back in time. Now, would I say this fits everyones needs? Not really, but I would say if you have a need for what it offers, it offers more than others.

      Hopefully your 50 serves you well! I’m about to donate it to my local ham club to manage it better than my attic solution, with proper tower climbers and antennas and locations. I’d rather it get used and respected by more hams than just my small group of friends and family. But it’s done well and is still kicking well enough to share it with a whole community!

      Reply

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