Leaderboard

GMRS power output is defined as transmitter output power, not ERP. Go have fun with your beam, or even a beam array.

Why does every new license holder want to setup a repeater? I would like to shed a little light on some of the important things to consider if you recently got your GMRS license and now want your own repeater. First thing to consider, are there any open well placed repeaters in your area that you are able to use? I can assure you most repeater owners want people to use there repeater. Owning several repeaters I can assure you all are welcome and encouraged to use my machines. Do you have access to a location to host your repeater? If your answer is your garage roof you should reconsider. Your garage roof will give you about the same coverage as simplex. Unless you’re on top of a mountain and all your users are at the bottom you will never be happy with this setup. GMRS is not as popular as one would like to think, unless your repeater covers 20 miles or more you may find you only have 1 or 2 users in the area. Unless you already have a group of friends together you may want to consider this before spending money on a decent well positioned site to install your repeater. So you found a nice high site and the price is right, all you need to do is get the repeater installed, sounds simple right? Some thigs to consider first and foremost are the costs because they can add up quickly. Are you on a commercial tower that requires a license and bonded climber? If so this could be by far your largest expense depending on your area. I have spent $600 to $1200 on a climber; I have had quotes as high as $2500 depending on the amount of work and heights involved. Keep in mind commercial sites require certified mounts, hard line cable, cable clamps, engineered grounding solutions and commercial grade antennas. No tower owner is going to let you install a comet antenna and 200’ of braided shield coax. This brings me to my next point, the antenna. Because of the costs involved with climbers you will want to expend your budget on the antenna. Remember a $2000 repeater on a $200 antenna is going to work about as good as a $200 repeater. Whereas a $200 repeater on a $2000 antenna is going to work like a $2000 repeater. On my first repeater I was gifted use of a 150’ tower, I installed a DB-420 on the top and 160’ of 7/8 hardline. Total cost of equipment for the antenna install was $2500, with the climbers labor coming in at an additional $800. This left me with enough to purchase an old Motorola R100 repeater running at 25W. To my surprise it had 30 miles of coverage, all due to the cash spent on the antenna and waiting for a decent spot. Things happen, more so if you have an antenna 200’ in the air with a conductive cable connected to sensitive electronics. Antenna issues, feedline issues, repeater issues all cost money and I promise at some point you will have issues that need repair and require your money! It is my opinion that the GMRS community does not need another 2 to 5 miles repeater as it just becomes background noise. What use is a public listed repeater if somebody in a mobile can’t use it 5 miles away while moving or the portable coverage is only a mile? If after reading this you are still going to build a repeater for your garage more power to you, just don’t expect 20 people to show up if it only reaches a mile. As the owner of several GMRS and Commercial repeaters I can attest to the amount of money and effort go into my repeaters. I have only touched on the basics, if you add in any kind of testing services, duplexer tuning, addition of a combiner channel to an existing tower system, RF engineering, rent and insurance your costs can sky rocket. The best advice I can give any new licensee is to try and use the available systems in the area. Take the time to learn a little about what you’re doing and to assess the usability of the service before investing in a repeater for the sole reason of saying you own one.

Wish I'd have read this post before I ran off 'half-cocked' *like I always do!

My longest ground level to ground level simplex contact has been 5.5 miles. Which is an achievement in my area. That was ragged edge. My longest simplex contact, regardless of elevation, was 46.6 miles from Strasburg, VA to Second Mountain, mobile to mobile. It was full quiet. My longest repeater contact was from a mountain top near Glengary WV to Dumfries VA... 70 miles as the crow flies, but 77 miles for the RF path. Also full quiet. I was on a MXT400 with an MXTA11 antenna. Don't know what the other guys had. In the Amateur radio world, I have talked from Flagpole Knob VA (mountain top) to South Houston TX on 446MHz with a homemade 1500 watt amp and a beam antenna. I would love to try a high-gain beam antenna on GMRS, but I don't think its legal because of the limit on effective radiated power... I may research that a little.

Since this topic was posted in the Equipment Reviews forum, I guess a review of the product itself (as opposed to sales and service issues) is appropriate. The ID-O-Matic is a very basic station ID and repeater controller offering a minimal set of functions including: Automatic periodic ID in CW and optionally, with an extra module, voice.An optional "Courtesy (Roger) Beep" when the incoming carrier is dropped.​The "beep" consists of one or more characters sent in audible morse code.A separate "beep" is available for input timeouts.The speed, volume, and pitch of the beep and ID are controllableTiming controls for maximum talk-time (PTT) hang time, ID time, etc.Option for one alternate ID message (based on the state (high or low) on an input line.Beacon control functionality.An option to control an external fan.Programming is via a terminal connection over USB using a simple menu based system.The following common repeater control functions are not available: Other than a gain control, there is no processing of audio.There is no processing of CTCSS (PL, DPL, etc.).This means any use of CTCSS on Rx or Tx must be done in the radios themselves.There is no provision to trigger an ID with an external signal.There is no provision to have an alternate "beep" or "beeps." (For example, when on battery power.)Note, while sales material states it is possible to have an alternate "beep," such an option does not appear in the programming menu and is not documented in the manual.There is no logging.Other than for backup power, it is specifically not recommended to configure the controller or to even leave the USB control line connected during operation. This means you should not plan on being able to alter the program remotely. However, In practice leaving the controller connected to a PC during operation does not seem to exhibit any problems, as long as you take care to Quit the programming menu after use.For the price, for a very basic repeater system, this probably cannot be beat. However, do consider the design, documentation and firmware are now 5 years old and the original developer Dale, N0XAS, is no longer with the company having sold it to the current owner, Dan, W7RF in 2017. As noted in posts above, this change may impact the level and quality of support available.