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50W is good, especially when you have a long-run of that leaky coax, to get more juice squirting from the antenna. 50W is also good to step on the other guy that is irritating everyone but only has 20W.. all else being equal.

The first thing that comes to my mind is that you can always dial the power down on a 50-watt radio, but once you hit the max on the 20-watt there is nowhere left to go.

First, there is a common understanding in the world that we should only use as much power as we need. So, how much do you need for your reliable communications? Second, there is a common misconception the you have to quadruple your power to make a usable difference. However, the reality is, on any given instant you never know how much or how little more power will really make the difference between getting your message out or not. Last, in my opinion, you can never have too much love, money or power.

It's hard to improve on the factory 935G antenna for everyday use. A 15" whip can give a bit more range when going for very long range with line of sight. But give the Smiley a try and let us know how it works.

Yes, that sounds right.

It's hard to find good help these days.

I volunteer @WRXY699

That's a valid point. I think a fair number of GMRS users would agree given the limited number of repeater frequency pairs available. IMHO one should look at what the original purpose of GMRS was targeted at. You get a feeling for that based on the licensing rules, basically a family with parents and siblings. The typical communication would be limited to a small area. I don't think the intended operational vision was communication over large geographical areas, such as state wide or multi-state systems. A city wide or county wide system might be more reasonable. I'm neutral on the topic. I don't have a dog in the fight, not a repeater owner/operator. I'll let others do the heavy lifting. Advice given to new attorneys by the old experienced ones : "If the law is against you, pound on the law. If the facts are against you pound on the facts. If both are against you pound on the table."

It does not really require much research - just follow this formula: IF radio is manufactured after 2017 AND IF radio says "GMRS" on the box THEN = FCC Type Accepted* *99.9998% of the time

I am not sure either. The only difference I can think of is that a true Base Station probably would have a base station antenna, which could be hundreds of feet in the air and reach a hundred miles. Two base stations talking to each other through a repeater could span a pretty good distance.

More than one person has argued over this. There’s an entire thread about it. You have to go back up to the Personal Radio Services and read the definition of Fixed Station. The differences boil down to this that Fixed Stations are fixed in location, AND only communicate with other Fixed Stations, AND are allowed to transmit on the 467 MHz frequencies (as well as the 462 frequencies) even though they are not talking to a repeater. Another curious thing about the rules is that where it lists the types of stations that may transmit on the 467 MHz Main frequencies through repeaters, Base Stations are not in the list.

Welcome @WSBN871 to the forum. You and other newbie’s may find this video from @marcspaz a good jumping off point to the world of GMRS. Cheers.

And here I thought MyGMRS forums were pits of snarkiness. Personally, the way I read the rules, it looks like linking GMRS repeaters is prohibited, but the way the rules are written generates debate. And the answers from the FCC only fuel the debate. I would never come right out and say it publicly, but I think linking GMRS repeaters is stupid and it ties up valuable bandwidth. But I'm not in charge.

Multi-band antennae are compromises and not ideal when it comes to great distances. It's best to use antennae specific to your operating band for optimum performance and for the farz you're trying to achieve.

It’s the same thing. I was just in a hurry.

This is very true. The local 2m,70cm, and GMRS repeaters are all on the same tower 21.5 miles away. I use mid power on my 50 watt base radios since I do not need to use high power. Now high power is needed at times when talking simplex on all three bands.

I too was going to mention the BAOFENG 21r. They also have a GMRS version called the GM21. I don't see either in CHIRP Next but IIRC you can use the 17r programing.

That’s a good example. You’re probably at an optimal terrain position to be able to do that. You’re doing it with 20 watts. lets suppose you were in a sub-optimal terrain position. The 50 watts wouldn’t fix it..

It seems you are looking for a radio that may not exist. At that price range and only on scamazon to be used on GMRS with ham UHF/VHF and AM (air band) reception and 10 watts. Whats wrong with having 2 radios to cover the ranges you want? You already have more than one radio. The KG-905 is a GMRS radio. A while back I recommended the KG-UV9GX https://bettersaferadio.com/wouxun-kg-uv9gx-gmrs-two-way-radio-shtf-scanner/ Covers most of your desires except 10 watts but why do you think you need 10 watts? Won't make any significant difference. It's even on sale at the moment.

That’s definitely true.. But here’s another enecdote. I once received an SSTV image from a cube-sat that transmitted at 1 watt. The point being that if you’re in the clear,.. You’re in the clear.. 1 watt or a factor of 10 doesn’t matter..

It depends. In the parallel universe of amateur radio. the axiom is to use only enough power to make the contact. The same should hold true for GMRS. If you're operating at 50 watts when you could do it on 5 watts, then yes, you are not only wasting power, but you are also putting excessive RF energy into the ether where it does no one any good. But if you're on your side in a Jeep with your antenna pointing toward the dirt and the closest help is 30 miles away and only reachable with 50 watts, then by all means crank it up. Like the axiom says, use (just) enough power to make the contact. Also, running any radio at its full rated power generates more heat, which ain't good for electronics. And some car electrical systems can't keep up with 50 watts anyway. I had a mobile Icom VHF/HF radio that would shut off if I transmitted on 50 watts. So there is that. But like a wise man said a minute ago, you can cut the power if you have it but you can't increase it if you don't have it. I think that's what he said.

I have the same pair of radios and I can't reach a repeater that is 8 miles away. I live in DFW in a residential area and I'm finding my HTs are very limited with what I can do with them; with the factory antennas, the most my wife and I can transmit is 3 miles. We actually consider this pretty good under our conditions. For schifs and giggles, we hooked up one of the HTs to a UT72G mobile antenna that was placed on top of my BBQ area roof (9.5' high) and the other identical setup in my truck, and we managed to get 7 miles distance. I'm convinced to get more miles in distance, we need to get a proper base antenna and a 50 watt base system to hopefully punch the signal past trees and buildings. You might try an external antenna placed much higher than your HT antenna, same with your friend.

I tried the same plug with my UV-5R and it worked no problem. I even gave a a straight plug that I got with my TalkPod a try and it still didn't work. I guess I'll keep trying and if I can't get it today I'll ship the radio back.

I may be wrong, but mayhaps it goes back to how the FCC defines a base station, which is that it's a station at a fixed location that communicates directly with mobile stations and other base stations. No mention of repeaters.

While GMRS is a bring-your-own-contacts service you can bump into strangers. It's not like amateur radio but it can still be amusing. I'm new to this and when I first connected to a local repeater my radio check was picked up right away by a trucker who uses HAM, GMRS and CB. He was legit in his usage but also ID'd with his handle; “This is XXXX123, a.k.a. 'Roadrunner,'” or something similar. Since my HT was fresh out of the box the roger beep was on and he gave me the Sad Ham treatment about it. “I'm gonna call you Mr. Roger Beep.” I replied, “Yeah, I've heard that some people don't like the roger beep.” He came back, “Hey, I've seen that 'Some People' guy. He's good!” Roadrunner: Hey, Mr. Roger Beep. You out there? Me: WRYP592, a.k.a. Mr. Roger Beep monitoring. Rested and ready to beep. And we're off...

A mobile doesn't have the antenna height advantage a base does. I'm thinking the FCC's goal is to limit the operational area by removing the antenna height advantage a base station has since they likely assume the communication would be between the base station and hand-held or other mobile stations belonging to the same licensee. They didn't want GMRS to turn into a "Ham Lite" type of service, which it seems to be doing.

Of course somebody will have to "volunteer" their time to maintain the list and weed out bad listings. This is were ideas like this usually fail nobody wants to put in the effort. Also some just don't care if their radio is Part 95 certified or not. A lot of users are operating older, and new, Part 90 only gear. So far the FCC doesn't seem to be interested in busting them. I'm not recommending the practice, but so far that seems to be the case.

Hi to everyone. Just got my license and looking forward to getting active in this hobby. Used to be an avid CB'er back in the old days. Going to try to learn as much as I can with all these forum topics. I need to get some knowledge on repeaters.

good thing you are NOTarubicon lol

It is my understanding that that Rubicon guy is really not a Rubicon guy and he is really a Nissan guy with a Chinese made Jeep Key Fob. Real Izarubicon people drive Rubicons with real American Jeep Keep Fobs.

So someone else asked a similar but more specific question to the FCC and the responce was much different....Itsn ot my post but can be seen here - http://forums.radioreference.com/threads/considerations-about-linking-gmrs-repeaters.462408/post-3973769

Same as i do. Out of the box KG935g +

It could be that there was structures, trees, or terrain blocking you two. The antenna that comes with the KG-935G is actually a good antenna. I can sometimes get into the repeater that is 21 miles away with mine. Granted the repeater antenna is at 400 feet above ground.

Welcome to GMRS Addicts Anonymous. Yep, great bunch people here.

Channel 17 and channel 17rp both receive on the same frequency. That's why you hear the same chatter on both channels. But the channels marked rp differ in their transmit frequencies. They are for specifically configured for repeater use. A radio set to channel 17 receives and transmits on the same frequency, 462.600 MHz. That's referred to as a "simplex channel." A radio set to channel 17rp receives on 462.600 MHz, but transmits on 467.600 MHz. That's the 5 MHz offset Randy (@OffroaderX) mentioned. The repeater receives on 467.600 MHz and is designed to simultaneously transmit what it receives on 462.600 MHz. Transmitting and receiving at exactly the same time is called duplex.

1: YES - you also have to add the correct "TX" or Transmit tone .. The RX/Receive tone is optional 2: GMRS is not primarily intended to "get into conversations with others" - but if you insist, just call out and ask if anybody wants to talk to you. There is no protocol other than talking normally and using your GMRS callsign at least once every 15 minutes.

Never feel like you have to apologize for asking a question, especially after trying to find prior threads. Welcome to the site.

"Upgrade" and "midland" in the same sentence...

So far the best luck I have had using the UV-9G has been the Nagoya 771G. I think I ended up using a bit of emery cloth to shave it down a bit as it was a snug fit on that radio. The Signal Stick is a great antenna but I don’t believe they make one tuned for GMRS specifically so like the UT-72 that’s probably not your best choice. I have no experience with the UT-72G. I agree with @WRQC527 ,being that it’s tuned for GMRS it’s going to do better than the UT-72 . Real world testing will beat speculation on how many fars you will get. If you can get up on your roof or a ladder safely you may get some idea of the improvement height makes and think of a base station with an antenna mounted higher. If you know where the repeaters are this line of sight tool may help in seeing your path to them. Oh and shout out to @WRQC527 nice deduction on the key strokes

Well, this is a loaded question. And the owner of the tower is the one that's going to load it. You are going to have 3 main types of tower owners. Knowing who owns it and the ground under it is going to be key in how you proceed and what to expect. First you have the 'vertical real estate' companies like American Tower and Crown Castle. They own a vast number of the towers that you are going to see. They are teh most difficult to deal with but the most willing to take your money (a LOT of your money) to allow you to access their site and put up your gear on their tower. First requirement is going to be the climbers or 'tower crew'. Some of the major players will allow anyone that is licensed and bonded to work on their towers. Others will require that you use only specific companies that are 'on their list'. Sort of like preferred body shops in the auto insurance business. But be assured that YOU will NOT be climbing their tower and working on it at all. They also may or may NOT have a structure on the site that they will rent you space in. Mind you this is a separate fee from the tower access fee. Then they may or may not require you to install at your expense, an electrical service for your equipment. Lastly, most any of them will charge you a civil engineering fee to verify your antenna and line are not going to overload their tower. I have seen this fee charged to people to access old microwave towers that you could literally hang a truck from without overloading it. This is usually around 3000 to 4000 bucks. And if it doesn't pass they will then ask you, at your expense, to reinforce the tower (tens of thousands of dollars typically) before you are allowed to pay another company to put your single antenna and line on their tower. These people deal with cell providers that make thousands of dollars a month on these towers. The cell companies don't care about all this because they make all the money back in a few months to a year. Or, because they rent thousands of other sites from the company, the owner does the work and increases the rent a few bucks and gets their money that way. Of course marking up the work a good bit. Again, the cell companies don't care. They have the money. Oh, and your install better be top notch. Not to mention that they will only write multiyear contracts that are going to typically be at bear minimum 500 a month in really rural areas to thousands a month for urban areas that have more people. Second is going to be the private owners that know the business, or are a small player (own a few towers and not thousands). Some times you will run into these folks and they might even be a ham operator that might support your endeavors that will rent you space for a reasonable fee, provide power and a place to put your gear but still has the good sense to require licensed climbers. However he may know a guy that he uses and will allow you to work with him directly to do your work as he is doing other work on the tower (maintenance or whatever) for a really reduced fee. These are the folks that you hope to encounter in truth. Last ones are the unicorns. These are the property owners that got a tower dumped on them due to the previous tower owner going bankrupt (lots of old paging and small cell upstart companies did this). They have little to no idea about the tower, how to maintain it, what requirements for lighting it may have and typically shut the power off to the building years ago. If you know radio, towers, and building maintenance, you can sometimes work yourself into dealing with all that for the property owner and getting access. But if there is no utility, you will be the one to deal with that too. Last ones are the owners that are somewhat radio savy, or at least ham / GMRS friendly and will allow access for a fee, or not based on no given reason. These situations are great until they aren't great. And this sort of goes for the guy above as well. When they hear that they could be getting thousands a month in rent and you aren't paying that, you have no agreement, and you will be out the door. They may even try to keep your gear. It just depends on the person. So good lick and I hope it works out for you.

When I think of GP9, I'm thinking of General Motors EMD GP9 4 axile locomotive, I'm not thinking about radios. Of course, if Amateur Radio Clubs had Field Day trackside, a locomotive could power several stations without a problem. Of course, you want to stay away from overhead catenary, especially when setting up antennas.

yep, good point from the both of you, I didn't think about that.

I don’t believe amplifiers are prohibited for GMRS, but good luck finding one that’s part 95e certified.

As far as I know nobody makes an amplifier that's Part 95E certified. There are plenty of Part 90 stuff that could work.

I have heard people mix this one up.............. Only repeaters are allowed 50 watt max. The way the rules read from what I found is the following: Mobile - 50 watt max Repeater - 50 watt max Base to Mobile - 50 watt max Base to Base (fixed station) - 15 watt max And as for portables, I dont know too many that actually exceed 5 watts on UHF, even if they claim they do. My Ailunce radios claim 8 watts on high on UHF and they actually only do 4 watts. Besides, no matter what portable you are using, unless you are a Ham operator doing OTA activations, do you really want more than 5 watts blowing off in your face through a rubber duck antenna that is almost never tuned correctly? I have seen some of these cheap FRS walkie talkies get some really good distance just on their small amount of power they run. I dont understand why you cant use an amplifier? As long as it does not exceed the above power limits. Am I correct? If I ran a 5 watt radio and wanted to get another 20-40 watts out, there shouldnt be an issue. Take into account the loss in the coax , loss in your connectors, and your antenna gain maybe not being what it says, you probably might not be emitting more than 40 watts if you started out with 45 or 50. At the end of the day, if you think blowing out more than 50 watts is going to help you, you might just be a CB'er or a Ham Operator who lives in HF. Once you hit the UHF bands, it is not about power output anymore but all about your coax, antenna, and height of your antenna. 5 watts at the right height with the right antenna can go a long way. Ask anyone who runs a repeater on less than 10 watts that has a 50 mile coverage.

I was going to suggest a Motorola XTS 3000 or 5000 and the XTL-5000, but then you had to throw in the "easy to acquire the software" part.. So, stay way from the XTS and XTLs... But I'm really just here waiting for "some people" to proclaim that you will get a $10,000 fine if you even think about using a commercial radio on the GMRS.

We're not trying to come up with what's best. We're experimenting with all different modes. CW, SSB, AM, FM, systems like APRS, sound card modes like FT8 and a bunch of others, digital modes like Fusion, DMR, D-Star, and others, EME, microwave, you name it. GMRS is not so much for experimenters. It's for people who need to communicate. Ask anyone here with just a GMRS license how they set up their Jeep radio. They'll say they mounted their radio, they mounted their antenna, they (presumably) checked the SWR, and off they went. Ask a ham operator how they set up their mobile radio, and you'll hear the ARRL Handbook read to you.

I figured it out when I had to reinstall the OS... Before running number "8. Run the script with the following command: sudo ~/repeaterfinder.sh" from the section "Configure Your Node Manually" on the page How Do I Join The myGMRS Network I had to change "deb http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org/raspbian/" to "deb http://legacy.raspbian.org/raspbian" in the file "/etc/apt/sources.list" I had to change this because it was causing an error while trying to run the script, as the old website link is no longer in existence! Once I changed it, I then ran the script from number 8, and it downloaded everything correctly. It then rebooted, and I changed my password... I checked the "manage nodes" page, and the node came up correctly. I was able to manage it then, as well as connect my node to a regional node.

Is there a way to confirm that your signal is reaching a repeater without someone replying to you ? Not sure I have everything programed and set correctly but also not sure this repeater is even still active.