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I’m a new member and just recently got my GMRS license. I understand how repeaters work but my questions are: 1. If the repeater says OPEN SYSTEM do you need permission to use it? I see a tab that says request access even though both the input and output tones are shown. 2. How far can a GMRS 5W HT radio go to hit a repeater? 3. Just to be sure, I would need to input both tones to be able to hear and receive communication? Thanks in advance for your help!

[Repeater] -- [Transmit Frequency] [Receive Frequency] | | [Transmit Tone] [Receive Tone] You want to transmit on the Repeaters Input Receive Frequency 467.550 - 467.725 with the needed Receive Tone so that the Repeater will receive your transmission and then re-transmit it on the Repeaters Output Transmit Frequency 462.550 - 462.725. Some Repeaters also add a Tone to their retransmission of your transmission, Transmit Frequency, but it is optional for users of this Repeater to set their receive tone to be able to hear the Repeater. It's a bit confusing but your GMRS transmit frequency is set to 467.550 - 467.725 with the needed Tone, and your GMRS receive frequency is set to 462.550 - 462.725 with the Tone being optional and usually recommended to be no Tone until perhaps you are satisfied that all is working well.

So the midland antenna requires a ground plane Not sure what you used with it. I would get a TRAM UHF base antenna and LMR400 for starting point. As said as high and you can go the better but keep your cable as short as possible. Dont coil 50' of cable behind the radio.

In the middle of unpacking and found my old GMRS base from my motorhome. We had it mounted in our 5th wheel with a 1/4 wave UHF whip on the roof. When we got the Motorhome I had it on a try band larsen that I would use for the scanner when needed also. Cool part was it would run off the DC power pack if we had power, a 12V cord or batteries. I ran rechargeable in it and when at NASCAR races it would charge all day on solar or generator then run all night on battery. It went off multiple times while in Charlotte one year when the track got warned for a tornado. Had it go off for other severe weather events at other tracks and campgrounds over the years. The antenna was a BNC so you could use the one on it or the mounted antenna. Definitely a cool box for the day. Maybe some day I'll use it again.

Plus you must set each Repeater transmit Tone to the specific Tone needed by that repeater to recognize your transmission and retransmit it to others listening to that repeater.

Yes, it's a fair and reasonable request. And in truth it's reasonable to expect people to actually do some homework and find either an open repeater pair, or to program a PL into their equipment so it's not interfering with gear that's already on the air. I assume since you are gun shy to let us know who this is, and what frequency they are on, that they are members here as well. Now I am a bit more direct than most with crap like this, but I have done this very thing and vacated the frequency over it once I realized what I had done. But I would absolutely NOT change PL or anything on my gear if someone else came in and started interfering with my gear. In fact, if it was the 675 or 725 repeater and not the 600 repeater I currently have on the air which is a very busy linked repeater. I would switch the link over to that frequency so it was busier than before. ANd sort of force the issue. I am willing to work with anyone willing to work with me to resolve a problem like this. But these folks don't sound like they want to work with anyone and instead be jerks about it. So if they are gonna be jerks, my best advice is be a bigger jerk. Have nightly nets, make sure the frequency is in use as much as possible, BUt inform the other repeater owners that are also on that pair whats going on before doing all that. My guess is they will understand and appericate the effort.

Welcome! #1: No.. If they publish the tones, that means they want everyone to see them #2: "It depends".. you can expect anywhere from 1/2 mile to 80 miles #3: You only need the TX/Encode tone (the one you transmit) to use the repeater. The RX/Decode only makes it so you only hear traffic from the repeater and not kids down the street talking on simplex, etc.

Won't be enough as, besides BTech, Retevis and Wouxun also have LED flash light mode (and some even have flashing mode). I even have some old bubble-pack pre-2017 FRS/GMRS units with LEDs (on the bottom -- which could be more useful in the dark to illuminate the path while one is still using the radio function)

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.

In 20+ years of GMRS we never had chatter of nets. It wasn't until the ham lite crown came over to GMRS. Remember GMRS used to be a service for a family and was never used in the ways it is now. Its not a bad thing just different than why I got into GMRS and many did in the early years. Been in public safety for 20+ years and have never heard a net on any public safety system either. It may happen but in the NE you wont hear it unless you scan the ham bands. I guess I look at the linking thing as a change also to GMRS thats not always good. HAM did alot of this and I know of repeaters that are now usesless as all you hear is ragchewing all day from half way across the US. Kinda killed some repeaters for local use.

Big national internet-enabled net for GMRS, No. Organically formed local net with a clear local mission, perhaps. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Nope. Sorry Im not a fan of nets. They should be on Ham radio in my opinion. A national net just ties up repeaters when no one is listening to them.