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Comic relief break: "My wife said she was going to leave me unless I quit spending so much time on the radio. ...OVER"

I live in a 110 foot hole. I gave some thought to this very issue. If you're going to spend any money, just do it properly, such as using the equipment mentioned above. Otherwise you're going to spend a bunch of extra money and time trying to get the performance you want. I have a 2m repeater and a 70cm repeater at my house. I would put up a GMRS repeater if I thought my wife wouldn't toss me out...

There are several ways of doing this and each has its advantages and drawbacks. Personally I use a portable duplex (two frequency) repeater. This does require a tuned duplexer. The duplexer I have is commonly refereed to as a "Flatpack" duplexer. It does need to be tuned which most local radio shops do for $50-$100. Because of the nature of flatpack duplexers (Being cheap and not as good as BPBR duplexers) once they are tuned you should be able to use any of the 8 repeater channel pairs without needing to be retuned. The flatpack I use is a Celwave UHF duplexer, and I can run from .550-7250 with no issue. The drawback of this system is power output. The more TX power I put into the duplexer the less efficient it'll work causing de-sense of the signal into the RX radio. While the repeater will run 25W, I find I usually run it on low power using 10W of power instead. This system is also likely most expensive as it requires more equipment to operate. Still, my repeater build came to about $250 not including the antenna, feedline, or power source. Simplex repeaters are the cheapest option as they use the least amount of equipment or parts or even run off existing installed radio hardware. The unit does not require a duplexer or second radio to operate. It operates by recording audio from the radio, then replaying the audio back into the radios mic port. The drawbacks; Simplex repeaters can only store so much audio, usually only 30 seconds worth, limiting messages to 30 seconds. The second drawback is that your forced to wait for your message to be retransmitted then the unit to store your friends reply before it gets back to you. This isnt too bad during regular chitchat, though it could be annoying, but in emergency situations, seconds can count and having to wait a while for a reply is sometimes not doable. Thus the invention if the RPT-2K. The RPT-2K is similar to a duplex repeater, in fact thats what it is in a sense, however instead of using high power mobile radios, it uses two low power portable radios. Most times this set-up is used for cross-band repeating which is not allowed in GMRS, however you can use it on two radios withing the same band to make a duplex repeater. You should use a duplexer here as well, however at low power, (.5-1W) the desense is easily avoided and the system works ok. The downside is that your limited to low power, and most portable radios are rated at a 15% duty cycle which means long talk sessions could burn the amplifier out on the TX side of the repeater, especially if you plan to use Chinese radios. In the end it comes down to how much money you wish to spend and what you plan to do with the system. For me, I plan to use the repeater for camping trips and special events for family and friends to keep in contact. Given the fact that we may go hiking or fishing on the boat I wanted to make sure that should an emergency arise that we could easily communicate without having to deal with dropped cell signals. The setup I have easily covers a few miles so we don't have to worry about signal and it is easily deploy within 5 minutes of getting to the campsite.

Possible problem #1 - units too close together. solution: they won't work in the same room with each other due to overload. Move them apart by 100 feet or more. Possible problem #2 - CTCSS or DCS settings do not match. - "Private Codes" are NOT the same number on each unit. Solution: Get a chart for each unit, and set them for the same CTCSS frequency or the same DCS code - watch for normal or inverted codes. Possible problem #3 - Tera unit on charger, using speaker-mic to make a "pretend" base station. - Solution: Take it off from the charger base. The thing is meant to run on its battery. It WON'T transmit properly while sitting in the charger stand, and will transmit a loud 120 Hz buzz, if it transmits at all.

It's like being angry at the guards for catching your kids playing around on Area 51's land. "How dare you scare my kids that were breaking the rules?! I want to speak to your manager!"

Sounds like he found a self appointed and knowledge lacking radio cop. I have been in radio for close to 30 years, had GMRS forever, worked in commercial service, just got my HAM license a couple weeks ago. I've been in no hurry to chat, but I did ask the local radio club President, whom I personally know, about "closed" repeaters, or any special courtesies, etc. He said if the repeater is listed (online as such...Repeater Book, etc) then it is open, and that locally things were cooperative and normal. They are trying to get more Hams licensed and build up the hobby. I did remember what a Ham told me years ago...out of courtesy, if you are going to use a club repeater much, join the club because repeaters and electricity aren't free. As far as remembering call signs...I applied for a vanity because I'll be lucky to remember my own! And, I have listened alot, and now and then someone comes on, ID's and asks if "xyz" is on...or simply by first name...and usually says "I can't remember your call". I know no rule or manner that suggests that is wrong. I agree though, if that is an individuals repeater, don't use it. Maybe eventually no one will talk to him. Get with the club and put up your own.

If I'm working simplex, I'll usually say something like "WRAF213, on 675" for the main channels, or "WRAF213, on channel 1" for the interstitials. It's a good idea to say which channel you're on so folks using scan will be able to find your transmission easily. On repeaters, I'll include the repeater name/tone when calling someone, otherwise I just drop in my callsign or even just the suffix. If I needed to hear a monologue when someone hops on a repeater, I'd just go back to the WIN System. I hang out on channel 1 a fair bit, but only pipe up to help people who can't get radios talking together; SDR instantly tells me their channel settings, and I only talk to the parents/adults. I scare the crap outta all the kids in a 5 mile radius whenever I get on that channel, though. It's much more fun from hilltops.

Make sure you get an antenna that doesn't need a ground plane for the best performance. With it mounted so close to the edge of the roof, you'll be missing an effective ground plane to the rear which might cause your radiation pattern to be directional. Height might be an issue but if possible look for something that doesn't need the ground plane. Bonus if you can find a covert or short antenna that can do it.