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Why does it matter. Are you paying electric bil, tower fees and such for them ? You ever think the owners just dont care about users or nets on them ? I have multiple repeaters in multiple states. Some are those "300'" tower you speak of. They are my repeaters and I pay for maintenance and upkeep. they are there for me, my family and a few freinds. I can say 100% if you drive by some of them they are dead all week long as no one is there. Weeks are different. No way I'd want to put farmers or any of that on my stuff. Thats what LMR Part 90 is for. Additionally there is absolutely no requirement to have a repeater on the air. 95% of my traffic is simplex. repeater is there when needed. So its used.

I sold guns for over 40 years as a side gig, I’ve been an NRA member for 52 years, and once in a while I carried a gun. I think the idea of arming people must be approached carefully. I think it really depends on your neighborhood and the type of risk you might encounter. For many places sending a bunch of untrained armed people out is just an invitation to tragedy. Often times having a gun gives a person false courage that leads to walking towards bad situations rather than calling someone who is better trained.

At least they are using their radios and practicing for when an actual emergency does happen. Radios are like firearms, people buy them "just in case" and never actually use them or practice with them.

one ahh shit wipes out 100 atta boys.

You can never have too many threads about “Gary”!!!

FYI - this is what I use: I always fully power-off the other device when its not switched to use the antenna.

Cheap chynese Radio. Must be horrible. And people have had problems with them that the company has resolved quickly. How horrible. Might as well spend 4 to 5 times as much and get a quality radio with many less features that you can only program with a computer instead of the keyboard on the fly.

I'm actually amazed at how well it's done. Each radio group (a-n or something like that) has around 10 users and a group leader for those groups. They pre-check in the group leaders first before the net starts to make sure they are there, start the net and start check-ins starting with radio/user Alpha-1, Alpha-2, etc to the end of the group, ask for relays and then proceed to the next group. Very organized, especially for non licensed users. Some ham nets could learn a thing or two from them.

One of the retirement communities 20 miles south of me (Sun City Center) has some kind of FRS/GMRS emergency network thing on simplex they do every Wednesday morning. Net control starts the net with a preamble of what it is, a website for more information and his GMRS call sign. About all I can hear is net control and their security patrol, everyone else I assume are FRS (like I said, 20 miles away but net control hits me full scale). The users are assigned radios and a id, something like Alpha 1-20, Bravo 1-20, etc and they go through the check in procedure including asking for relays. At the end of the net, they sign off with their GMRS callsign, that's about the only time it's used.

But @WRTC928, if you do use a coax switch you must keep in mind that one or the other radio (repeater or base) will be transmitting into a very high SWR if activated when the other radio is connected to the antenna. So, when you set the switch to connect the base station to the antenna, I would want to temporarily disable transmit on the repeater. Although it’s unlikely to be activated by a weak signal from another station, it could still attempt to transmit an ID if it was recently in use or perhaps even in response to the use of the base station.

Nope no issues at all. Like already said if you want a repeater then it will only be gmrs. But if it’s simplex (radio to radio) then all is good. We have one of our local mountain emergency groups is mostly FRS. It’s mostly older folks that won’t be able to self evac in a fire or snow storm and the cells and line lines go down all the time so the group got together and every one purchased an FRS or gmrs (and license) radio and they can communicate in the community and out to the rest of us if they need help of any kind. A 91yr old sweet lady also runs a weekly simplex net.

Exactly right, that’s the natural consequence of constantly complaining. It’s the “Peter and the Wolf syndrome”. There’s no way to know whether they’re just complaining as usual, which is exhausting to listen to and affects all who hear it negatively, or if this complaint is one that’s valid. Those people are far worse to have around than the ones who are quiet when something works the way it should.

Just saw a video by one of our members (I'm talking about you, the Queen of all that is GMRS) and it reminded me to complete the attached document. It's something I started a few months ago and it covers the definition of a channel or Channel. It's absolutely where the problems lie in understanding more complex radios. I know it did for me initially, but hey, I'm a smart guy right!? OK, maybe it took me a lot of reading but I got there. As this is the internet, I will add that this is pretty much a first pass. I am not married to this, so if I got something wrong, or anyone can clarify something, please, please let me know. This is a community that wants to help others, which is what I am attempting here. I got a little more in depth than originally planned, but held back from going all engineering nerd on this. I wanted to keep this beginner friendly. So if you are a novice, read this and let me know if it made any sense. GMRS Channels.pdf

that sounds pretty 'stinky'

I too would like to know, but if history is any guide, he will never respond because much of what he proclaims comes directly out his butt... and he knows it.

Explains why the antennas on Mount Wilson are different heights. You know this is turning into one of those "the more you know, the more you know what you don't know" situations. Turning into quite an interesting rabbit hole. Again, thanks Steve.

Sounds like a wireless version of the old phone tree. when I moved here in '79 my Nextdoor neighbor explained they had one for the block and a bit beyond. Something happened you would call the person above and below you. They call the next one. If that person doesn't answer you called the next. Worked great as long as the phones did. Being a long stable area most of us have our neighbors cell numbers. It's not as organized anymore (the motivating force passed a few years ago). But e keep tabs on older less firm folks. Plus we just like to gab.

Okay, now I have to learn about propagation patterns. Just a thought, but would changing the elevation between the two antennas help? Recall seeing Mount Wilson, where all the broadcast antennas are, as a kid. It looked like a darned porcupine with all the antennas. I wonder how they dealt with propagation pattern issues.

No one is "arming people" - if they don't have defensive weapons (not necessarily guns), then they would not be asked to do any checks. My comment above is not intended to be right for everyone everywhere, it's just how I choose to approach it. And it is just a plan at this stage, no need to implement it yet. [The fact that someone on the internet or this site disagrees is meaningless to me (not to mention taking it out of context and twisting the meaning). ]

Wow. . That really complicates things a whole lot. Another solution looking for a problem. Just set it and talk. What’s the big deal. It’s sooo simple. Gmrs is supposed to be so simple a 90yr old great great grandma can do it. Why complicated it even more. My dad who is not tech savvy at all uses and programs gmrs every day. It really doesn’t take pages and graphs to understand for any one with 1/2 a working mind. And if you have a gmrs certified radio it’s even easier with less head ache.

PS The camo coloring was mainly for style, not trying to be stealthy.....it also made a boring rainy day go by a little faster.

Well, After studying my butt off for several weeks, I took the test Saturday for General class and passed (35 out of 35). I do have to say thanks to the guy who gave me the link to hamexam.org where you can do flash cards of the questions, it really helped!!! Now on to new bands... maybe I will try out 17 meters or 20 meters in the coming weeks.

WSEN940. Thanks for the info. It's starting to make more sense. The instructions I received were sparse to put it mildly. I put a spreadsheet together that shows the GMRS channel versus the midland channel. I'm going to incorporate the chart info you provided. It helps me to learn when I can arrange things in a way that makes sense to me. Again, thanks.

I Wonder if Midland might have been thinking about the possibility that it might be used for PMR , such as in the UK ? Granted, PMR is not used in the states, but that explains that frequency step.

Here is what we have experienced with commercial farms in the mid Missouri area and it isn't good. The area commercial farms will only have a single license in the owner's name while letting every non related employee use their call sign. That's if they even use call signs at all. We have also had commercial farms not even bother with having any license. Then they will try to use repeaters owned by others without bothering to get permission. Plus there is no etiquette and lot's of cussing by the farm employees. Most of the local GMRS repeater owners have banned any type of business/commercial farm use on their repeaters because of this. You don't dare run a repeater without tones on both receive and transmit. Otherwise you hear all of the local farm workers on the corresponding simplex channels cussing. And again most never use call signs and probably don't even have licenses. Yes I know they could easily find the repeaters' tones, but most are too lazy to do that. If farms want to invest their own time and money putting up their own repeaters then that is fine as long as they aren't interfering with the existing repeaters all ready in place.

Much of this would come down to comfortability with control of the repeater. If you don't own a repeater you don't control it. You don't control up-time, down time, power considerations, back-up power plans, emergency power plans, maintenance, how to deal with interference, when an owner has to pull the plug or the drama that surrounds some repeater users, especially on the big repeaters. Despite some repeater "clubs" and "groups" having rules and expectations, it's the repeater owner who really has the final say on things. As it should be. Bottom line: If you don't own a repeater you don't control it. If you don't have control of your communications you don't have control of your family business. If a family business is fine with taking that risk, and dealing with potential issues on an existing repeater, there are no rules or regulations preventing them from utilizing existing repeaters. The best repeater in our area has a fair amount of traffic. Adding family businesses to the mix would, in my opinion, decrease the whole user experience. But that's just my favorite repeater. And, current traffic on each existing repeater would determine that.

Why?

[Edited March 19th, 2025] Introduction: My name is C. Ryan, (KE0SKN). I am a member of Kasson Skywarn & Dodge County Minnesota ARES group. In April of 2024, Our group repeater was hit by lighting. The total damages were $2,000.00 to the repeater and base antenna system. We are looking for funding to replace the repeater. We are not approved for any local government assistance for replacing the repeater. The main reason is that the repeater is privately owned. The repeater system we are looking at is the Retevis RT97L 25W Repeater Kit with FRP Antenna and Coaxial Cable. This system will get us back on the air for our area, till we can save up for a better system. If you can help, we have a GoFundMe page with the link below. Again Thank You. Group: Kasson Skywarn / Dodge County ARES | Minnesota Website: https://www.kassonskywarn.x10.mx/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dcares/ GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/007b7312 Email: KC0CLC@arrl.net Pres: Marvin - KC0CLC

I see where you are coming from. You are right on that, I have been stressed these past two months. Grammar, Format, and Spelling were not the top priorities.

Good morning guys, For all us newbies is it possible to update the coverage link for all 4 repeaters? Thanks Scott 776

I have two TD-H3 radios. One for GMRS and one for ham. Neither has had any problems opening repeaters. As TrikeRadio said, I'm very impressed by these radios.

You're not reading the specs correctly.. it is a UHF antenna that requires (simple/easy) cutting for best performance on GMRS, OR it can be cut for 70cm - not both.

I DID put up a GMRS repeater and I used the Tram 1486. I chose it because of its low price, low weight, very low wind-profile and because it does not look like a space-ship antenna. It's also very simple to tune.

After watching your video. And next time please exclude the woman in the blue bathing suit... I see you still need to update the firmware yourself. It does not come factory updated. I find that disappointing because all new stuff should be at the current update unless you get it during the crossover period. I am having the issue of not getting the menu to show when in the CMD screen on the computer so I can't choose 1 (or 2, 3 or 5) because the command screen is blank other than the fluorescent green cursor. So I am waiting patiently for the cord they sent me to arrive.

I have several and they all work just as great as all the others in the same price range - but i find the H3s to be too tiny for my very manly hands.

My wife and I use our local repeaters pretty regularly for chit chat. Just remember everyone is listening...

I can confirm that it is true.

It's a government website. That means done by the lowest bidder to the minimum standards (did quite a few Fed project from CDC to bureau of prisons). I had no problems but the next person might not be so lucky.

If Amazon's web site was similar, it would be out of business.

So there is an old thread on this site that asks this exact same question a few months back. Maybe start there with a basic look a round or search. I quick search I. The work wide web would also tell you before asking strangers. However, The answer is, what do the fcc rules say. You should look things like this up for your self before asking strangers. When you purchased your license you told the fcc that you read and fully understood all the rules pertaining to gmrs. Did you just click through and not read anything? If you actually had spent time reading, that then you would know the rules. I will say that simplex has the fcc rules BUT repeater owners or clubs can ask for more than the fcc. So I highly recommend you familiarize yourself with the fcc rules you should already know.

I had one and it worked fine.. but unless it has some feature that you need that the Retevis RT97 does not have, you should consider it also.

It is in this part of the state. Heavily wooded. Rolling hills.

I said some “MAY BE” I did not say “are for sure.” If you understand the Engrish ranguage you would comprehendo the statemento. probably don’t read the manuals either. since linking has and is and hopefully always will be against the rules I’m pretty sure most nets are not linked. btw this is not an air port, you do not need to announce your departure.

True to some extent, but the way to combat this is Do Not buy your chinesium from Amazon, Fleabay or shop409, etc. Stay with reputable retailers here in the states, which offer Warranties, such as buytwowayradios.com

If I remember correctly, the Motorola headsets that coaches call out plays on that they wear during NFL games are FHSS or Frequency Hopping, Spread Spectrum, which you have NO chance in hell of hearing. or *Maybe* if you have the Same headset, which are not cheap.

I had a feeling at 50w the chip would not last. Thanks for the feedback back.

I have not used the 50x3, but I have had three 50x2's (basically the same thing).. all three failed within a year or so... Over the last 5 or 6 years I have had 5 (one for each jeep, one for the house, 2 to make into a repeater) KG-1000G's and they all still work today.

Then why not post a link to said discussion (or discussions)? Many new members and GMRS new users every six months, yours truly included. Thanks for your help.

We have two repeaters that cover virtually all of Southern California and the use of roger-beeps is very strongly encouraged.. This discourages "some people" from using the repeaters making for a more pleasant repeater experience for everyone. One of the repeaters also has it's own roger-beep.