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Hi everyone! As many of you know, we updated our forum software recently and one of the new features we're excited about launching is Clubs! Let me introduce what they are and how they benefit everyone. What are Clubs? "Clubs" are an exciting new way for GMRS groups and clubs to have their own area to post information, events, and photo galleries. This feature is a great way to keep private information like repeater access tones, rosters, and other information hidden from regular myGMRS users, but make it available to the group's members. What information can I post? You can post discussion topics (like a mini-forum) for your group, a photo gallery, and a calendar of events. Use this to share information with your members or allow them to ask questions. You can post your sensitive members-only information such as the repeater access information, Zello information, or anything else that you don't want to make public to all users of myGMRS. Just be sure to set the visibility of the club appropriately so only members can see the posts. What about groups that charge membership fees? This is the best part! If your group charges members a fee to access the group or its repeaters, for example, you can create a paid Club listing! You can set the membership fee and renewal terms, and we'll handle the processing of the payments and renewals for you! Once you approve the member and they have paid, the member will then gain access to the Club and be able to view any private information contained within it. As long as they continue to renew each term, they will remain part of the Club. Once their subscription lapses, they will lose access to the Club and no longer be able to see private information. Every time we collect payment from the members, we deposit the funds into your account on the Forums, less a small fee for using the service. You can then withdraw these funds for free to your PayPal account or request a paper check by mail. Can I approve who joins a club? Great question. Any time a member chooses to join a private club, a request is sent to the club owner. The owner can choose to accept or deny the request. This is great if you have someone who you need to deny access to, such as a banned user. Even if they try to join a paid Club, they will need to be granted access before they can pay. This allows you to fully manage who joins your group, or choose to open it to everyone. What is the cost to use the new Clubs feature? Right now, only Premium Members of myGMRS.com will be able to create a club listing. A Premium subscription is an optional upgrade that allows you to use advanced features such as creating a Club. You can create a Free Club for no additional charge, or you can create a Paid Club where myGMRS will take a small percentage of the membership fees for providing the service (and to offset our own payment processing fees on the credit cards or PayPal transactions). Regular myGMRS members can join any clubs they wish for no charge, except for Paid Clubs that have a membership fee. Joining a club does not require a Premium subscription to myGMRS. How do I create a club listing? Right now, we're still beta testing this feature out. You can join existing clubs, but you won't be able to create your own just yet. We are also still in the process of creating Premium subscriptions. Until we open up Premium subscriptions to everyone, you won't be able to create a club listing. We're busy working on other Premium features so you get more bang for your buck!

I am in complete support of the GMRS community. With that said, THIS IS NOT AMATEUR RADIO (HAM) !. Just to be perfectly clear, again, this is NOT amateur (HAM) radio and was/is not designed/created as such. Nowhere that I have read, is it my responsibility to promote, encourage or even support GMRS use whether it be for family, business, personal or at the hobby level of use. That would be better served in the Amateur (HAM) radio classification and it's something they do quite well. I support and commend the HAM's for the time, expense and dedication they have and continue to perform at. I whole heartedly support their mission. I also can't thank them enough for their OUTSTANDING work and support of the citizens, emergency services agencies, infrastructure, beit power, water, red cross and the list goes on, during major incidents such as hurricanes, wildland fires and other manmade and natural disasters. The amount of money, time, training and dedication these folks invest is unbelievable and GREATLY APPRECIATED !. My hat is off to each and every operator . However, again I say, this is NOT amateur (HAM) radio, was not created by the FCC as such and the rules governing its use do not reflect such, so why is it always compared to and "expected to be" just like the Amateur service. If you prefer the way repeaters are operated in the Amateur field, then by all means choose and use that spectrum. If GMRS is a better fit for your needs and expectations, please feel free to utilize GMRS. The same goes for the Business classification and the rest. Understand (which requires you to take the time to read) the intended purpose and acceptable use and practices of this spectrum and you'll save yourself and the rest of us the possible aggravation and possible heart ache, associated with potentially choosing the wrong classification. Your failure to do so should not result in me being expected to and receive ridicule if I don't, conform to "your vision or expectation" of GMRS. I placed my repeater in service to serve the needs of myself, my family, my friends and my team, all of whom are current GMRS license holders. As a courtesy, let me say that again, as a "courtesy", I decided to offer access to, with my prior permission, other local, licensed users, that felt they could benefit from the use of this repeater. Why limit access to permission only and local only ? This checks several boxes on my list. First, I want to verify that the person or persons using my repeater are in fact currently licensed, local, and have a specific need to support their request. Second, it's another tool in the quest to keep control over the type of use my repeater will be utilized for and as a responsible and liable repeater owner, this is one of many ways I attempt to accomplish this. Another reason is notifications, if I need to take the repeater off the air for any reason or there's a problem that all users should be aware of, I am able to make notification to ALL operators that I have granted permission to by a group email. Yes, I keep a current list of everyone permission has been granted to as well as all of those who have requested access but were denied along with the reason for denial. I have spent and continue to spend a substantial amount of money to place this system on and keep it on the air and while it is still not able to deliver an optimum coverage area, continue to explore the possibilities for improvement almost daily. As most are already aware, every time that repeater is keyed up, it's causing additional wear and shortening the life of the equipment. So, unless someone has an unlimited amount of disposable income available to them it would only make sense that a GMRS repeater owner could & would take steps to limit the amount of unnecessary wear to their system in an attempt to lesson the maintenance and inevitable replacement cost, attempt to limit the amount of down time and most of all ensure the system is operational when they need it. This is one of the reasons that I clearly state in my listing that THIS system is not a "social networking" system. I not only discourage but will revoke permission to someone who decides they're going to start a lengthy transmission on what they had for dinner last night or what they watched on television etc. as this not the intended use I want for my equipment and causes the repeater to be tied up unnecessarily while causing the most damage (over time) to any system. Both are issues I am attempting to avoid by clearly conveying my rules in advance and if you don't like my rules, there's nothing written anywhere that says you "MUST" use my repeater. There are other repeater frequencies you can choose (or if you wanted to be a less than neighborly user (a jerk) you could choose the same frequency) and if there are no other repeaters available in your area and you don't like my rules, you are more than welcome to purchase, install and maintain your very own system where you too can make up the rules for accessing and utilizing your repeater. Yet another reason why I state once again, know and understand the different types of licensing/spectrum available and choose accordingly. I hope everyone that does signs up for and use GMRS has a positive experience and if GMRS is right for you, would encourage you to pursue obtaining your license. Just make sure you are choosing the correct category/spectrum for your likes & needs first. Good luck to all, stay healthy, well, safe and happy. Respectfully submitted, John

That's not us who replied, that's a different network that we have zero affiliation with. I think that's a pretty funny response! We can provide support but it's not a 100% plug-n-play operation. Since it's a Linux system, you'll need to know how to edit the configuration files to customize the node and set the audio levels. Generally speaking, once you set it up it's a hands-off thing. We just can't customize it to each and every repeater combination out there. We're going to offer a new version of the Retevis RT97 repeater with the linking bundle preconfigured for that in the near future, we're just waiting on the FCC certification and we'll begin placing orders for them. However, this is only a 5W repeater so it may not be for everyone's use case.

I use a HD pushup fiberglass mast for semi-permanent use. Capable of 46’ AGL. Purchased from DX Engineering. It is available in shorter lengths with smaller vertical sections so it will collapse to shorter length. Here is a picture of mine un-guyed at max height (with antenna) located in my backyard during testing (56’ to tip). Amazing how plumb it stayed, of course it was not side loaded as would be the case with a Yagi. Anchoring in this picture consisted of (4) 18” long screw-in earth anchors plus 4 adjustable straps from Harbor Freight. I would have no problems taking this or a shorter one camping. Would take about 10-15 minutes to assemble, anchor and raise with antenna and coax once you know your system down and all parts on are hand. This one was put up solo. It has gone up and down about a dozen times thus far. It now sits next to the house. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

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!