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Forgot to mention..Thanks for reminding me... Always beware of the "some people" that try their best overcomplicate everything.

I agree.. I have put one up, and am [partially] responsible for getting a 2nd one up, covering most of Southern California.

CB turned into an RF trashcan. I really hope that doesn't happen to GMRS.

The repeater owners check for requests for access when they feel like it.. Some do it quickly & often, some never do it.. It is also possible that the repeater is no longer online. If the repeater has the tones listed publicly its usually ok to start using the repeater and/or ask for permission over the air unless/until the repeater owners asks you to stop.

As far as *I* can see, it's turned into a ghost town...

Some areas have no repeaters while others are saturated with them. In my part of the state we have numerous repeaters that in many cases were put up by amateurs. Many of these repeaters are on mountain tops and have a very long range. Yet most of these repeaters see only light use. There is no overcrowding or interference. GMRS has evolved since it's inception. In another thread a poster mentioned the old Citizen Radio Service. There were 4 classes and the GMRS/FRS were the original CB. At the present time GMRS is experiencing "growing pains" much like 11 meters did during the 70's when it saw explosive growth. But, there is room for everyone if people use common sense and work together to resolve any issues that arise.

During solar minimum, 10m with 100 watts, I've worked most states and 8 countries... mostly mobile. As the solar cycles move to maximum, you can work the world on 10m with just a few watts. Actually, during the last solar cycle, one of my 10m contacts in Ohio was with only 0.5 watts out of my IC-746 Pro. I also worked Mexico with 0.5w with my IC-7300.

Sounds like it’s pretty useful to road crews and construction people though. ?

I absolutely think we need more repeaters. I'd have put my own up already, but for the fact that once I got out the topo maps and found the best place within thirty mile, I discovered that a) the whole hilltop is owned by the water company, b) it has a large water tower on it that's already covered with ham repeaters, c) a local ham group convinced the water company to let them manage all antenna placement, and d) the ham group won't even discuss details like access/rent/maintenance/etc. unless you're a licenced ham who's joined their group. Instead, I'm trying to convince my wife to let me cut a hole in the tower ceiling of our victorian and place one up there. It'll likely get a quarter the range, but no one gets to tell me how things are going to work! As for the "don't be stupid, that's what ham is for" brigade, I'm ignoring them. My group wants to build reliable emergency comms for our region that *doesn't* require gatekeeper hams to use it. You'll never get churches, schools, and community centers to fund/maintain personnel to get and stay trained so they've always got a ham on staff, but a $35 license and a $100 HT is completely feasible. And that's not to mention being able to interoperate with actual community members for the price of $15 walkies from Walmart! A school or community member can keep a whole box of those things in the basement and just hand them out with ten minutes' instruction in an emergency, and they can even just listen in to repeater outputs to keep track of what's going on locally.

Since the OP asked for opinions, I will offer up my opinion. I disagree with his statement that more GMRS repeaters are needed. In my opinion, GMRS is not a hobby, it is a service primarily intended for short-distance communications, to facilitate the activities of the licensee’s family. Since that intended purpose comes directly from the FCC’s definition of GMRS, I don’t see why we need more repeaters. My opinion is that GMRS is not ham radio. It is not CB radio. But the high profile GMRS repeaters in my part of the world are used by people that already talk on CB, and on ham radio . The conversations are exactly the same, regardless of where they talk, so why do we need to waste precious bandwidth on GMRS for those conversations, when we already have other band allocations for that ? For those that believe GMRS serves a function in civil emergencies, I would also direct you to amateur radio, specifically the ARES/RACES groups that provide those functions. Again, I believe we do not need to duplicate these functions across radio services. It is fine if a local neighborhood repeater such as mine could serve people in a time of need, but that is not it’s true purpose, and I don’t have lofty goals of making it that way. And most people within the couple of miles range of my repeater would not have access to repeater-capable radios, and likely only have FRS radios, so it would be of no use in that case. My repeater covers maybe 4 miles…on a good day, and only with mobile radios (hey, GMRS stands for General Mobile Radio Service, not “sit in my easy chair with my walkie talkie and talk to someone 40 miles away via a repeater”). It serves the needs of my family for short distance communications. We do use Zello as a means to extend coverage, if necessary, but it is again only for the family…not for a guy in Michigan to ragchew with a guy in Florida, or to hold “nets”. This is exactly why the amateur radio service exists, and where these activities should take place. A nearby GMRS repeater is connected to the MyGMRS network, and it simply transmits conversations of people not even within the state, all day long (not really all day, just exaggerating to make a point). A nearby ham repeater is connected to the America Link network, and transmits conversations of people not even within the state, all day long. What is point of having these broadcast stations, when local users are not using these repeaters ? We do not need more repeaters for GMRS. We need fewer people that think GMRS is CB or amateur radio.

Ahhh, no. I am all for people that know what they are doing putting up good equipment after they have PROPERLY identified an open repeater pair in their area that will not interfere with the operations of others. I am willing to assist folks that want to do it right, work with other repeater / system owners to minimize interference and create additional coverage in area's that are lacking any current coverage. But I don't really think it's a good idea for EVERYONE to put up a repeater. First problem is the definition of a repeater. And depending on who you talk to that ranges from a quality 100% duty cycle commercial repeater and duplexer on an antenna of reasonable height to two mobiles or even handhelds taped together with an vehicle antenna on a wall mount screwed to the peak of a roof on a one story garage. And what that sort of this does is screw with a big repeater because the person that was told they needed to put up a repeater did so without even bothering to check the frequency first to see if there was another one that covered their area. You need to monitor a frequency for a MONTH before thinking you can use it. You need to setup a PC with a VOX audio recorder like ScannerRecorder that will record any traffic on that repeater output. And you need to do this with an antenna that's outside and up at least 30 feet. If you can't do that, IMO, you don't need to even consider putting up a repeater. We are limited to 8 repeater pairs for all of GMRS, everywhere. And repeater owners need to cooperate with each other to manage this resource. Failure to do so will just create problems.

Hi, We need more GMRS repeaters to be deployed and set up around the great USA! I'd like to challenge everyone to set one up! I'd love to hear everyones opinions on this

Amazon Prime Home Delivery FTW! If you buy inexpensive electronics from Amazon and it doesn't work correctly, don't automatically assume it's cheap Chinese electronics... you may want to check your video footage. This 'was' a sensitive piece of electronics... RF Frequency Counter. The second one I bought in a week, because the first one didn't work correctly on delivery either. hmmm... I wonder why. At least Amazon gave me a refund.

Twenty years ago I worked Germany and the UK almost every day with a HR2510 in my truck. That was a lot of fun. When conditions are right. you can work the world on 10/11 with 100 watts.

Turning off weather alerts fixed it for me. Thanks!

I run simplex the majority of the time. Only use a repeater when necessary.

Good thinking for easy setup! I f you go po box, it may vary a little pricewise between locations. Also, some now offer "street addressing" which means they'll accept most packages from ups, fed ex, etc, and you can ship things there from vendors that wouldn't normally ship to a PO box. At least at the PO I use, street addressing is a no additional cost opt-in. https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing/competitivepoboxes

Class A 462MHz -- late 40s; rather expensive (given circuitry of the period which led to ...); business users encouraged to transition to business service in 1987, at which time it was named GMRS Class B 461Mhz -- discontinued in the 60s/70s and users moved to other services Class C ? -- Radio Control systems Class D 27MHz -- "CB" (... created in 1958, and prior to 1975 channels 1-8/15-22 were restricted to units operating under the same license/call, 9-14/23 were allowed to call other stations)

That's why I have anything of value that won't fit in the home mailbox delivered to my work address. Our receiving department has to sign or anything other than USPS. The later gets delivered to the front reception area and left by my mail slot if it doesn't fit in it. You get antsy when buying stuff for a few hundred bucks and wonder how long it's been sitting in plain view for the porch pirates to see it. Then there is the weather. Rains all day so when you get home that box is now a lump of brown mush with you stuff inside somewhere.

^^^^^^^^^^^ I hate linking for that point. And its the same conversations on ham or GMRS. The only GMRS repeaters around me are run by hams and just use it as another ham repeater. Drives me nuts.

DMR /is/ a 12.5kHz service, using two 6.25kHz time slots. Making GMRS an NFM service essentially takes out the "interstitial" frequencies (which currently are lower power and overlap the primary/repeater channels). They'd just be very tight packed non-overlapping channels, and would probably be up'd to full power (50W) for GMRS. "first round of renewals in 10 years"???? My GMRS license is already past its third (and likely 6th) renewal. The ULS system doesn't have the history from the paper-only days but shows my license was renewed in 2010, 2015, and 2020. It most likely had renewals in 2005, 2000, and maybe first issued in 1995 as that is the time period of my first GMRS radio -- the Maxon GMRS 210+3 radio (at the time, a $300 HT). GMRS existed in the 60s already (as Class A of the Citizen's Radio Service; CB is Class D). It was highly restricted as to usage: basically one requested a pair of channels for the license (yes, only TWO of the eight primaries were allowed), and communication between different licenses was rare, base to base was prohibited, mostly one was to talk to family members residing with the licensee.

That would definitely not be type-accepted for either service. If you dig into the website further it's an either/or ... there is a MURS version, an FRS version, and a PMR446 version for Europe. But you have to pick one.

I didn't want to derail the GMRS Enforcement thread, but after reading it I did a little research on the FCC website. I searched my zip code and found 83 active ham licenses and 13 active GMRS licenses. 7 people on those lists have both active ham and GMRS licenses. I don't know the Sad/Happy ratio on either list, and don't care. I'm not sure I ever cared but am sure I haven't cared in the last 20 years or so. I am amused by the Sadness that has always infected ham radio and is now spreading on GMRS but I don't get involved in the Sadness pandemic. The FCC licensed Sadducees and Pharisees live on via the internet and occasionally the air waves. No Virginia, apparently, we can't all just get along. William Romeo Hotel Sam 218

To be fair, I don't experience the Sad ham behavior that often and I know there are worse things going on especially on busy repeaters in big cities. It just happens enough to discourage some folks that are new to radio. The internet experts are not limited to radio. Any forum or video comment section has them and that is fine. I have even seen "some people" behavior on a couple of cancer forums I am a member of. Air wave anonymity was a thing long before there was an "on-line". Everyone needs a hobby I guess. I don't always play well with others and I can be a lukewarm pile of sarcasm at times. I just try not to be a jack wagon to people that have genuine questions, people that make mistakes in etiquette, or kids playing on FRS radios. We are all Flawed Dogs.

@KAF6045, you must take all of the rules collectively into consideration. Not just one half of one qualifier in one sub-part of a sub-section. For example, § 95.1705 (f) allows for legal station sharing. That is why owners setup clubs and/or have you request sharing access of the repeater in writing (via email or the web app here on MyGMRS.com, for example). The request and approval become part of the station record. The licensees who are sharing the repeater operate under their own license... therefore, no special ID system is required. The only time a repeater requires an ID is if it is an open repeater... meaning it's not private or shared, but rather open to the public for any licensed operator, without written agreement or record. If @tdukes plans on sharing, he's fine with no ID. If he plans on providing an "open system", then it will need an ID.

I think the reason people care is because they paid and someone else didn't. It's just a matter of them feeling that if they are keeping the rules, why is nobody else? Yes, hall monitor mentality. I've thought about it. I paid my $35. I hear no call signs being uttered except for when there is a net in operation, or people working a repeater. And I do mean none. Nobody. Never. I never hear another person using a call sign on the GMRS / FRS frequencies except in formal nets or repeater use. Even some nets aren't identifying with call signs. There's nothing that can be accomplished by being grumpy about it. There are tens of thousands of GMRS or FRS radios that have been sold in the past few years within a 25 mile radius of me... of any of us. Maybe more than tens of thousands. One or two grumps are not going to stem the tide. Not even a few hundred. Remember the Internet around 1993-1994? It was well behaved (or at least conformed to a consensus standard). Spam was almost unheard of. Then ever fall a new set of students would get their school-issued accounts, and Usenet would blow up with stupidity for awhile until they were flamed into submission or departure from the medium. And then everything changed: The Internet became popular. AOL started sending out hundreds of million of CDs. There were news stories on the Internet. Books. Magazines. Globally the world was racing to get online. And these newcomers had no idea about, or no interest in stodgy convention. The net-police could flame all they wanted, but there was no stemming the tide of dumbing-down of the Net. All was not lost. It turns out that the Internet became a whole lot more useful when there were droves of people using it. It expanded into use-cases none of the old guard could have dreamed of. And of the unwashed masses? They're fine, it turns out. The real issue is the fraudsters, scammers, and hackers. So enforcement focuses in those areas. All this to say, there's really no point for an end user trying to enforce a policy that not even those who made the policy have any interest in enforcing. Let the FCC spend its time dealing with truly awful abuses, and leave the blister-pack kiddies and hard working businesses alone unless they're really, really causing harm.

I had hoped this wouldn't happen, but we get to see sad GMRS operators on display. Tho not to the degree of sad hams. Yet! Sent from my SM-T860 using Tapatalk

It doesnt matter, and only the hall-monitors care - as you can see very clearly in this and other online forums..

Uhm? Did you try the Repeater Search feature on this site? I see three listed for "Bellevue" though two are marked "offline" and the third, "Omaha 600", requires one to apply for permission (and thence the PL tones to access it). I would hope "Omaha 600" would cover Omaha area This site shows 11 total for the state, though many show a last status update of two years ago. Five listed as "Open" (though two are the aforesaid "offline", and one says tones are unlisted -- so not that "open").

DMR, P25, and Yaesu System Fusion (maybe NXDN) use the /same/ AMBE vocoder; they just wrap the digital voice packet with different control header/footer. This is why many of the hotspots are capable of doing cross-mode operations: they strip off the source control header/footer and wrap the voice data with a header/footer compatible with the target system. D-STAR uses a different AMBE vocoder -- doing cross-mode with D-STAR requires one to have AMBE chips that understand both formats, and (in essense, reality may stay digital realm) are converting one digital stream to analog, feeding that analog to the other vocoder to create the required AMBE format for the mode. The cost difference between an OpenSpot 4 and an OpenSpot 4 Pro is the AMBE chip/license.