Leaderboard

You won't really need to ground it unless your area is prone to lightning, or high winds that would create static when blowing across that fiberglass. If you would like to ground it, run a #10 stranded wire, such as THHN/THWN from the mount on the antenna to the electrical service ground rod for your house. Do NOT put in a separate ground rod, unless you plan on bonding it to the service ground. Also, do not just hook the ground wire to the side of your meter, or an outlet ground, or any pipe or conduit - big mistake. It is better to run with no ground, than to have it "grounded" in the wrong place. I don't think you will have any issues just leaving it un-grounded. For best results, use a high-quality coaxial cable designed for UHF, such as LMR-400, to run between the antenna and your radio. Do NOT use a cheap CB coax like RG8x, or you will be disappointed.

I think it would be best if members of this forum kept their political views to themselves and stuck to the topics this board was created to support.

I'd look at why your repeater doesn't receive as well as it should. If it can transmit out with full quieting to 15 miles at just 7 watts, then a 4 watt portable should talk back in from that distance. A good used band pass filter & a receive pre-amp would set you back less than $250. What's your effective receive sensitivity measured at the site? (how strong of a signal does your receiver system require before it opens the repeat audio path?) What's the noise floor? Do you have any desense when the repeater begins to transmit? Your idea of satellite receivers is worthwhile, but you're already seeing that it's limited due to the lack of frequency spacing and spectrum if you stick to GMRS.

I operate a linked GMRS repeater network that's part of MyGMRS. It uses 5 MTR2000 part 90 machines linked with Voip and covers 1/4 of the state of Wisconsin. Just like NavyBOFH said you will at some point need to make a compromise on your requirements for a total part 95 certified solution. From the title of your post "a beginners repeater" you sure had a strange list of demands, I am still hung up on the Solid-state ladder filters as I have never seen these in use in GMRS or LMR of witch I own repeaters in both services and user either duplexers or vertical separation with separate antennas.