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I get what you’re trying to do and I wanted the same. I created a list of all the repeaters in my region, and those in the areas I travel frequently. I wanted to create groups to scan my home area, plus groups to scan other regional areas when visiting those areas. It’s true there are only 22 channels, but I wanted different area repeaters with their respective tones, so I wouldn’t need to fuss with it and could dial in a channel (that I named) and go to town. Now keep in mind, it’s technically not legal to use a Ham radio to transmit on GMRS frequencies, but I’m pretty sure you can listen with whatever you like. ;-) I didn’t find a “legit” GMRS portable, but the Icom ID-50 can do the job nicely. It’s expensive, especially compared to the China made stuff, but it’s legit quality. It has 500 channel capacity and can be programmed easily into groups using RT Systems software. I initially created two groupings, then expanded to three. You can have up to 100 in a group on the Icom. The software on device allows you to chose the group you wish to scan, or scan all groups. You also have dual watch / dual-scan options. Having recently got my Technician Ham license, I’ve since updated groups. If you understand the rules and chose to color outside the lines, you’d find the Icom products really really nice. I also like that it can charge in the car with USB-C. Best of luck with your search.

Hand held radios are like potato chips, you can't have just one (or three).

Believe it or not, I am 100% onboard with you on this! Especially the part about no one having to agree with your opinions. All of us operate radio in a unique and massively geographically diverse country and naturally want to promote ideas best serving our individual needs, wants and experiences. No wonder there is plenty of room for healthy debate. I always strongly encourage people to debate their opinions in a public forum and amongst their representative law makers then let the best ideas win.

Well, i have built both the ladder lead version and the cooper version..The ladder lead actually cost me more money mostly because, like you say, i had a lot of the copper stuff laying around where i had to buy a mininum of 25' ladder lead to get going. (I actually bought 50') The Cooper was also easier to construct where the ladder version was a little more difficult due to razor cutting the dilelectric but was a lot easier to tune. Putting both versions to test under different scenarios convinced me that the copper versions performed better and not by much. I still use both and keep both with me in my RV for my portable repeater setup. I also experimented with dipoles and mobile antennas and found the J-Pole just worked better for my portable application. Yes, the dipole will out perform the J-pole but my cheap telescoping flag pole wouldn't handle the load in the slightest breeze.

Glad to see so many people offering strong opinions on how many repeaters people own, if they are public and how they run them. Public debates a great thing. Adding the would "should" to this opinion kind of makes it sound like people want to control repeaters they don't own and the greater GMRS service itself. Thankfully everyone is entitled to an opinion and should voice it. I know no one in the GMRS community would ever attempt to dictate how license holders be allowed to use the GMRS service, especially when engaged in activities allowable by the FCC. I just know it in my heart this would never happen. I was really worried there for a minute that some GMRS users were going to start telling others what to do.

Or you can learn how to tell someone that they are an ID10T with a serious case of the dumb butt very tactfully to where they will smile and thank you. It is an acquired skill. I learned in the Army how to tell a General where to go tactfully without getting into trouble. Otherwise just ignore the ate up individuals with their negative waves. His headspace and timing is definitely off.

Just add him to your ignore list. His comments are not worth getting worked up about.

And we are back to the "Guys that build BIG repeaters" want people to use them. I have banned exactly ONE person from my repeater. I did that because he got mad at ME for not banning someone else from my repeater. So since he didn't want to hear the guy on my repeater, I banned him. In this day and age, don't think your leaching off an open repeater owner. If he wanted money, or assistance with labor or anything like that, he would ask. Or he would close the repeater and start charging fee's for access. As a repeater owner, I can tell you this is true. We haven't invested the time and money into building out this stuff for it to sit dormant. If you have repeaters in your area that are OPEN, with posted PL/DPL codes, and they state they are open access repeaters. USE THEM. That is what they are there for. The owners WANT people to use them or they wouldn't be listed as open. Don't expect them to invite you yo them. Listing them as open and posting the codes or having the codes announced over the air in some cases, is all the invitation you are gonna get. But don't think you are leaching. You don't build a repeater system out that covers multiple counties for your own private use. It's done because they want to support the GMRS radio community. Because, not every GMRS user has the access to a tower or the ability to build out a big repeater. Those of us that do, to this to support others.

I got really curious how many GMRS repeaters are owned or licensed by a single license on the reported repeaters here on MyGMRS. So i put together a quick little (actually pretty large) report that shows just that. The parameters are 3 repeaters and above and identified by single call sign as reported. I really didn't expect to see some of the numbers some folks have in the number of repeaters. Holly Cow!. Can you imagine the investment some of these folks have made. So the next question,, Why?? does a single user need so many repeaters for a service meant for family and friends. Especially, after considering how the FCC has clarified its usage. I can see now why some folks in certain areas complain of no bandwidth. Certainly some areas in the mid west and east just have not room.. Just Trivia stuff and very interesting. MultibleRepeaters April2025.pdf

Good news for those of us who have been waiting. I think the title about says it. Cheers and a thank you to Mel Terechenok at Chirp.

I guy I follow on YouTube likes to say, "That's my opinion, and I'm an expert on my opinion."

anyone have one of these stashed in their closet or attic

Sideband even, nice!

You're right, and i do realize that currently there ar no rules prohibiting how many GMRS repeaters one can operate. I find it interesting that someone can invest 40-50K and more for a pool of repeaters to talk with their family and friends.. Usually you don't spend that kind of money unless you're gong to make money. t.. I guess there is more than one Elon in this world and thats cool.. Do i think it is right for one person in one area is allowed to dominate the entire GMRS spectrum with their slew of repeaters leaving out the guy that wants to use the service for it's intention.. No i don't. Now i have talked in person with one of these guys that operated a big handful of repeaters He is also a HAM guy and he said, before the FCC put the hammer down on Linking, he was making money via club membership. He also said he is winding down his operation because he is loosing tons of club members supporting it. So that tells me that probably most are making money on them.. And that is illegal and for a mother story.

Let's hear about (and/or see pics of) what gear everyone uses. I'll go first....... I use a TidRadio TD-H8, mounted to my office desk, with a plug-in handheld speaker/mic as my "base station" for now. I carry a TidRadio TD-H3 as my "mobile" in the car. And I pretend that they're way more capable than they are. (but also, they're pretty amazingly capable with the great repeaters we have in the area).

Yes, PLEASE USE ITm, as often as you like. If you hear me in there, say hello. All are welcome to the machine. If you can get into the Columbus 575, again, use that one too. We want people to use these repeaters. And don't forget about the Morrow 550, it's open as well. I have put a good bit of time and effort into getting the repeater on the air, and really do what others to use it. That's why it got built. The comment about the folks that build 'big repeaters' wasn't a knock. I am one of those guys. The 675 talks from as far Northwest as Mechanicsburg, West to London, South to Lancaster and East to Zanesville. It's got a big footprint. Yeah, I have a couple radios at the house if the wife wants to get in contact, but she just always calls my phone. So please, feel free. And anyone else reading this in the Central Ohio area, get in there. You ARE certainly welcome. I got spooled up because we have people that want to do nothing but complain. And it drives off new guys, or makes them question if they should be using other peoples equipment. And the truth is that's why it's there to begin with. If I just wanted to chat with my wife, I have several other methods to do that with. First is the obvious cell phone. Everyone's got one of those. Then there is the IP phone system at the house that I have a softphone application on my phone for. Runs across an encrypted data link from my cell phone via a VPN tunnel to the house and then allows her to call me at my 'extension' number like calling another phone on a business phone system. Then there's email and text, and voice message texts, and CB radio and the list goes on. Now in truth. Having a repeater that has that sort of coverage, and not leaving it fully open to all licensed users, to me, that's BS. Make no mistake, it talks a long way, and it would be very difficult for someone else to use that pair. So if I built that out, and then denyed anyone else the ability to use that repeater, that would make me an A-hole in my eyes. That's the one thing about the garage repeaters, you can have one or two in every town, on the same pair, and they don't interfere with each other since the coverage is small. Mine ain't that at all.

Hi all, I wanted to mention that there is a new Kentucky GMRS Club. It’s based in Louisville but open to anyone in the state and surrounding areas. Hope to see some of you there. -Bryan

YOU are SUCH a DICK !! Just because you Don't own it, Doesn't mean nobody else can't like it !!! KEEPING Your mouth Shut would be the Best service you could provide !!

Anything commercial from Harris/Motorola/Kenwood TK-3140 has Part 95 approval and can do multiple zones up to 250 total channels. You likely won't find anything in the cheaper chinese radio market.

I received the RT900BT yesterday afternoon from Amazon --- I am returning it today. Total Pass. The radio ( in its present version) is just not worth the frustration IMHO. I have seen enough issues develop in 8 hours that I will NOT accept a replacement. I must have received the RT900BT Head Scratching Version. So much frustration compared to my other HT models and brands. If I thought I just had received a bad radio I would simply exchange it and keep testing. That is not the verdict. Upon arrival, all the packaging and contents were in excellent condition. I read the entire limited documentation, and I scrolled through the radio's menu --checking the factory settings, while using the radio's keypad. Seemed easy enough. Small but a good-looking radio. Seems well-built and has USB C charging. Base not included. However, over the next 8 hours, I worked to establish communication with this radio. Man-O-Man. Lots of head scratching, re-reading, searching online, etc., etc.. So, I re-installed the Radtel BT900BT 10 times onto my Samsung phone. We have a failure to communicate. The manual is limited but does indicate that the radio has Bluetooth--zero other tips. The website was of little help as zero tips/troubleshooting were found. Note: I did not chat with the factory as it was after hours. Online search results/help on YouTube and forums are still limited for this updated model. Most of the comments that I found did not work as described/or for me. My Overall Findings: Bluetooth for the RT900BT is possible, but only when my Samsung phone is configured with Location and GPS fully open/ active with all Bluetooth connectivity options set to the widest possibilities, and I allowed unverified programs complete access to the phone. Okay, so opening the phone wide-open == gained communication between the phone and the walkie-talkie via BT. Okay, progress. Thanks to a UK forum member. Note: Do not expect the QR code on the manual to work. It does not. The Bluetooth App (mine is finally communicating) seems like a puzzle at times: The BT App is poorly explained --- even on the App itself. Furthermore, once you actually arrive at their version of a code plug, you will find that the 3 tabs of fields/ terms differ from the paper documentation. Ample time is needed to match up function terms with keypad menu functions. Not easy. Radtel could have made life so much easier if they had simply included the function line number (the function line number in the paper document that matches the radio function menu) into the 3 pages/tabs being used in the code plug programming. That simple effort would have made matching differing terms so much faster during test programming. Once actually inside the code plug, you will create a code plug of your work, save it, and write /upload pieces and parts to your radio. However, Not All Of Your Saved Choices Ever Really Make It To The Radio! A Quick Example: the side button options--- They don't work after you have programmed them. You keep changing/saving/re-uploading your options, but they do not change the radio settings. You try again, to manually program on the keypad/ then test= okay/ and then read the radio/ save that / and then re-upload back to the radio= Failure to stay programmed as desired. In addition, some radio settings would magically revert to "other" settings, i.e., the radio wants to transmit Scramble Mode ---even though the code plug shows Scramble mode is set to OFF. The radio displays AM when I do not want AM. I also question why I can't keep UHF chosen in the code plug. The App simply requires a lot of extra effort to hopefully make these errors stop happening. Why? Chirp is still not available for any RT900 model unless you use developer mode. To do that, you must find and install a beta module for the RT900BT radio while in Developer mode. I installed the beta module just to see if the RT900 would show up and it did. However, I was never able to establish a FULL two-way cable connection with the radio and Chirp timed out repeatedly. Radtel has several drivers for a cable connection on their website. I tried them all with multiple (otherwise good)vendor cables. Zero connectivity. I was expecting this radio to arrive with the latest firmware pre-installed. It sure didn't. So my final effort was to try to upload and install the latest firmware. Besides opening up more channels, I was hopeful that the radio might program and operate better with updated Firmware. The website shows several Firmware updates describing bug fixes for this BT model. However, once again, updating the Firmware was a problem. The downloads are in RAR format. I tried several RAR extractors to unzip these updates. Lots of WARNINGS to not download files. I downloaded numerous files and extracted them, but the Bluetooth App failed to read them/install them to the radio. Bluetooth app stated file component failures. My Ratings /final thoughts: Because the website updates are using RAR formatting and I can't easily get these updates to work, because the radio performed poorly in my TX/RX testing--(sounded weak, had speaker issues, AM issues, Scramble issues, manual programming issues, because the Bluetooth APP code plug is just simply problematic, because the manual and website lack troubleshooting tips for this model, and because the radio seems to have a mind of its own as described= I am at a near total loss of confidence in this model as currently offered and supported. I am not interested in an HT that I can't program except with the keypad, and that I may never be able to easily update Firmware, or use Chirp with easily and straightforwardly. Final rating: D-

100% agreement. I will continue to maintain the Retevis programming application on my computer--- but I don't use it. The Chirp program, in my opinion, is much easier to use for the RA87.

I don't know how it got to this. I will tell you how it will end though. There seems to be an almost 'ham club' mentality about having a repeater. Long ago, someone told me if you found a town with 2 hams in it, there would be a minimum of 3 ham clubs. Because each one want's to have his own thing, and then the third club they are both members of. GMRS repeater ownership (and I use to see this a LOT in ham too) somehow is some status symbol, or just 'part of having the license'. People will stand up a medium to poor coverage repeater hanging an antenna at 20 feet in the air just so they can hear their call sign in CW on the air. Not that they know CW or know it's correct, but it's THEIR repeater. Never mind there is a monster coverage repeater or two in the area that everyone has access to, they need to do their own thing for whatever reason they have. SO here's the outcome. Guys that build monster coverage GMRS repeaters do it for others to enjoy and operate on. There is no other reason to build a repeater like that. It's far easier and cheaper to just build one with the antenna on the end of your garage and be done with it. This happens at a cost in time, money and labor. You don't park antenna's multiple hundreds of feet in the air using LMR400 or RG8. Antenna's that will put up with the wind at 200 feet do NOT come from Ed Fong, Retivis, or Comet. And they certainly aren't cheap. When the little play time repeaters start pulling the users away from the big repeaters, and it's not the asset that it was, or the owner doesn't see it that way, they will QUICKLY decide that it's not worth the effort to keep theirs on the air and the big repeaters will go away. You will go from being able to talk across an entire county on one repeater to hopscotching across a city from repeater to repeater trying to carry on a conversation that would have been no problem on the big repeater. And you can sit here and pontificate all you want about that not being the roll of GMRS. NO ONE care's. Figure it out. That's what it's being used for regardless of what you say, the regulations indicate, or the FCC has conveyed. It's a social gathering medium. Pure and simple. So while it may be meant for that use. It's what it's being used for. I just personally experienced a setback with a project at my site. We crested $400 A MONTH for the electric bill. I was looking to run an inverter to power part of the gear that will not power off DC any reasonable way. But converting 48 volts to 120 volts and the feeding servers don't make them draw less, the draw went up significantly. Which lead me to look at what I am sitting on. I have a bunch of good 75 and 105 Ah AGM batteries that would sell easily for 50 bucks a pop. Just the 48 volt plant batteries are worth a grand. Then there are another 12 divided between the 12 and 24 volt plants. So another thousand plus dollars. IN BATTERIES, sitting there so that others can use the repeaters I host for NO cost to them. SO yes, when it seems that Elvis as left the building and the repeaters aren't getting used, they will be shut off, sold off and I will NOT care in the slightest. I can't wrap my mind around why we are getting on here and COMPLAINING about the actions of others. Are these other repeaters interfering with YOUR repeater? Are you unable to put up you own 20 foot antenna for your own repeater that will equally not serve anyone, and have less coverage than two walkies on simplex? I fail to understand the issue here. Do you have thousands of dollars in equipment that the user base is slowly dwindling away because they put up their own repeaters and they choose to go hang out on them and talk to no one because no one is in the coverage footprint besides them?

Line of sight does make more of a difference when using VHF and UHF. I'm glad to hear that you are getting into all of the repeaters now. A j pole antenna has zero gain when measured in dBd, which is the same as a dipole antenna. Using the kv5r loss calculator and your specs, you will have an ERP of 21.8 watts. As you see that will still work even though you are losing about half your power output. Switching to 50 feet of LMR400 will only gain you 6.9 more watts on ERP. I would not bother switching out the RG-213 to LMR400 for that little power gain. What will make a difference is going with an antenna with higher gain. But no need to change anything if it is working well for your needs.

THAT... depends on where you are. In the area I live in, there are repeaters on every GMRS frequency, many overlap and even with tones to squelch others out, there is crossover interference at times. It would actually be nice to have a few more GMRS repeater pair frequencies in some places where there is a larger populated area.

The bigger question is “why do you care?” Did someone prevent you from putting up a repeater of your own? With multiple channels and tones available, one can certainly own and operate a repeater if they desire. I can see the Bernie bumper sticker on your Prius from way over here…..

I'm from Poplar Bluff, we have been hit with everything including the kitchen sink. My family and I are fine. All my friends on Facebook come to me for weather reports. So I've been quite busy here lately. Welcome all new members to Missouri GMRS. Feel free to make new topics. Once I get everything setup over here at the home 20 (10-20 home location), I will be back on here. This weather has been unreal and unpredictable lately. If anyone is close to Poplar Bluff, I hang out on 462.600mhz. I've been working on putting up a new cb radio base antenna and working on a base radio lately. But I'm not far away from the group. I've noticed everyone who joined. Sorry for my tardiness. If you all have any questions about GMRS, don't hesitate to ask. I've been on it for 4 years. Once I started watching notarubicon on YouTube, I got interested in gmrs. All thanks to Randy (notarubicon). Still working on buying a new repeater. The poor man repeater I had, quit working on me. But that doesn't stop me from communicating on gmrs. There a few gmrs repeaters in other towns close to PB. Yet me and my pal WRKR654 are on channel 17, 462.600. Ya all have a good one, I shall return.

Take what's reported as repeaters with a grain of salt. One of the multi repeater sites you have on your list in my area is just plain fantasy. Your listing shows 9 repeaters for the call when there is actually only one low power network (maybe why it shows so many repeaters) hotspot that he runs on rare occasion. There is on the other hand another guy that your list shows has 4 but has 6 repeaters. All of them are stand alone (not linked), on different frequencies (but same tones) and cover most of the west coast of Florida from Bradenton to Naples (around 120 miles spaced around 20-25 miles apart) and a few of them are quite strong. It's kinda nice to be able to drive the I-75 route south of Tampa and have reliable repeaters along the way. At least that's what I know of in my area, others I'm sure are different.

WRONG ! It does NOT have to be Only Family and Friends ! It CAN be Anyone licensed to use GMRS, whether it be a company, a bunch of Campers, A Tow truck Driver, A Taxi cab operator, Anyone who happens to be licensed Can talk to ANYONE. Even STRANGE GUYS, like SOCAL !

Totally agree and the answer is NO they don’t neeeed that many repeaters. It’s turning into a macho thing. “I have more and bigger repeaters then ….” It’s causing many problems and upsetting other repeater owners. Some court cases have even come up about it. It’s getting crazy for something that should be used for family and friends while doing an activity.

TOM47, if you don’t mind, what issues did you have? I only have 30 days to return it, and it would be nice to know what to look for!

Yes, I know 2 people that got 'bad' DB25G radios. IIRC they could not program them correctly but I dont remember exactly so I txt'd one of them to confirm. In both cases they sent them back and had them replaced with ones that actually work. This was a few months ago so I would hope/guess that they are no longer shipping bad units. Edit/Update: Turns out it was 3 people that got bad units, and the issue was as you described, not being able to additional repeater channels and also not being able to do a factory reset. All got replacement units that worked, but it was a PITA. Have not been able to confirm if bad units are still being shipped.

What are we needing to scan? It’s 22 channels and repeaters. Here is gmrs, You go out in a group. You all agree on a channel or a repeater or maybe both. Maybe even more then one repeater and a couple simplex channels. You do the activity. When you’re done you turn off your radio. What are we scanning? How many strange men do you really need to talk to in a day? If you scan 15-22 with no tones you just scanned every repeater in range. It takes a radio 3 seconds to scan that or less really. How many banks and repeaters does one person need to scan? I’m one of the few that uses gmrs radios every single day 365 days a year for 10-12 hours or more a day, for many reasons both work play and emergencies. I even use them in other states and I’ve never needed to scan multiple groups. Again it’s 22 channels.