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Reviews For: KENDECOMM KRP-5000B

Category: Ham Repeaters

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Review Summary For : KENDECOMM KRP-5000B
Reviews: 1MSRP: $1,600
Description:
220 mhz repeater
Product is not in production
More Info:
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0015
VE3ES Rating: 2020-12-04
220 mhz repeater from Kendecom, now known as Advcommsys Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought a KRP-5000B repeater for the 1.25m band back in the mid-80s from Kendecom. No longer produced and Kendecom apparently was bought out by Advcommsys many years ago. While this model appears to no longer be in production, it is basically still being produced as an ACS-6000 series product.

When I first put the VE3OOO repeater on the air with the Kendecom, myself and the users were quite amazed at both the coverage of the system (250' AGL atop an apartment building) and the quality of the repeater. About three dozen users. It worked well for about 15 years until it was shut down due to a combination of life (marriage and family considerations) and a lightning strike. A new to this area ham radio op (Motorola tech for 30+ years) took a look at the box, figured out what was wrong and it and the Wacom duplexer were back in service. Different site about 50' less height but the coverage is virtually the same.

This repeater is in service in downtown Windsor, Ontario, less than a mile from downtown Detroit Michigan and with NO CTCSS in use. The fear was that twenty years later the intermod and noise would be horrendous. Anything but! Still as sensitive as ever, at times during peak usage it is running non-stop and it runs cool.

If I understand the Advcommsys web site, the same RX and TX strips are still in production and use in the ACS-6000 version. Might be time for a new machine with the Kendecom version kept for back up duty.

I rate it as Great as everybody locally associated with this repeater is quite pleased either from a tech view or a user. As the owner of the box I am quite pleased. Got my money's worth so to speak. Several other Kendecom repeaters are in use here in south west Ontario. They are truly legendary repeaters.

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A notice on the 'repeater builders' web site indicates that ACS closed in May 2020, thus the end of the line for these repeaters.!