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Here are some pics of my portable repeater build. (still a work in progress) I used industrial adhesive hook & loop to fasten everything inside the case. This is the same setup I have running my base repeater. About 50 feet above ground on the tallest building in town. Antenna: Browning BR-6155 Parts List: 2 Moto M1225 radios (M44DGC90E2AA) (Ebay) 50 watt UHF Duplexer (Amazon or Ebay) Idiomatic IV Marine grade 12V cigarette socket Female to N Female Bulkhead Connector RF Coaxial Adapter Cooling Fan 50mm N Male to N Male Jumper Low Loss RG400 Mini UHF Male to N Male Right Angle RG400 Apache 4800 Weatherproof Protective Case, X-Large Motorola Mounting Bracket Kit M1225 Complete build

You would think that's where the pause code would go - but it's not. That's really like a "pause code table" setting. You need to go into another DTMF tab to assign the pause code to that table. I don't have the VX2200 software in front of me, or have a codeplug with the DTMF tables already set up to share, but the built in software Help files will get him where he needs to be.

You can usually set up a pause to happen by setting up a prefix of "#" or "*" in front of the digits. Then you simply insert it into the desired "dial code" string like: #123 - which will create a pause prior to spitting out 123. If you don't have enough of a pause, you can try: ##123 If you look in the Help file, it will give you some settings to get into for assigning a pause character, and the timing. Trial and error is how I usually figure this stuff out.

Being listed as a guest is gonna be a non-starter. Part of the verification process for a node is license verification. Not sure if you gave your license or not, but your account here gets tied to the repeater node. You of course also realize that it's the holiday season and people are doing other stuff. Please be patient it does take a couple weeks to get things in order.

The "G" in GMRS stands for "Groups" (not literally). But think of it that way. GMRS is for people doing something, together, and they have coms. It uses UHF which is a shorter range frequency too. You want to be on the HAM side, VFH and or HF for reaching out and chatting with others.

The Vertex Help file will clear up some of your questions (but probably still leave you with half, and also add another 10 questions.) The 100 msec is the duration of the individual tones. Setting it to a shorter duration will allow your radio to spit out a longer DTMF string more quickly. I've never found machines to have much of a problem with decoding tones - as long as the radio was sending a tone on frequency and had decent deviation - and the receiver had a matching bandwidth & deviation expectations. Usually when I've seen an issue with DTMF going through a repeater, it was that the DTMF tone was being spit out too soon, and a pause prior to the DTMF being sent would help. I have not ever messed around with using DTMF codes on a repeater for user control. My use was for Interconnect dialing and also irrigation control. When everything went narrowband, we definitely had some setup issues related to deviation and bandwidth, but once those waters calmed down and everyone was using 100% narrowband, the stuff became pretty much plug and play. I'm assuming that you do hear the tones going out from your radio when you ket the PTT? I see you have the DTMF sidetone set to monitor. Does there appear to be any pause when you press the PTT before the DTMF is going out? How many digits long is the DTMF sequence?

Ditto...while I've messed with vertex gear a bit (I have a couple 4200's as my 2m &70cm radios, and the 4207 will be taking over gmrs duty at some point, I haven't dug into the DTMF settings at all, and unfortunately have nothing to test them against.

Well, if you want to spend that kind of money, this is my original cupholder mount for Anytone from Amazon, that got stolen with my Anytone AT-779UV (Anytone 778 shown in pic), when I left it in the garage: Oh: It's a LIDO! ?

@Luish19779, unfortunately GMRS is not a rag-chew service. Many refer to it as a BYOC radio service (Bring Your Own Contacts). Meaning, you and a specific person or group of people are looking for a common radio service so your group can specifically talk. This is why its so popular with groups that do family emergency communications, offroading and outdoors type of entertainment, road trips involving multiple vehicles, etc. As Michael (@MichaelLAX) mentions, Ham radio is most likely a much better bet for you. I am in NYC 6 to 8 times a year and there are a bunch of repeaters in NY, CT, NJ and PA that I can reach, depending on where I am in and around the city. I have really good luck around Bronx Zoo and little Italy, up to around Yonkers Raceway. There are some amateur repeaters on the mountains nearby and the stuff south and west are at lower elevations or you get some clear LOS due to the river. Something to think about, if you are just looking for strangers to chat with and to make new friends. GMRS really isn't the best choice for that, though.

What radio are you using? I knew this is a somewhat controversial suggestion, but if you study for the relatively easy Technician Ham Radio exam and get licensed, you will discover so many more Repeater options open to you (as well as even Simplex communications, especially on 2 meters).

I heard a rumor that a GMRS YouTuber will be making a video in the next few weeks showing how "compatible" the Retevis 40W amp is with the RT97 repeater.

I think there may be some misconceptions about UHF connectors (and M-type) vs N-type connectors when it comes to the bottom end of UHF. You can buy garbage UHF connectors that won't work well, 100%, but that holds true for N-type, too. N-type connectors were created in the 40's, when there were no real standards for UHF connectors, not that there is much of a standard now. The DOD needed consistent performance, so Bell Labs created a standard to be met and created N-type connectors. If you buy a quality silver/teflon UHF connector manufactured by a company like Lands Precision or Larsen (about $8 per connector, $16 per set to make a cable) you will not see any difference in insertion loss or any performance degradation when compared to a comparable price and quality N-type connector in GMRS systems. I personally have done tests using LMR400. I made 2 patch cables that had UHF connectors and 2 patch cables that had N connectors. I tested them with my analyzer between 440 MHz and 500 MHz and there was exactly zero difference between 3 of the 4 cables. One of the cables with UHF connectors had an increase in insertion loss 0.01 dB... which I am assuming had something to do with me and the way I made the patch cable or possibly the section of cable itself introduced the difference and it had nothing to do with the connectors. Bottom line, we are not running enough power, moving enough data, or have high enough duty cycle that would require an N-type connector. Our only real benefit would be for outdoor connections and utilizing the native weatherproofing instead of having to add additional weatherproofing to a UHF connection.

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