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How does it work with the radio completely disconnected from the power supply? How are you grounding the radio, or are you leaving it ungrounded? Same for the antenna. Finally, what does the power supply instruction manual say about being plugged into a GFCI receptacle? I’ll attach a screenshot from the part of a Samlex manual that addresses this:

So if I’m understanding you correctly this is tripping a GFCI receptacle and not a GFCI breaker. That narrows down the tripping to a ground fault and not an overload of the circuit. A GFCI operates by monitoring the current on the hot side vs the neutral side. At about 5 milliamperes difference it trips due to the current not returning on the neutral. Thus the current is going somewhere else, a ground fault. (Side note, Even if the receptacle isn’t grounded it will still trip). So it sounds like you have a ground fault in your device that you are plugging in. A GFCI breaker will also trip from over current. To much load. Another factor at play if you have a newer home is an Arc fault breaker and or receptacle. They work differently than a GFCI. This can be confused as a GFCI and some arc faults are both. Here is where it gets fun… some arc faults have been known to trip from RF. That’s a whole other rabbit hole. Try plugging into another known GFCI circuit in your home. If it’s tripping it probably has a fault. If not you may need to have an electrician check the garage GFCI but since you mentioned everything else works in the garage my guess is it’s not the issue. One last thought here, @Lscott mentioned capacitive input filters on the power supply. Which could be at play. I don’t want to go down more of a rabbit hole than I already have but I would be interested in what the manufacturer of the power supply had to say regarding the tripping. There can be many factors involved here. Disclaimer I do recommend electrical work be done by qualified electrician. I hope this helps and good luck.

Many of the switching power supplies use simple capacitive input filters. When switched on the high inrush current to charge them up can pop fuses and circuit breakers. The better power supplies have a “soft start” circuit that slowly charges the input filter capacitors over a few seconds. If your power supply has a soft-start circuit it might not be working.

We might be able to talk you through it. What frequency are you transmitting on? Are you sure you programmed the correct code for transmitting? Also, I recommend leaving the receiver tone empty, at least until you know for sure that you’re getting into the repeater. If you leave the tone off of the receiver you’ll hear everything so you’ll have a better idea of whether you’re getting into the repeater.

Well, while you seem to have some understanding of this from a high level, the repeaters have little to do with it. The linking happens at an IP level across the Internet, not RF site to RF site. Tenn, does actually have some linked GMRS repeaters but not on the MyGMRS system. They run a private system that I know for sure exists in the Gatlinburg /Pigeon Forge area at least and extends into two neighboring states. That being said, there is nothing restricting you from putting up your own repeater and linking it to the My GMRS system from where ever you land in Tenn. But, Tenn may NOT be considered a "MidWest" state and you may find out that the system fathers prefer you link to one of the eastern hubs and not 169. But that is not my call. Just a reminder before you go put a bunch of money down on a repeater system to find out you can't put it on MidWest. reason I bring that up is you specifically posted the linked "MidWest" repeaters on your attached photo. I would discuss with the major players of the MidWest system Your intentions prior to committing to purchase of equipment. I am trying to grow Ohio currently. I am actively hunting sites to install equipment on and look to put up at least two more repeaters in the central Ohio area myself this year. That being said, this is not an activity for those that are not well versed in radio communications equipment and the support of it. I work as a commercial radio tech. GMRS and Ham radio are my hobbies. But I can speak from first hand experience that finding assistance for repeater site support and equipment repair and maintenance if you can't do it your self to run right around 100 to 150 dollars an hour for that service. That is going to be a pretty consistent number. If you find a tower site and are required to have professionals (most always the case) do the climbing and installation of an antenna system. That cost can easily run 4 to 6 thousand dollars for a single days work. And we haven't talked about the cost of antenna's, feed line, duplexers, a repeater or any of the other costs involved including a mandatory requirement for an Internet connection at the site for the actual link. And the state to state, town to town communications that you see as being such a wonderful thing is only as good as the ISP level of service at your site and the site you are linked to. If either are down fro any reason, you will be down until the Internet service is restored.

I have a shell script that you might enjoy. I am just putting my Node / Repeater in service. This was originally written for ham nodes. If you operate or debug using a console session (SHH, PUTTY, etc.) and you want to send the repeater a DTMF command you can pick up a radio or type a somewhat long command. Script "rpt" from the console makes it easy. Simulates sending DTMF command *3111 > rpt *3111 Simulates sending DTMF command *3222 generating the "*" for you > rpt 3222 Not a big deal but I use it all the time. rpt.txt

Mine does this when it detects DTMF tones/IDs, by design.

GMRS radios that transmit digital data are required to have fixed antennas.

A little additional info on the RF factor, here in California when PG&E first went to remote reading meters the frequency they used didn't get along with GFCI breakers made by Zinsco and were causing breakers to trip in some homes. Similar issues occurred with some of the early arc fault breakers.

Great find @Sshannon, I was wondering what the manufacturer might have regarding this.

Here a quick cost rundown on the antenna I put up recently. I just looked up my receipts, total was around $488 if it helps. From DX Enineering: Comet GP-6NC $170 50ft pre-terminated Type-N 400MAX cable $85 Wall Mount Brackets $44.00 From Home Depot: 30ft Aluminum Flagpole $167 Sika Fence Post Mix $14.00 Ground Strap $8.00 (already had a ground rod and wire)

How are you programming the radio? You may find using chirp is easier than putting it in the front. If you are using chirp can you give us a screenshot? We may be able to help with a bit more info. It looks like you are near a repeater.

Is it a a gfci outlet or a breaker that also trips on overcurrent?

Is it hooked up to anything?

This is exactly right.

There are a few digital voice repeaters on 2M, but nowhere near the number on 70cm. You can discover that easy enough by simply doing a search for one or more digital voice modes on "repeaterbook.com". There is far more spectrum on UHF for various modes that is in short supply on VHF. I also started a thread on this forum some time back on the same issue. The general consensus was UHF is where most of the digital voice mode activity is found.

I've worked a career in the public sector. Without even seeing their purchase orders I can guarantee you that no public sector entity is paying list price. They're getting significant volume discounts if they're a large enough entity to make volume purchases, or they're buying on a cooperative contract with other smaller public-sector entities and are still getting a discount. And that's before considering what sort of grants may be available to them in the name of life-safety interoperability. These list prices are to prevent your average schmuck from buying those licenses. It's a form of security through obscurity since most hobbyists cannot justify such inflated prices.

I agree about those links being down, but that’s just a portion of ham radio. Most of the newer digital modes are alternative means of communicating that are specifically designed to be available in the event that the internet is gone. They support email (sans internet) and sending files. And of course the traditional CW and phone communications have no dependencies on the internet. You know better.

I'm close enough to know where (and what!) the Qmart is, and trust me, they are not the only local users on 151.625. I've got a license for that frequency & use it in my VHF rental fleet. My biggest problem on that channel is a bunch of paving contractors who use it as an unlicensed "chat channel" while they're driving between jobs. Judging by what I've heard & how far apart they've been, they're using at least 25 to 40 watt mobile radios on what's supposed to be a low power channel. Not quite sure why you would willingly admit to operating unlicensed on a freq, but if you're looking for a blessing I doubt you're going to find it. However, in reality you are not the first and probably won't be the last to violate the rules in VHF.