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I’m pretty excited for this neighborhood repeater. Just wanted to share with the group!

Update 2: The channel 15 fix arrived. I installed it and both radios now TX on 15. Problem solved. I posted the files below. Watch the video first because the boot loader (EXE file) is half in Chinese so it's tricky although the operation is easy - just three clicks: I practiced the whole thing a couple of times without the radio to make sure everything was were it was supposed to be. Put all the files in the same folder. Start the boot loader. Power on the radio in factory mode (see video). Connect the radio to the computer. Then: 1) select your comm port 2) select the .kdf file (in the long drop down field at the top of boot loader). 3) press the install button (top rectangular button on the right by the comm port selection drop down (watch video). Once the .kdf fix loading gets to 100% -its done - no confirmation. At that point wait a couple of seconds and then turn the radio off and disconnect it. Disclaimer: NOT my software!!! I'm NOT responsible for anything that happens to your radio or your computer. My install went fine and I have no signs of any viruses or such (I checked my virus software). GMRS-5R Upgrade Tutorial video.mp4 M8F3_BF_Download.exe GM_5R_M8_V02_231004_2.kdh

I hope this is not considered inappropriate or against forum rules. I certainly have zero financial interest in Raddioddity. I do not know a lot about the brands they carry. They seem to handle their own brand (probably made in China) and Baofeng (definitely made in China), maybe other brands as well. What I do know is that I have never found better customer service from a company. That is saying a lot because I worked in technology for 30 years dealing with major computer manufacturers and data management vendors daily. Radioddity customer service responded to my dead channel 15 on a pair of Baofeng UV-9Gs by: 1. immediately offering a return pick up with the promise that they would replace the units with 2 confirmed working UV-9Gs 2. Or give me a full refund if I prefer. 3. Upon my suggestion that they return refund 50% and let me keep the units, they immediately agreed. They followed up to confirm that I got my refund and were beyond pleasant every time we made contact. It is hard to find a customer-oriented business these days, but Raddioddity is one. If I ever need any product they handle, I will be prone to deal with them.

Does that answer come under RTFM?

@WRZF693 I'm not familiar with the GM-15 but yes, offset is the difference in TX and RX. For GMRS it is always +5MHZ and in most if not all GMRS radios will already be set on the repeater channels. All you have to do is enter the appropriate tone for the repeater. Also, try to stay focused on one thread. I answered some of your questions on a different thread already.

That is what is currently available. With some of the radios. Btech pro, garmin reach. Albeit simplex only. I can't see gmrs users spending the umpteen money on the digipeater or server infrastructure part of it. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I don't believe that is at all accurate. It seems to me that most repeater owners have been quite generous in allowing us to use the expensive equipment that they paid for themselves.

Whew! Thats ONE in a row!

No failing memory this time. The GM15 is a GMRS radio.

@WRZF618 How far are you from the repeater? You will usually be able to receive from it further than you can transmit to it. Also, get someone to help you and take both radios outside at a distance of approximately front yard to back yard may be enough. Then see if you can communicate between the two. And like @Sshannon said, remove the receive tone until you have everything else working.

@WRZF618 Just to be clear, channels 1-22 are intended for simplex(point-to-point). Channels 23+ are duplex(using repeaters). In simplex, you don't have to use tones but you can if you want.

The amateur radio club I belong to is considering getting one of those to put up on the repeater tower. We already have a 2m and 70cm repeater on the tower and will be adding GMRS to it soon.

Using two radios like the KG1000G is not a great solution. It is a good way to learn about how stuff works, but it is not good, long-term option especially if you want many farz - its also fairly expensive. I would recommend getting a used commercial UHF repeater like a Vertex 7000 or something like the Retevis RT97 - both will perform better than two KG1000Gs and will cost less. Unlike many of the other responses you will get, I have actually used all 3 of these setups - The Vertex works best with a max range of about 70 miles.. The Retevis RT97 gets about 40 miles and the KG1000G setup, even though it has more power than the other two struggled to get ~20 miles... There are many technical reasons why the two KG1000G setup does not work as well that I wont get into, but trust me, and others will confirm, its not a good solution. The RT97 will be much easier to run on a battery and solar power than any of the others. I have also done this, and the RT97 lasts far longer because it uses much less power.

Good points. I'm finding the VX-4207 radios are well isolated and shielded. I bumped power up to 20w for testing and still getting good range without affecting recieve. This is with a Tram 1486 on the side of the tower at 30' above ground fed with 50" 1/2" Heliax. If I get my antenna situation optimized where I can some altitude then I will just buy a commercial made repeater.

That is a HUGE decision if you are going to any significant height. And the biggest issue is cost. Putting up a tower over 100 feet can easily exceed $50K in cost. And that could double depending on property value. Any sort of 'group effort' tower should be placed on a neutral site, and not at any one members location. Reason for this is simple. Legally it's THEIR tower. No matter how hard you lawyer that effort, it's on their property and locks it into them. And there is the need to figure out income if a tower of any significance is erected and a prospective tenant approaches the group / land owner for access. The land owner WILL want in on the income stream if a tower on his land is all of a sudden making 2 grand or more a month. And yes, depending on location and other factors is a reasonable number. BUT, do not expect a tenant on your tower as a method to pay for it. Another requirement is cost going forward. Tower sites have maintenance costs, taxes, utility costs and anything else a piece of real estate would have. And additional costs like obstruction lighting maintenance and registration that no other piece of real estate has. But, renting space from one of the large vertical real estate companies has it's own set of issues. Mainly that you would be hard pressed to get into an agreement of less than 5 years with them. And their contracts are iron clad. If you enter a contract with them, it doesn't matter if you are there 5 months, or 5 years. You are going to be on the hook for the 5 year term of the contract. The only plus to renting is you do have some way out at the point of the term of the contract ending. Keep in mind that this is hobby radio. Folks loose interest and ultimately there may come a time that no one is interested any more. With a rented space, you can hire a tower climber to remove your antenna's and such from a rented site and not extend the lease for another term. With an owned site, it is real property and would need to be transferred to another or razed (tower and building torn down) and the property sold. Which again, creates issues with the original group that funded the build. The way that the ownership was worked out will have repercussions on how the money from the sale of the real estate gets distributed. And those things need to be worked out prior to building a tower site that will be for a group. I understand this rat hole pretty well and can give you information on what needs to be done and how to do it, within reason.

Josh has a video that helps to show the strong points of CHIRP.

All repeaters use two frequencies and all GMRS radios have special repeater-channels just for this - so all you have to do is figure out which channel coincides with the frequencies, and use that channel.. GMRS repeater channels & frequencies are all standard so Google is very helpful with this. If you are trying to do this with a ham radio instead of a GMRS radio, then I can see that you are in for a difficult time. DPL, DTC and DCS tones are all different words for the same thing. CTC, CTCSS and PL are also all words for the same thing - they do the same things as DPL, DTC, and DCS, but slightly differently. None of this has anything to do with split-tones, which is simply one tone or type of tone on the transmit frequency of a repeater and a different one on the receive frequency.

It depends on the type of equipment you have. I grabbed one of these for my RT-97, built a little custom cable with DB-9s on both ends and some cat5 to make the pinouts match up and it works like a champ. https://www.repeater-builder.com/products/usb-rim-lite.html

They're definitely better than the other Chinese vendors. They say they have an office/HQ in Delaware, but all the replies to the support email come in the middle of the night so I'm assuming they're in China or somewhere over there. My impression is the names they give us aren't real (e.g. Ingrid, Sophia, Kate); the names sound like American or other native English speakers but the replies sometimes don't seem to correspond with that. Also, the replies might sometimes be from bots but that's not certain. They are good at trying to come to a resolution. They didn't solve my driver issue (SShannon did that), but they did give a partial refund once and I've just ordered a spare mic they're shipping from China. I had to pay on their website, though, and I almost balked at doing that. Their website is terrible if you watch all the connections being attempted. And they use Spotify for payment processing which I normally avoid. So as long as I can order their stuff through Amazon I might buy from them again. But if I have to buy directly, probably would look elsewhere. tl/dr: they're OK

Okay, curiosity got the better of me. I downloaded the manual. Those "two channels" A and B are really two time-slots on a single frequency. Each DMR channel has two time-slots. Both channels use the same frequency, but you can set up the repeater to use Time-slot 1 for one talkgroup and Time-slot 2 for another talkgroup. Of course that's a moot point in GMRS the way the regs are right now. So, one frequency pair, broken into two time-division multiplexed "channels". Not usable for GMRS, and an analog transmission talks over both time slots. So, you are right that two different conversations could take place at the same time. Here's the manual: https://www.hytera.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Hytera-RD982i-RD982i-S-RD982i-S-100W-Digital-Repeater-Owners-Manual.pdf That repeater is beyond end of life.

The Digital LED is just an indicator to let you know when it’s a digital signal. It’s not a separate channel. I don’t believe that channel A and channel B can both be used simultaneously, I’ve said that multiple times now. If you want more information you should contact the vendor.

Change the RX tone to none and see if it helps. Also, keep some distance between the two radios.

You can get into 10 meters for around $200-$300 using something like an Anytone AT-6666. It's a mobile 10-meter radio that can be used as a base station with a power supply. There are pantloads of videos on this radio and others like it. 10 meters is getting very active now. I've made a lot of 10 meter contacts in recent months. In fact, my longest contacts with Australia, Europe and Japan have been on 10 meters. A technician level license gives you access to a portion of 10 meters. I have a Yaesu FT-891, and I normally don't run it at more than about 40 watts, with a very basic antenna. There is also a large selection of multi-band low-power radios that are sometimes hit-and-miss in the quality department, such as the (tr)uSDX and its Chinese knock-offs that are sub-$200. There are some handhelds like my Yaesu VX-7R that support 6 meters but it's normally FM and isn't going to transmit far. There used to be handheld 10 meter radios like the Magnum 10/12, but you can only find them used at this point. Some people were able to reach a few hundred miles on them, but only if the conditions were right. Have fun, get the Technician license.

The GM15 is a "GMRS" radio, correct? If that is the case then it already has 8 channels (23-30) with the offset built in. Just find the channel that corresponds to the frequency of the repeater and enter & save your TX tone. You wont need to set or worry about the offset. To use additional repeaters you will have to create a "DIY" repeater channel. You cannot use a repeater directly or in VFO mode - the only way is to create and save the repeater info as a new channel or use one of the preset (ch 22-30) channels. If my memory is failing me and the GM15 is not a "GMRS Radio", then please just disregard everything I've said.

Hi Tim, To get right to the point, no, you can’t talk hundreds of miles using a five watt 6 meter or 10 meter handheld radio, except in the most unusual circumstances. Finding a handheld radio for 6 meters would be difficult. Handhelds for 10 meters might be available but they’re few and far between. But you also do not need to pay off the national debt to get into the HF bands. I have a Yaesu FT891, which is about $670 and a wire antenna I built from a kit for $70. I hold the center up with a fiberglass pole about 30 feet in the air. On a daily basis I can usually talk several hundred miles away but not always and not always in the same direction. California seems easy but I can’t reach my friend in Seattle. Mostly that’s on 40 or 20 meters. I hear almost nothing on 10 meters. There are other radios like the Xiegu G90 that is less expensive but has a lot of support. I don’t have one but they’re about $450. I also have a Yaesu FTDX10 that costs about $1300. It’s my favorite for lots of reasons, mostly the ease of use. It’s not nearly as portable as the FT891.

Some of the better quality radios like vertex, Motorola, etc., are well shielded (based on posts from some of the experienced radio technicians here).

Very nice.

Thanks again, I thought you mentioned that you were doing both 2m and 70cm previously, I must've misunderstood. I'm wanting to go with something capable of industrial strength use even if it doesn't get used that much, similarly to what you're talking about, so thanks again for the insights. It's exactly what I was looking for. I'm sure that there are other brands out there, so I am also looking for others input on why they use that brand and how popular their choice is. I didn't know what's cheap and what's industrial, this discussion has helped me a lot, thanks again.

You could use a repeater radio = $$$. Or 2 kg100g with repeater cable, less $$$. Or old commercial radios and configure them as a repeater less $$$ (like kenwoods). You would need a duplexer. Price will depend on if you choose a cheap Chinese brick duplexer or something like a 5 cavity duplexer. Plenty of youtube videos on different configurations. Depending on topography and antenna height. The repeater may not make 35 miles straight line. Most of the repeaters around me (d.c area) will generally have an 18 mile radius. These repeaters are usually minumum 100' with no obstructions using all commercial gear. From the repeater (like a quantar), antenna (lots of comwaves) to heliax feed line using cavity duplexers (for the isolation, and power handling). Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Welcome to the site! Technically it is possible to do this, but practically it isn’t a great solution. It would require two radios, a controller, and a duplexer. You would have to ensure the two radios are well shielded from each other. Buying a purpose built 2nd hand repeater will almost certainly be less expensive. Don’t go cheap on the duplexer either, or the transmission line or antenna. Solar power could be used to keep a battery bank charged up. But it is possible. There are all in one repeaters that are only five watts or so from Retevis that include a duplexer. If you have line of sight you might be able to use one of those.

Hi.. I have 3 radios.. Two Tidradio ht8's I think is the model and the one I'm referring to here is the beofeng GM15. I really like it. It's just easier to work with it seems and has a bigger antenna, etc.. I'm going to use the Tidradio's as FRS radio's I think.. for my parents..

None of which is official or even remotely a standard other than the basic channel set up as lined out by the FCC. Just saying. I can hazard a guess at where you got your radio (BSR). I wouldn’t put much belief in thinking everyone else has a radio that is set up this way or that there are some hard fast rules to its program. I have one from there as well. First thing I did was dump most of the preprogrammed channels and load my own.

Garmin Rhino GMRS radios already do this. https://www.amazon.com/Garmin-010-01958-20-Rino-Handheld-Units/dp/B0741JFPLM/ref=asc_df_B0741JFPLM/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=241981125544&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12003066143149905668&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021317&hvtargid=pla-569512211442&psc=1 I believe the GMRS Pro radios do also.

thx !

There are actually two different logins that you must register, one for the www.mygmrs.com website, and one for forums.mygmrs.com.

Man, what a Beast. Many, many moons ago when I first got licensed into GMRS (my old call was wqnh201) there were zero part 95 compliant 50W or near radios available so the 6021 was the go to. Mil Spec rated, no fan, just a solid block of aluminum. The mic has to weigh close to a pound.... But programming was/is a bit complex. I still have the software and cable, but the cable is a 9 pin serial port on the computer side.... Luckily, I still have an old windows 2k laptop with a dead battery but a good power supply, and after 30 minutes of trying, I remembered the password. Anyway, without being too specific, I realized the 15w midland I bought just for a cheap trail riding solution was no longer "compatible" and a call to midland was met with " well, we'll give ya a discount to buy a new 115", led me to think why did I buy that pos when I had this in a box from back when! I CAN program this radio for what "we" need using that old laptop and cable, but I was wondering if anyone had a USB solution?

That's what you will see when you open the program. Now hook up your radio and select download from radio and choose your radio make and model from the drop down menu at the top of your screen .

Correct. He has no idea what he is saying so he can be safely ignored. Make sure you are downloading the MacOS version - go here: https://trac.chirp.danplanet.com/chirp_next/next-20231031/ As mentioned it *might* need Python installed but IIRC, that is not necessary with the new "Chirp Next" version.. But I could be wrong. If so, you can safely ignore me.

that's for windows is it not?

I'm not going to write you an essay here about repeater frequencies and tones, because you are going to get a lot of those. One thing that may help though is to know what kind of radio you are using.

I've always said I want to die peacefully in my sleep like ol' grandpa did. Not screaming in terror like the rest of the people in the car with him.

I use the manufacturer's programming software because I can't get CHIRP to work on ancient Windows 7 computing machine. It seems CHIRP would be easier to use as even different models from the same manufacturer don't share the same programming software. Being able to copy and paste inside of one programfor all of your radios would be great.

I know someone that has a Kraken I would be happy to do a FOX hunt.

Unfortunately, volunteers often stay beyond their “use by” date. They might have been very cheerful and supportive when they first started. There’s no excuse for it, but I see it all the time in my other hobby also. We have people who are charged with mentoring participants in Rocketry. Over the years they see people asking the same questions over and over and it becomes irritating. They develop an attitude that young people expect things to be handed to them, or that they’re trying to proceed too fast, or that people rely too much on unofficial, unreliable, and unsafe sources of information*. Over time the attitude becomes worse and worse. Unfortunately, the other attitude that some volunteers develop is “if I don’t do this there’s nobody else who will.” That’s usually incorrect, but I’ve seen it happen. In truth, if they were to retire from their volunteer positions it would leave a vacancy for a more positive person to fill. It’s not just age, but that’s sometimes part of it. Last night we tested two people for ham radio. One was a brand new candidate. He took his time, double checked his calculations, and went through every question twice. He passed his Technician test with flying colors, zero wrong. We encouraged but didn’t pressure him to take his General exam. He was concerned that it would be held against him if he didn’t pass but we assured him that wasn’t the case. He took the exam and although he didn’t pass (he hadn’t studied for it either) he expressed appreciation for the experience. I am sure he’ll be back and pass the General exam easily, maybe even the Amateur Extra at the same time. The other candidate tested for Amateur Extra. I know him and although he didn’t pass this time, he’ll be back too. *If you think that there’s bad advice about radios on YouTube you ought to see some of the homemade rocket motors that are little more than pipe bombs.

This ^^^^ is what many dont understand about having a good coverage repeater. Some of us pay alot of $$$ out of our pockets to have this stuff on the air.

Thank you! That's an option I hadn't thought of.... For the same price or less I found a solution on Amazon, I'll post up whether I have any driver compatibility issues when it arrives. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0852HVYQ5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It'll be nice to have an all in one deal, less stuff to lose.

I agree with the others. A mobile MURS radio doesn't do anything that a good MURS handheld won't do. Either can be connected to the same external antennas, With a handheld all the controls are in your hand, a feature folks are willing to pay extra for in a mobile radio it would appear, It's possible that the KG1000M has a better receiver than an inexpensive MURS radio, but probably not much different than a decent handheld, 2 watts is 2 watts, regardless of form-factor, 5 channels is 5 channels, regardless of form-factor, If you just want a microphone in your hand, there are ones that plug into the handhelds. It's like they asked "What's a problem nobody has, so we can solve it?"

Thanks for the report, I am often tempted by the price as in "hey why not". I took a chance with the Anytone Dual Bander that I did a previous review on, a good radio for the price but I am still not willing to praise it. For my money the best UHF only radio out there is the Icom 6021 128 ($260) channel or its cousin the 6011 8 channel ($220). I have the 6021 mobile and love it. Loud on both ends and very, very stable. Great performers, period!

A radio like the Icom 6021 makes a very nice a very nice base or mobile, has 128 channels and is only a few dollars more than the 8 channel 6011. A full 45 watts and very nice audio. I use one in my car. I like the additional channels as the frequency split is 400-470 mhz and I have all the ham repeaters and simplex channels programmed in as well as the GMRS. Just make sure if you get one you get the 400-470 mhz version, their are a few other frequency split options. Software and cable was about $30, not a big expense and very easy to program. Power supply if used as the base will have to be 12+ amps as it does draw a bit. Good luck!