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hahaha.... man, you're hilarious, OP. I think you shouldn't limit such delightfully entitled attitude of yours to just GMRS, after all why stop there, right? I've heard cops have radio systems with statewide coverage, yeah, and guess what: you're paying for those systems with your taxes!!, therefore you are totally entitled to use these frequencies too... yeah!! absolutely... crank that CCR PA to 100W and kerchunk that P25 statewide like a boss with some "Breaker Breaker, 10-4 10-4, roger copy that, out..." or if CB aint ya'r thing then some "CQ CQ, calling all buddies in this frequency, roger roger india sierra uniform charile kilo alpha bravo..." haha.... G.

Looks like the issue is fixed now. There was an issue with server resources that were running low.

Radio waves in GMRS band are public domain, but hardware is not. There is nothing more to it, repeaters are personally owned hardware. I do not expect to use someone else's radio just because I know where it is and how it works.

https://www.retevis.com/shop/Mobile-GMRS-repeater-RT97-Handheld-GMR-Radio-RT76/ Two handhelds and a repeater for $457. Be still my heart! I think I could use like four of these things, including one for the truck.

I have the same issue on https://mygmrs.com/, but not on https://forums.mygmrs.com/ (i.e. the forums work, but the main site doesn't).

Add me to this observation... I was looking up repeaters and had to log in after each click... Was not like that before, but I can see a good reason for doing that if a robot attack.

Not to worry. the difference is only just over 4db. You can more than make up for that by antenna choice. But, you can only use that power on channels 15 to 22 and the repeater inputs. on the other 14 channels the limit is 5.0 or 0.5 watts ERP. Enjoy your radio.

Our local ham club is trying really hard to grow our membership, and are especially encouraging younger people to become licensed and "radio active." I'm currently on my fourth year as Vice-President. We are also working hard to get our district (six counties) ARES up and running again. As for GMRS goes, I also belong to a quite active group from the northside of Chicago, even though I live in NW Indiana. There are three very active repeaters in my area that are all very welcoming. One repeater is fully open for everyone and the other two do require permission, but it is always given. The owners simply want to have a record of the call sign and names of the ones using the system.

Amen!

First, I'm sorry if this comes off as cross, however the way you had typed and worded this message promotes the air of "I want it therefore it should be given to me" type of attitude, which to many repeater owners, translates to abuse of equipment they paid for and maintain. Everyone has a gripe, its discussion of the concern or issue in an adult manor that brings some form of resolution or at very least a little more respect for you as a person. Now second, if you have read the FCC rules that you agreed to, you will find the following: 47 CFR 95.1705 (D) Individual Licensee Duties, The holder of an individual license: (2) May allow any person to use (i.e., benefit from the operation of) its GMRS repeater, or alternatively, may limit the use of its GMRS repeater to specific persons; (3) May disallow the use of its GMRS repeater by specific persons as may be necessary to carry out its responsibilities under this section. Another words, as a repeater owner, I have the authority to refuse access to users who fail to follow FCC rules, or fail to follow rules I have set for the use of the repeater (Including collection of any club fees associated with maintaining said repeater/repeaters) or if you conduct yourself in a way that may be harmful or interfering of any communications through said repeater. I have banned people for prolonged "key up" times where they were intentionally jamming the repeater in hopes of damaging the unit. I also banned a user who tried to tell me I had to pay him for the use of the repeater I had bought and set up. This means that when you contact the FCC, they will likely ignore you, or if you do get a response, it'll likely be "The system owner has legal authority to restrict the systems use to specific individuals."

Ham Radio ≠ GMRS Different in many ways: equipment authorization, power and features; history; community; user licensing; purpose; expandability; commercial support; etc. etc. You simply cannot, and, IMO should not, try to compare the two. And, even if you try what is the point?

Have 2 operating now, very impressed with coverage. Using Comet CA-712EFC antennas, short runs of lmr 400. These are listed on mygmrs.com, Ranch 650, and Copano Bay 675. The Ranch 650 runs off batteries and solar. located on a hill, antenna at 65 ft. Copano antenna only at 25 ft.

I agree with a dedicated section. Get all the issues and resolutions into ONE PLACE. There is no tutorial so this would be most helpful in easing the learning curve. Its not just repeater technical its more the IT side of it. I consider myself a "Power User" at IT and still found myself scratching my head at times. I am probably the one behind "all the new post on Linking" I tried to keep them all in the Private section. Rick H... WQHJ382 / W2RGH

I think that would be a great idea. I also believe that with MyGMRS selling node controllers that perhaps there could be a tutorial on the main site explaining some of the set-up steps and reminders of some of the codes and files that can be customized. I was thinking about contacting Rich and seeing if we could get that all going.

Okay, I’ll bite here. I own a repeater (Rugged 575) in Naperville, IL at 300' receive / 250’ transmit. It’s on a commercial site with other UHF and VHF radio systems as well. Not only have I spent nearly 5 figures setting this up correctly but I monitor it as if it was my baby, cuz, you know, it *IS* my baby. I built it with no financial help from anyone else. Of course there was other help I received by LOTS of other commercial repeater owners (Those of you that are reading know who you are) as I’ve come a long way in the last year and some change here. I have my repeater system set up for several different private family usage cases and I also have a tone for public which I closely monitor as well and others that are out there do use it. As a repeater owner I’m super happy to turn my radio on and hear other people using it. As a matter of fact just yesterday some other licensed GMRS users were using my repeater and I needed to use it with my wife as I was at the grocery store and I broke in and said, “hang tight guys, I need to talk to my wife for a minute. I’ll let you know when I’m done”. Anyways, I flipped to our tone, talked with her about the particulars, then went back to the public side and said “Carry on guys! Glad to hear you out there using the machine”. That being said, mine is set to “Ask permission” as well because as others have mentioned, I want to know who is using it to verify their license and location because it’s my system and it’s my responsibility to make sure it’s up to par on the commercial shared site. I have sent an email back to EVERY! SINGLE! PERSON! As well welcoming them with the tones to use it! I haven’t had the need (yet) to ever reject anyone from using my repeater but I still keep a tab on who has access to it as in my opinion, it’s my responsibility to do so. Not only that, but I have my custom verbiage I send back with every request as well stating that this is a family repeater as well and to aid to traffic on the other PL tone. Heck, I’ll paste what I send you can see where we are coming from with this: “The tone for my repeater is XXXX (left blank) (N – normal, not inverted). When you key up for the first time please identify yourself using your call sign and call for ROB. I am regulating who is using my repeater as it is being used for my family as well. I have received an exceeding amount of requests to use my repeater. Originally this was set up for family only use but seeing as the range is far better than expected, I have opened it up on an as-requested basis to any licensed GMRS operator. PLEASE NOTE: ALL TRAFFIC MUST YIELD TO MY FAMILY. The tone for public use is different than family so if you see your radio lighting up receiving on 462.575 but no audio is coming through on your radio it's because my family is talking so please do not key up until that traffic has cleared. Thanks and I hope to hear you on the air!” That being said, sometimes users don’t understand what a multi-table is either so I will say this too: When you first use a new repeater you should ALWAYS call out for a radio check IMO because you don’t know how that repeater is set up and should NEVER assume anything! I was in Iowa once and I made contact to the owner on the traveler tone (I was travelling) and he told me that it’s linked to another repeater in California! NONE of this information was posted on mygmrs.com and upon googling I couldn’t even find it either!!! It was good to know that I was keying multiple machines too and me and the owner had a nice long 30 minute conversation and he was glad I keyed up and shouted out! To sum up further as a repeater owner: *MOST*, but not *ALL* repeater owners don’t mind you using their machine I’ve found. Now I’m in the Midwest mind you, so again, no assumptions would be made for other machines that I’ve never used, but around here most repeater owners are very happy to have you on their machine and it brings a great smile to their face to know that they are serving the public with a reliable communication system and growing the hobby as well! Remember that GMRS isn’t HAM and HAM isn’t GMRS. A *LOT* of people out there want GMRS for family use under one license and that’s what I’m doing but I’ve decided to open it up to the public as well as the coverage is fairly decent. I looked at getting a business license and could have easily done it too but I like the idea of being able to chat with my family *AND* other GMRS users so here we are! Thanks!

Lets see if this work???

I have one and have had it up and running for several weeks. It is posted up on a mountain near me putting it around 1800 feet up. It is powered by a 14 amp hour SLA battery that is solar recharged. I have a simple N9TAX roll up SlimJim for an antenna. It's all just strapped to a tree right now; exposed to the weather. The solar controller draws .01 amps. The RT97 draws .08 amps during standby. The RT97 draws 2.05 amps during 10 watt transmission. It reaches out 20-25 miles easy but again, it is at 1800 feet so my line of sight is great. I have been super impressed with it. It is a great option for off-grid repeater operations. I would include a few images but I don't know where to host the images anymore.

you should be able to reset your password on the main mygmrs site. https://mygmrs.com/password Using this tool will require access to the registered email address of your account. Follow the instructions in the E-mail and you'll be set.

Until this week! Retevis submitted the RT97 for FCC Part 95E approval and got it. The FCC ID is 2ASNSRT97. The interesting thing is they are only certified for 5W whereas the other RT97's are rated for 10W output. The best part? You can preorder yours now from myGMRS! I have 2 on the way from China and will place an order for more based on demand. Current ETA is mid-June for the first batch, but no idea how accurate that date is. Shipping to the US has been very slow lately due to the lack of flights from China. There are things I've ordered from early March that still haven't left the country, but they were not Express shipments. I think these have potential to explode in popularity for GMRS. Everyone wants cheap repeaters that are plug-n-play, and these are about as cheap as you can get while being type-accepted and not just 2 HTs taped together.