Overview

While my neighbor and I have radios (he just got his GMRS license), I'm not sure anyone else in my locale does. I have a total of 4 handheld GMRS radios. Maybe my next step to set up a more powerful home base station or set up a vehicle as a mobile base station.

216, you could conduct an assessment. Determine the likelihood of a communications failure in your community and if anyone benefits from having an alternative method of communication to contact neighbors and family members nearby; the winter storm of 2022 is a great place to start as it paralyzed much of our infrastructure, including cellular and landline phones. As the result of that storm my elderly parents who live 4 doors down, now have the ability to communicate with me during communications outages with a simple bubblepack GMRS radio and a simplified plan to check in, in the event of an emergency. I'm attempting to advocate for others to do the same. Learning to prepare for any emergency situation is absolutely crucial to our community's resilience during a disaster. Through the previous experiences with summer and winter storms that impacted communications, we have developed a method to mitigate these issues, based on what we have learned. I think what 649 is doing will greatly improve the footprint of communication as well. I look forward to building a partnership with others so we can overcome community emergencies, should we become a community united during a disaster. - WSEM281

I'm rather new to radios, but this is exactly what I am looking to do! I only have handheld radios and if Vista Woods goes out, I only have about 1-2 mile range where I am near the 2nd Wawa off of Garrisonville.

I saw your other post. Love it!

Project Update: Upcoming Mast Installation & Repeater Expansion I wanted to take a moment to share an update on the GMRS repeater project. I'm still on track to install a 46 ft telescoping mast, with the installation planned for late winter or early spring. Once completed, this should significantly extend the range and improve the overall performance of the repeater system for everyone in the area. This project is part of a long-term effort to build a sustainable and reliable communication system. It’s being funded entirely out of pocket, but my goal is to make it highly available with redundancy in power, backup equipment, and spare parts to ensure minimal downtime in the future. Additionally, I’m also building a DMR repeater on site. It’s currently operational as a high-powered hotspot, and if anyone is interested in using it or learning more about it, feel free to reach out and I can provide those details. I’ll provide further updates as we get closer to the installation date. - Barry WSDH649

Checking in after awhile. I missed some things. But, basically, until I get the antenna raised higher it will be tough to reach the repeater with a handheld outside of the neighborhood. Still aiming for spring on the 46 footer. Maybe late winter if budget permits.

Greetings, I hope you will find this topic valuable. I, like few others want to know if help is out there should communication be non-existent via cellular or landline phone during a natural disaster resulting in an extended grid failure. The scenario and my situation: I am unable to access the Vista Woods repeater due to various obstacles and obstructions from my home location near Ramoth Church but wish to attempt contact with others nearby should the situation arise that I cannot use my phone. I am requesting that we establish Vista Woods Tac on simplex using the same receive frequency and tone; users could monitor this for distress calls. I hope others will benefit from a mesh network of simplex users within the undetermined coverage area perhaps from American Legion Road, Mountain View, Ramoth, Roseville, Garrisonville, Shelton Shop, and other nearby locations or within a set boundary. A relay from radio to radio could even prove essential for those without access to a phone network. Opinions and input kindly appreciated! - WSEM281

Discuss non-emergency protocol to assist neighbors via simplex radio operation during extended grid failure or natural disaster

I updated to a Diamond SRJ77CA antenna and now when I transmit, I get a morse code response! I did it twice & each time I got beeps a few seconds after my transmission.

Thanks 281 - I'm around 2 miles E of it. My input & output tones are right (unless Baofeng messed up how tones are set up on my radio) I'll hope to connect with you at 6:00 on both 17/.600 and 25/.600

Negative from my location 216, I'm about 3 miles E/SE of the repeater and keep my scanner parked on GMRS, no longer hearing traffic on the repeater from my location. We can try a check-in around 6:00pm occasionally on simplex 17/.600 with a tone of 156.7. Distance and obstructions may hinder our ability to get out but it's worth a shot to determine if we can talk without the repeater, assuming we are within range of each other

Hi - has anyone heard any of my transmissions? I've been doing radio checks mostly in the evenings. I picked up a Nagoya 771G and will test it at about 6:00 tonight.

Thanks @WSDH649 - I tried to transmit a couple times at around 7:15 PM - but not sure anyone heard me. My transmit frequency is correct per the the uplink freq on MyGMRS. Maybe I'm not reaching you? I'm about 2 miles east of your repeater in a wooded area and neighborhoods in-between.

I think you might have it setup correctly. If you are hearing the CW_ID continuous wave (morse code) then you at least have the correct receive frequency set. It is an open repeater so you can use at will. The access request on mygmrs is just a courtesy to the station owner in my case. I will be monitoring when I get home, or on my way home and I will reply if I hear you on. Also, I will check the notifications when new post are made here. Glad you got the UV-5R plus and the Bingfu antenna. If you end up getting your HAM license you are set to go on 2m(144 ish MHz) and 70cm(440 ish MHz)

I just bought an inexpensive Baofeng to get myself started, and my FCC GMRS license and I'm looking for a group to help me learn a bit more than me watching endless YouTube videos. For example, after joining RepeaterBook & MyGMRS, I set up the T & R CTCSS frequencies, then tried to do a channel check - I think I successfully sent, but all I heard back was static. Do I need approval to use the repeater? (And sorry for not getting it first!) Or did I set my radio channel incorrectly?

I am installing the ignition sense connection on the TX and RX radios tomorrow so the system will be down around noon for a few minutes while I take care of that. I have been monitoring power for my all of the critical equipment in my HAM shack. This is to right size UPS battery backup. Here is what I have put together from research. Not sure which final solution I am going with yet. But in any case, the UPS is only intended to hold until I can cutover to generator. Power Draw Reports Maximum Active Use: Everything Keyed up. Power: 329.4 W Current: 3.995 A Voltage: 121.6 V With 20% buffer: 395.3 W Idle Use: Power: 28.9 W Current: 0.429 A Voltage: 122 V UPS Recommendations To accommodate the power draw and provide adequate runtime, the following UPS options are suggested: 450W UPS (e.g., CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD) Active runtime: 4–6 minutes at 395W Idle runtime: 1–2 hours at 28.9W 600W UPS (e.g., APC BX1000M) Active runtime: 8–10 minutes at 395W Idle runtime: 2–3 hours at 28.9W 1000W UPS (e.g., APC BX1500M) Active runtime: ~20 minutes at 395W Idle runtime: 5–7 hours at 28.9W Here is a chart summarizing the UPS capacities, active runtimes (in minutes), and idle runtimes (in hours) for the system. - Barry WSDH649

Was able to do some testing with a HAM operator about 2-3 miles away. We were hearing each other loud and clear on different power settings with different gear. I think his location is at a higher elevation than mine. Also, less obstructions. The repeater was working for a several minutes straight and I was checking the heatsink on the transmit radio. It did get warm but I would not say hot. I could put my hand on it with no problems. I do have a fan running on top of it constantly for cooling and the HAM shack stays between 60-75 year round. I still think I may need to do some tweaking of the "polite" settings on the repeater controller IDOM4. I'm concerned it might get locked up at some point. It does have a PTT watchdog that should reset if that happens though. Main thing, I need to get that taller mast when I can. - Barry WSDH649

That was me on the other end. I could hear you a bit on some transmits but yeah, lots of static. Hoping it is just a matter of the antenna height at this point. I need to get the taller mast when I have some extra bucks. - Barry WSDH649

Finally able to hit the repeater from my yard this afternoon. Spotty on my end but other traffic was heard clear, however I'm not getting through to the other user (static and white noise heard by other user). Between system improvements and foliage thinning, it has made a difference, at least from my location. -WSEM281

I went for a ride earlier to take my daughter to Poke Mian near the One Life Fitness gym. I had my 50w mobile in the car and tried to call home with two different antennas from the parking lot. Funny thing is, the 3dbi Tram was clearer to my wife at home than the 6dbi Midland. But, in both cases she was able to read me loud and clear when I was parked. It was a little spotty when I was moving though she said. - Barry WSDH649

Alright, I replaced one of the 1250's with a 1550 LS+. Configured as the TX radio and now everything is working with the PL tone set to CTCSS 156.7 Hz. Drove around and tested from various locations with my wife on the other end and everything was working as expected. I'm saying it is in-service now. Will continue developing the system and doing what I can to increase the range. - Barry WSDH649

Well, I have spent many hours troubleshooting and researching issues when using PL tones in this configuration and I cannot find a way to operate the repeater reliably with tones applied. Even removing the IDOM4 controller completely and using a straight through repeater cable for Motorolas, the repeater will not consistently respond or stay open. For the time being I have disabled the PL tone and it will remain that way until I can find a solution, if that ever happens. My main purpose for this system is emergency communications for my family and the community I live in and I need it up and running. I will be doing some additional surveying in it's current configuration and post results. I am in it for the long haul so I fully plan to continually improve this repeater. - Barry WSDH649

Did a little tuning last night and the audio quality and signal is way way better than it was with the BTech radios. However, I cannot hear the beacon or cw id at all since I enabled pl. I may turn it off tonight to test. Feel like there is something simple I am overlooking. Also, tweaked the timing and tone of the courtesy beep and that seem to have reduced occurrences of stepping on each other when testing with my wife. - Barry WSDH649

I was testing on the way home from work with my wife and was able to hit it from Home Depot loud and clear. However, we did keep stepping on each other because I have a courtesy tone setup and I think I might have the timing off. It takes quite awhile before the beep triggers. I think there were a few times when the repeater stayed open and I didn't hear the beep. So, I probably have some additional fine tuning to do. I am open to any suggestions if folks have experience with this type of setup or with the ID-O-MATIC IV. I am not hearing the ID or the Beacon on the schedule I was expecting. Guess I need to RTFM more closely. - Barry WSDH649

Tried to hit the repeater with the new configuration moments ago and no return from Ramoth/Stafford Airport. Probably too many obstructions between my location and the repeater. I will try to remember to take the radio with me when I need to run errands and give feedback. -WSEM281