Welcome
A lot of you were added by me trying out a feature on here (over 1000 of you) so I apologize for that if you do not want to be, you should be able to remove yourself or let me know and I can attempt to remove you, but to do over 1000 people would take me a lot of time.
This Repeater is located on Skyline Drive (Bald Eagle Mountain just south of Williamsport) on the frequency of 462.675 running 50 watts. The input frequency for you as a GMRS user to program into your radio to transmit on is 467.675 and 462.675 as the receive frequency. The CTCSS/PL tone is 141.3 which is needed to open the squelch to use the repeater and this tone can be programmed for receive and transmit which is recommended but at least must be programmed to transmit in order to open the repeaters' receiver. The repeater uses a Diamond X50C2 antenna and is fed with 1/2 inch hard-line. The antenna is on the north side of the tower at 50 feet, and the ground elevation for the tower site is 1,912 feet. This repeater first aired in September 2012 and has been on ever since. The repeater consists of two Kenwood TK-8180H mobile radios, a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ running the Allstarlink program as the controller. The duplexers are the Wacom WP-678 four cans and also has a Motorola Preselector cavity on the receive side to tighten the receiver up.
The signal strength is based on - dBm, as you see on the map. The map of course is computer generated and even though is pretty close to real life conditions, it can be better or worse, this simply gives a good idea.
-72 would be full scale or S 9
-78 = S 8
-84 = S 7
-90 = S 6
-96 = S 5
-102 = S 4
-108 = S 3
-114 = S 2
-120 = S 1 = pretty weak.
You must have your GMRS license or be covered under a family member's license to transmit on the repeater or any GMRS frequency, which information on this can be found on the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) website along with the rules. The license was $70 but on April 19, 2022, the cost changed $35 for 10 years and this includes you and your family. You will receive an FCC Call sign after you apply for the license, and the GMRS licensed person or their family member that is covered under the license is to say the call sign every 15 minutes while in use and at the end of your use. GMRS users should be familiar with the FCC rules and follow them and know the call sign they are under to be authorized to operate.
Click this link to find out more information about GMRS and getting your license https://www.fcc.gov/general/general-mobile-radio-service-gmrs
My call sign is WQGU515, which is also what the repeater identifies itself by in voice and or Morse code. GMRS Repeaters are not required to identify like ham radio repeaters are, but I feel it is good to do so. This is up to the GMRS user to ID themselves while using the repeater once every 15 minutes and when signing off. When there are multiple people under the same call sign, it is recommended that you use a radio number. For example, if I was on I would use just my call sign as the licensee but if I was to talk to my wife, let's say, she might use WQGU515 Unit 1.
Any questions etc. feel free to contact me by email mygmrs@ KB3AWQ.com or mygmrs@ WQGU515.com