Overview

Awesome! Looking forward to seeing you!

I am interested in attending

Hey everyone! I know it's a little last minute, but NOVA GMRS is having a get-together this Sunday for lunch. We are going to try to beat the heat of day and meet from Noon to 3:00 PM. We are going to meet at Virginia Gateway Center, in the lot between Target and Five Guys. For those who haven't been to this location before, you can navigate to 13299 Gateway Center Dr. There is a picture below, showing where specifically, we park. Bring a chair, drinks, etc. to be comfortable. The plan is to talk radio (or whatever) and then sneak into Five Guys about 1:00 PM for a quick bit and enjoy some company. If you have never been to a get-together or if you are new to GMRS, I highly encourage you to join us and ask lots of questions. As always, this is a family friendly event. So, bring your family and friends! RSVP below or check us out on FaceBook! https://fb.me/e/5m4JpSoAs

I've been messaging with Eddie for the last couple of days on this site. I had no idea a repeater was being planned. A buddy of mine called me up and let me know about it. I haven't really used it yet, but it sounds pretty good. At 1.5 miles away, you could work it with 1/4 watt. LOL

I've been listening to Ed(?) test the repeater over the last 2 weeks. His transmissions are pegging my meter (I'm only 1.5 miles from the repeater ). He published the repeater to the myGMRS database: https://mygmrs.com/repeater/10670

Hey, Peter! Great questions. BTW... if you hear us chatting, you are always welcome to join in! I appreciate the interest. We talked about it a little at our last get-together, but just touched on it. So, I'm happy to give more details. I am a volunteer radio operator with the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES). I serve on a few teams supporting DHS/FEMA, US Marine Corps Quantico (MCCS/MCM), Loudoun County, Prince William County and the Virginia state EOC in Richmond. ARES is a nation-wide group attached to the American Radio Radio League. Our organization has formal MOUs with local, state and federal agencies across the nation. Our team provides a full spectrum of auxiliary (and on occasion, primary) communications support for the aforementioned agencies. That would include, but not limited to, voice traffic, independent email services, wireless LAN/WAN both in an affected area and relayed outside the impact zone, video, GPS and signal tracking, and much, much more. We have had great success in drills and real-world service for more decades than I have been alive, and I am happy to be apart of the organization. These relationships have afforded our teams some special privileges in the radio world. Hospitals, government agencies, and private business all appreciate the services we provide to the community, and to help us provide the best possible services, these agencies/businesses have allowed our groups to install VHF and UHF repeaters on there buildings, commercial radio towers, and on high-elevation properties. We even have repeaters and towers installed in national parks for areas known to frequently need our support. I mention all of this because it is relevant to what is happening with the proposed GMRS repeater. The Prince William County government is allowing us to install a new amateur radio VHF and UHF repeater on a county radio tower. The intent is to have the amateur radio equipment available to all licensed amateurs, while ensuring priority use for ARES supporting the county, state and federal government. Since we are going to have both a VHF and a UHF antenna, we figured we would gang a GMRS repeater on the UHF antenna, having it support both systems. I proposed the use of the GMRS repeater to the county under the same assumptions as the amateur radio repeaters... they will be open to all licensed users, with the county and other served agencies traffic taking priority during drills and emergencies, and the county EC agreed. Keep in mind, we are in the early stages of planning. We need to design the system, acquire hardware, and coordinate frequency use. What we are planning is subject to change... but the proposed details are as fallows. The availability date is currently TBD. As mentioned, we are still gathering parts and the facility is currently in the end stages of renovations. We cannot build until construction is complete. The tower is in the south-eastern part of Prince William County. The base of the tower is about 155 feet above average terrain. The arm the antennas will be on is about 300 feet above ground. We are going to use high-gain folded dipole antennas for all repeaters. We are planning on legal limit for the power output on GMRS (and 100w for the amateur repeaters). The channel is TBD, pending coordination. This will be a publicly accessible repeater, open to all licensed operators. Again, if the repeater is needed for emergency use, we will terminate public access until the emergency need is over. We hope that amateur gear will be sufficient so local families/residents can use the GMRS repeater in a local communications outage. We have not settled on a tone yet, but it will be CTCSS. We will ask local users to use whatever the primary tone we select for day-to-day use, but we will also have 141.3 for emergency/traveler use. The coverage area is theoretical at this point, but below is a projected coverage map showing 99.9% reliability. As we drop down to 70% reliability, the coverage increases dramatically.

[Thursday, 7 Aug 2025] Group, In recent days I have heard chatter on Blue Mountain '600 and Warrenton '725 re. a new repeater to soon be commissioned. Purportedly, such repeater will have a significant RF footprint. Can anyone add more info on this news, particularly: • What County it will reside in? • Projected commissioning date? • Availability: Public / Private? • Planned channel? • Planned PL or DCS code? • Predicted coverage (rough)? • Etcetera ... ? ___________ Thanks & regards, Peter | WSIC582 | NWDC

Hey folks! Had a great time at the Meet-N-Greet. Just wanted to thank everyone for coming out and share a few pictures! Talk to you all soon!

Hey folks, Just a quick reminder about our meetup this weekend. This is open to everyone. We especially encourage new operators and new members to join. We will have several area repeater owners joining us with information and printed handouts about what is happening in our community. Many of us will have test equipment, willing to help troubleshoot problems and answer any questions you may have. Looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday! If you haven't seen the event on our FB page, you can get the details in the original post (above) or at the link below. https://www.facebook.com/events/744340581470568/

Travel postponed, so I will be there on the 13th. Regards ☆ Peter

Marc and All, So sorry I will not be in town for this event on the 13th and sad that I will not be able to pig out at Carrabba's! Hope to meet and socialize with you all at the next NOVA GMRS event as I continue to get acclimated with GMRS. Regards | Peter | WSIC582

Hey folks, we are hosting a get-together on Sunday, July 13th starting at 02:00 PM at Carrabba's Italian Grill in Centreville, VA. We will meet in the main lot and spend some time socializing and working with anyone who may need some guidance on their gear. When everyone is hungry, we can head inside for some ice cold beverages and some food. As always, this will be a family-friendly event. Feel free to bring family and friends. Any questions, just post them below! https://www.facebook.com/events/744340581470568/?active_tab=discussion https://locations.carrabbas.com › Virginia › Centreville 5805 Trinity Pkwy Centreville, VA 20120

One last update... I will be monitoring the Elliott Knob 600 repeater (462.600 / tone 123.0) as well as simplex channel 15 (462.550) no tone.

Hey folks, just some quick planning for Saturday... for those of you who are not familiar with the area or would like to caravan up to the top of the knob together, I will be at a Shell gas station at 3275 S Main St, Harrisonburg, VA 22801 at 8:45 AM and leaving there at 9:00 AM. It's about a 50 minute drive to the top of the knob. The Shell station is literally right off the highway off-ramp. On i81, take exit 243 and the Shell station is across the street from the bottom of the ramp. For those heading straight to the meeting location, I'll see you at the top of Reddish Knob at 10:00 AM.

This time in my Ranger instead of Edge

Details Event by Marc Spaziano and NOVA GMRS Reddish Knob, Saturday, March 29, starting at 10 AM. Public · Anyone Come join NOVA GMRS for a Radio Expedition up to Reddish Knob and play Radio for the afternoon! Everyone is welcome to bring their handheld radios, mobile radios, or "portable" setups and discover the amazing range of your gear that is associated with high elevation of the mountain top. Lets find out how far Your radio can reach! Reddish Knob is located in the George Washington National Forest, outside of Dayton / Harrisonburg, Virginia. While this is a knob on the ridge-line in the forest, it is paved all the way to the top. Any vehicle can comfortably make it all the way to the top without an issue. Along with your radios, bring a camera, warm clothes, and something to snack on for lunch. There is nothing nearby... so bring everything you need to be comfortable for a few hours. For those not familiar with the area, we can find a meet-up spot if you would like to follow me from town, up to the main lot.

Hey folks... one of the big things many new users (and some of us old guys) enjoy doing is figuring out how far their radio can reach. It's always fun to contact someone from say 80 or 100 miles away on a handheld radio. In September of 2023, we went as a group up to Reddish Knob and played Radio for the afternoon. Everyone either used their handheld radio, mobile radio, and some extravagant "portable" setups to see what kind of range they could get from the mountain top. With GMRS (and some amateur radio) being a line of site service, its possible to make contacts from as far as 150-180 miles away while we are up there. I personally talked about 162 miles. We had a great time. Does anyone have any interest in doing something like this again this Spring? Just bring whatever gear you want to test out... you can try some of my gear, etc. It is paved all the way to the top of the mountain and any vehicle can access it.

In this club > Under the Area Repeaters Tab > Under East to West > is SEVEN CORNERS 600. I don't see this repeater any where else on the mygmrs.com web site. Old data? (I'm new so maybe not).

Hey Rob, thanks for checking in. We have a pretty active group spread from Alexandria/Arlington (and into MD) to Leesburg, and south into Woodbridge/Stafford/F'burg and as far as Warrenton and Culpeper. We don't have much activity here. Typically we will post events that are occurring. Most of the activity would be on the area repeaters and on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/novagmrs The big repeaters we use are the Bull Run Mtn. 650, Warrenton 725, Seven Corners 675, and DC 700. Our members have wide area coverage repeaters on every available channel pair, but I think those are the largest and most popular, in that order. Come check us out on Facebook, and all the repeaters are listed here on MyGMRS. Using the 'Map' feature will likely be the most beneficial to find the repeaters and request access. Thanks, Marc

Checking to see if this group still has a pulse. Just discovered the group and joined. I personally need to get smarter on GMRS (and other radio) and was hoping to see a bunch of comms from which I could learn. I am also up for in person meetups and learning sessions. Thanks all! Rob - WROV979

https://mygmrs.com/repeaters https://mygmrs.com/map

I am new to GMRS and radios in general and all of these suggestions sound like a good idea to me. Thanks! WSEK955

Hi! I'm new to GMRS and am trying to connect to the repeaters and I am wondering if there are tones I need to program in? I'm along I-66 in Oakton and have a goal of reaching Alexandria/Springfield/Kingstowne area. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! WSEK955

Roland will be greatly missed. He was a big signature in the D.C. metro area as well as up and down the mid-atlantic, PA, NJ/NY and WVa. His base setup (completely legal) had some reach and if the conditions were right with some ducting. His voice could be heard on a repeater by you or even on simplex. For 2 years straight, when I commuted to and from work. He would often chat with me, purposely pausing his day to catch me on various repeaters. I have caught him doing this with multiple people including Marc. He was outstanding steward for the radio community and was upstanding. In person, his Veteran Vietnam Naval side came out with the swear words. What a character that "old fart" was. Rest in peace WRPJ758, 42 (former Capital City React) Roland you deserve it of any person I have ever met. The D.C. area GMRS community lost a great one. Now who will answer the 5x radio checks a day on all the repeaters. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Today, I lost a friend; NOVA GMRS lost a beloved member. Roland Jackson (WRPJ758) died today. For those in the DC Metro area, he had a positive impact on the community. Roland was a staple in the GMRS realm, willing to help anyone, chat with everyone. You will be missed my friend. Pictures care of @kidphc