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What are you looking to extend? HT use? Typically using a repeater that is open to the public doesn't require any special permission from the owner. Depending on your setup, they would have no way of knowing anyway. That said, cross-band repeat into another repeater is a massive PITA. You have significant delay during the switching process and you can't talk until the repeater drops and your cross-band repeater drops out of transmit mode. You likely won't hear the first couple of words of others and if you start talking too soon, people may not hear your first few words.

Jones has it right regarding the Community repeater falling under Part 90 - and requiring each individual (or group) using the repeater to be licensed. The Licensing for a Community repeater will show an FB4 designation. That said, most Community repeaters have gone the way of Party Line telephones. The current method that most shops use is the FB6 "Private Carrier" - which means that the business who owns the repeater is the Licensee, and then they rent out airtime to individuals or user groups. The biggest advantage to the FB6 Private Carrier designation is that you don't need to go get each user a 10 year license, especially if the use would be short term, like an event rental. Cost for a 10 year license in Part 90 is $170 - PLUS you need to pay a Frequency Coordination fee (As far as I know, you cannot self-coordinate any FB6 repeater pairs). Frequency Coordination is a 3rd party, and the fees they charge can vary - but figure on spending between $350 to $500 for an FB6 coordination on a single frequency pair at a single site. Multiple pairs or Multi site systems can run much higher. Frequency Coordination is a one time fee - and once you're built out and on the air, your only ongoing License fee is the (current) $170 renewal fee to the FCC every 10 years. Truly pennies per day to operate, and Coordination means that you should not be stepping on someone else's toes every time you key up, but in crowded Metropolitan areas, you will most likely not have truly exclusive use of a channel.

Wow, my HOA approved my plan to put up not just one but TWO j-pole antennas! I’ll be mounting a tuned GMRS and a ham antenna shortly. This, in northern Virginia, no less. Cheers, Ken

You could build a far better repeater from commercial gear... cheaper, and be type accepted too...

The straight answer is: No, a longer antenna will NOT help. An antenna HIGHER UP IN THE AIR will help tremendously. Those guys walking around with a 19-24 inch long rubber antenna flopping around from the top of their walkie-talkies are on VHF ham bands, not GMRS. ...or else they are idiots. BTECH will gladly recommend that you buy anything that they sell, if it makes you happy.

This probably helped. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title15.2/chapter22/section15.2-2293.1/ Ken

Here is how I have my systems linked: You can use the Dingotel dongles with a radio that has vox. You need to make a custom cable for your application, what i do is unsolder the jack from the dongle and solder the cables directly to the dongle then connect to the radio. Works great. It works good with Baofeng UV5's for example. As for software, Team Speak 3, hands down. You need to set up your own server though and forward your ports. If you have a netgear router you can get a free static address with no-ip. Here is a link to my personal web page which explains about my linked system: http://scan-stg.wixsite.com/live/wqxc747-gmrs-intertie If you wish you could link up with my server, if you wish to be separate from my links I could set you up your own channel on my server. if you want the ultimate combo (in my uneducated opinion) here is what I run for gate radios: Computer: HP thin client with Team Speak 3. Interface: Signalink USB. GMRS RADIO: Kenwood TK-862G series radio (Simplex) or repeater of choice. That will make for a rock solid setup. If you want to know more our GMRS facebook group can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stgscanner/?ref=bookmarks I hope this helps you out, there seems to be little information out there about this topic. it's well worth pursuing our system is tons of fun! Good, Luck and let me know, if I can help any further, Martin