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I am alright with FRS and GMRS in the same radio......but do wish MURS was integrated into many "blister pack" radios as well. My first Cheap Chinese Radio was an Anytone 878 variant, and the VHF/UHF bands as well as Promiscuous Mode has helped a lot. After 2017, when the rules changed, I saw GMRS as being the best bang for the buck for many users......no test, just pay the fee and you are legal for ten years. Need to talk to others on FRS that lack a license, you can do it. Cost of hardware is cheap and abundant....I see allof this as a good thing. Many people think radio is "dying" with encryption, cost of fire and law enforcement radios, and yet getting more people to use them is taking place before our eyes with the proliferation of FRS and GMRS. I know people that buy FRS, then want more range, so they pay the fee for a GMRS license and then get into GMRS,often from watching certain personalities on YouTube (NotaRubicon comes to mind - I know he reads these [good info to the newbies]).

I'm currently negotiating to put an antenna on the roof of an 800' AGL building here (and the ground it's on is the highest elevation for miles). Right now I am using a stick antenna on my house roof for my rather basic 50W repeater. Between recurring roof rights, tower installer, DB-420B antenna, Motorola repeater with network control, duplexer, and various remote control equipment this is likely going to be a minimum of $10,000 to start and $2K+/year to continue. At that point I'll be requesting optional donations to help defray expenses, either as a one-time thing or recurring, depending on the donor's wishes. Everybody will have equal access to the repeater, donation or not. If the roof deal goes through, on the new repeater each user will get a unique code for access, just to keep random people off it. I haven't ever denied an access request and doubt I will. The only reason it's by request is so I have a list of users I can notify when major changes happen (like the above roof deal). Based on other experience with fundraising for various other non-profit projects, I expect I'll be lucky to end up with $1000. It's more moral support, knowing that some people value something I do enough to contribute what they can, even if it's just a one-time $10.

I would argue that MURS would probably be a better choice because there's less potential for interference as fewer people are on it. Unless, of course, the church is near a Walmart.

MURS would also be a good unlicensed option for a church.

There's nothing stopping you from using FRS radios. They should work just as well for the purpose and likely cost less, simple operation, etc If using GMRS, everyone on the security team using a GMRS radio would need to be licensed. The only exception would be for those (if any) of you that are blood related... Father, son, brother, sister, etc.

There’s no such exception in the current rules. Church members may not operate under a non-relative’s license, unless the church has a grandfathered license.

And.... Turns out it's not that big of a thing. Used 12 Gauge copper solid wire. Used the following formula: Used a drill and a vice to straighten the wire. Ran into one problem, I don't have a hot enough soldering iron/gun for that large copper. Have one on order but I did manage to get a solid solder connection although not pretty. Left both legs of the antenna long and trimmed each by 1/8" increments. Hit 1:1.03 at one point and should have left it alone. It is now at 1:1.2 which is fine for my first build. Used micrometers to measure spacing and feed points. Still have a little work to do on it. Want to re-melt the solder joints when the hotter gun get's here. Want to make some "standoffs" out of plexiglass for between the elements for consistency. Will pick up a chunk of PVC to wrap it in. Used RGB 8X for pigtail which is fine with me as it is only 6" long with less than 1% loss. Transceiver is putting out 9.9 out of 10 watts. Not sure what I will do with the thing but I just wanted to see if I could make one. Measurements provided by above plan were very accurate with final build. My bench is a mess right now but I will take some pictures when I clean up the antenna a little and get closer to finishing the build.

here's an idea: Get a Garmin InReach and a Starlink Mini.. GMRS is not made for, nor intended to, contact law enforcement or search and rescue. You might cross through a few small slivers of area where Search & Rescue monitor a specific GMRS frequency, but those are in the vast, VAST minority of the area you will be covering. And even whilst in those few, specific, small areas, you must have line-of-sight to them to be able to communicate.

I've noticed that two identical radios can have different preferences for antennas. That's why it's so hard to answer "Which antenna is best?" questions.

The simple answer is because they can. They real answer is they simply want to put up hardware that will only broadcast into an empty room and take up air space so they can brag about their equipment. Now for the reality, it is totally and utterly foolish and breaks every terrestrial and celestial boundary of human stupidity to do so. GMRS was designed to be free and enjoyed by all.

I just passed the exam this morning and should have my call sign next week they said. I was the only one there to be tested. If you could buy the A3 again would you. I was thinking about ordering one.

OK, a few more data points for anyone still following or if you landed here via Google. I recently picked up a Yaesu FT-897 and took it out for its maiden POTA voyage. It has an FC-30 tuner attached to it as well. Running off of a EcoWorthy LifePO4 20AH battery. 2hours, 25 QSO's all over the country on 20m. All park to park. Even managed one contact on 10m, despite the poor conditions. Strong 59 signals from most stations. The difference in a 20W QRP radio and this 100w beast were noticeable. Interestingly enough, the FT-897 tuned the JCP12 on 10m with absolutely no problem. It also tuned on 20m, no problem. But it would not tune it on 40m. Interesting. The G90 will tune the JCP12 on 40m no problem. So it looks like different radios work differently....who woulda thought? So it appears that there is nothing wrong with the JCP12 antenna. I'm chalking up the G90's inability to tune on 10m due to the fact that the radio's head unit is separated. Something about that, I'm guessing, and the close proximity of the antenna to the radio in a POTA setting is throwing it off. I've read a lot of reports about the front end of that radio being sensitive. At least that's my uneducated assumption, given that the FT-897 (a 20+ year old radio with a 3:1 tuner) will tune it on 10m, no problem. So it appears that if I want to hunt or activate on 10m, I'll either need an EFHW with the G90 or I'll have to take the FT-897 out. Data points all around. I'm beginning to feel confident in this POTA thing. Diamond Hunter now, with 4 activations under my belt. Ooorah.

My family went on a cruise 20 years ago. Several families went together. My friend and I were both HAMs at the time. We both took an HT with us. Mine was in a carry on which was searched when we boarded. My friend, who's more of a nerd than me, had his hanging on his belt. The security people who had just searched my bag half an hour earlier and saw my radio and even asked what it was had my friend take his radio back to his car which was a true pain. I never asked why I could keep mine and he couldn't. I even used my radio up on the deck. I theorized that since the chicks really dig the HAM operator with a radio on his belt that security wanted to give all the other guys on board the ship a chance. I haven't been on a cruise since then. My wife didn't really care for it and I spent enough time at sea when I was a member of Uncle Sam's canoe club.

100% agree with the above post. Great advice. GMRS radio is not intended for what you are trying to accomplish. Satellite communications is the best option for what you are planning.

Exactly. That's why I always say that you won't know until you try. I have tried the 771G on all of my GMRS radios. The stock antenna did better on my Wouxun radios while the 771G did better on my Baofeng radios I also tried the 771 on my 2m/70cm radios. The stock antenna did better on my Icom and Wouxun radios while the 771 did better on my Baofeng, QRZ/TYT, and Quansheng radios.

Everyone has black. Be a rebel.

I don't have the KG-Q10G but I do have the KG-935G+. I tried the Nagoya 771G on the 935 and the stock antenna actually performed better. Each radio and antenna will be a little different. You won't know unless you try.

Welp...NetTime definitely solved the issue. My screen was flooding with signals. Didn't manage to make contact with a single one, though. I'll have to keep digging.

Ok, so I decided to start over. OooooPs. This time trimmed too much and ended up around 1:2 . I promised a pic. It doesn't look like much, but here it is: Have electrical tape on the bottom to keep the coax from moving around and electrical tape holding the plexiglass stand-off while the glue dries. Probably will just leave it on. On a brighter note have the soldering problem solved. Got a monster Weller D650 with 300 Watts of heating power. Solder is flowing like water. Beautiful soldering job. Might try a 3rd build just to see if I can do better but this one is solid.

Yeah, this really seems like where FRS is the solution. Or getting a commercial license for the church. But the FCC regs, if you're trying to follow them, don't say "licensees and their immediate family members... and additionally anyone they happen to go to church with or run into at the grocery store or at daycare or at the gym"

What sort of screws that all up is the difference in the antenna regulation requirements. FRS uses a fixed antenna while MURS allows one that's detachable. To combine both services the antenna would need to be fixed for both. I don't think that would be a big deal. Many Hams use dual band HT's and never take the rubber duck antenna off either. So, building a combo FRS/MURS radio with a fixed antenna wouldn't be a problem since most users wouldn't bother trying to use an external antenna on such a cheap radio anyway.

I made my first two late shift contacts last night. Got the ICOM 7300 hooked up to a Chameleon EFHW in a semi permanent installation and managed to get a two operator contact in AZ. First contants on 40m...and at night. As someone who has spent his - yet brief - ham career operating outside and during the day, it felt really odd to be doing it inside and at night.

I'm glad to hear that the 771G is working out for you. I have tested the Nagoya 771 and 771G on several different radios. They made on improvement on a few radios while the shorter stock antennas worked better on others. You never know until you try. The stock antennas worked best on my Icom and Wouxun radios while the 771 and 771G worked better on the Baofeng and TYT radios.

Yes, but that’s your center frequency. Your signal has a width to it. It’s up to you to understand that and avoid having the width of your signal go outside of the band limits.

Most HF radios from the Big 3 - Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu, all include 6m which allows you to use all modes on 6m. If you want to use all modes on 2m and 70cm then you have to either buy the Icom IC-9700 or one of the many all band/all mode "shack in the box" radios.

WSLP625 Congrats!

I built a portable repeater system for use in amateur radio, using a Yaesu repeater. I stuffed it in a Gator Case. It is 100% self_contained for use on UHF. You need to add an external duplexer for VHF. My biggest problem is that the repeater itself is so large that I couldn't find a waterproof case that was at a price point I could live with. I do like that setup in the tool boxes. I would slap a push/pull fan system on it for pull-through cooling and you could drop it anywhere, regardless of weather. Right now, I deploy a 4-season shelter when I want to deploy it, or I run it out of the Jeep, if the weather is really bad and I don't need to be mobile while the repeater is in operation. I wouldn't worry about power so much, and focus on antenna hight. I have used a drone to drop ropes in trees and hoisted the vertical antenna well over 100 feet in the air. This gets you way better coverage than an antenna on a 20'-30' mast. This gets a little tricky if you are in a cityscape. But, buildings can be your friends.

I agree that there are plenty of ways to deal with heat. But I would be amiss if I didn't mention something about the low duty cycle.

I looked up the specs on the Kenwood TK-880 radios. My concern is that they have a low duty cycle of around 20% with the radio set to high power. So they will get hot under heavy use while transmitting, especially on high power. Using low power will help. The Retevis 97L is rated for 100% duty cycle. So it will handle heavy use better. For comparison, part of the reason people have had over heating issues when using two Wouxun KG-1000G radios as a repeater is the lower duty cycle. Just something to take into consideration. I do like to see what others come up with and build themselves.

Nice find on that 97L! That is a heck of a deal. The TK-880s have OEM pigtails that you can attach to the control board and run out the power wire grommet to an outside 9-pin connector. Alternatively, you can solder to a couple spots on the board to get COS, PTT, etc. I intend to check the manual for pinout info and make a connector that will bridge between the pigtail and whatever controller or URI I use.

my portable RV repeater built with two Maxon 8402 radios fitted into an FAT-50 Ammo can can reach 85-90 miles with a J-Pole at higher elevation. Doesn't do so well around wooded hilly areas. These radios don't require a controller and I draw power form my RV which is on solar so the radios fit into the can nicely with lots of extra room. The can is vented and even fitted with a fan that kicks on via a heat sense controller inside. Pretty simple arrangement. When I park at Lake Crawley the repeater actually get a lot of use by boaters and campers and it does in other areas as well.

Do it! Yes, it would be easier to use the Retevis 97L, but it wouldn’t be nearly as fun! As long as you keep your coax to a short length one of the ultra flex versions of 10 mm cable, like Messi & Paloni make will be just fine. M&P shields are all copper for both foil and braid. Times Microwave LMR 400 shielding uses two different metals for the foil and braid and people on RepeaterBuilder point to that causing problems only during full duplex operations, which is nearly all of what a repeater does. I haven’t seen data to support those concerns. No matter what you do I would steer clear of cable with a solid center conductor like the plain old Times Microwave LMR400 uses. Get the best quality cable that works well for your use. I agree with you about coax being better for portability than hardline. Do the math to see what your comparative losses will be, but if you truly want this to be portable you’ll want it to be easily coiled and laid out without fear of work hardening or eventual damage. My experience with repeater controllers isn’t helpful in this case; the IDoMatic would probably be the easiest solution and then add something like a Pi to provide additional audio messages. In that way you’d still have the reliability of the ID-o-MATIC for repeater control if the Pi flaked out. Keep us informed as you build it!

Is it because those people don't realize that there is no such thing as simplex "GMRS channels" and "FRS channels" because all 22 are shared? (ok, there are ERP and bandwidth difference, but the frequencies are all the same)

Fun to build. But I happened upon a RT97L and other than the repeater ID it's all there. Built in,weatherproof. A pi-star with hamvoip or allstar on it can easily do repeater id, weather alerts, and custom announcements. I could deploy this with a vehicle mounted antenna in minutes, and it'd run until the dc source stopped. One connection (Okay two, power and antenna), easily programmed, and also capable as a local/base part of the equation. Antenna feedline loss is always the killer on low power repeaters. Best to get the whole setup as high as possible, and then reduce feedline. The skywarn stuff, is available on a allstar node, you can build it all, lots of tutorials. Mine is not 'linkable'. My raspberry pi-4, URI-x, and a serial cable make it easy. There are other tricks for radios without pinouts for COS, ptt, etc. Easiest is to use a sound card interface on the pi that actually is a uhf transmitter.

One should keep in mind if they want to travel down that rabbit hole of stupidly paying "club" fees you are still not guaranteed to have full use of it for a year. Just like most other "clubs" you will be subject to the cliques politics or you might unintentionally hurt another "club" member's fragile feelings and get banned prematurely. Best to use a free and open repeater and be friendly and respectful with the members. And if it works out for you there's nothing wrong with making a financial donation or expertise to help the owner maintain the repeater.

Got 32 out of 35 questions right, passed my test and now have to wait for the ffc payment email then after that is processed the license and callsign. If you use hamstudy or any other service this test is fairly easy, there are a few fairly confusing questions but the way the test is structured if you understand and study the test pool always has enough easy questions to pass. I should have studied for general, but I up and made the decision a little over a week ago and studied an hour or less per night. The ve asked if I studied general and his computer even had the option to test for general if I wanted. Apparently if there is time and the ve wants to allow it, you can do all 3 license class tests in one go.

Phelps Dodge was a good duplexer built in the US. With that said I think they are asking a bit too much for that one. I have 3 or 4 in the garage collecting dust that I picked up for $25.00 each.

So this morning I finally recieved my callsign, and my retevis a3 showed up a day early. So I decided to play around on the local repeater, sounding like a retard as I do not have my callsign memorized, and am still fumbling around the controls of a new ht, but on a 2m repeater I waited until after the net had concluded to run an equipment test. I got a xxxxxx out of waco I can hear you so you are getting through to someone, mind you waco is a 45 minute drive from where I live. I doubt the ht simply transmitted that far so I likely set something up right for repeater use considering how stupid it is to program a repeater through an ht keypad. Either way up until about 8pm the repeater is fairly alive, judging by the bedtime calls I am betting most of the users are very up there in age. It is exciting though finally after all that studying got to contact someone, and after the radio confusion with the ht is gone it should be easy as I have heard no sad hams on there yet. saturday I will set up my 10 meter rig and my jpc-12 mobile antenna and see how 10m usb is. Though with active repeaters a simple ht seems to easily be able to reach out of state, some of the contacts are a 3-4 hour drive from me and this kind of range I could not ever see with gmrs or uhf short of tropospheric ducting.

I don’t know if I would even try to tune it below 1.2:1 or 1.4:1. You’ll never hear a difference. It’s just not worth chasing. I thought you said the ratio was 1:2, not 1.2:1.

I have to agree that MURS or FRS would be a better solution unless everyone is willing to get their GMRS licenses.

I was getting into Japan yesterday at a 5/5-5/6 with my little 80w QT80 and my inverted V dipole tuned to a 1.3-1.4:1 SWR. 10M to the west of me was really open. 1 week until I take my General. I can hardly wait to get on 20M and 40M.

There are several GMRS repeaters that operate with narrowband emissions, it's not just FRS that operate narrowband. When you comes across a repeater station that you're interested in, you need to check the details to make sure you are programming your radio properly. If the repeater station details doesn't mention anything about narrowband operation, you can assume that the station operates wideband. Most repeater owners that operate their station(s) with narrowband emissions will list that information in the details.

No. It’s a matter of very simple arithmetic and personal responsibility. The FCC established simple band edges. It’s up to each of us to understand the bandwidth of our radios and keep our transmissions within the bands.

It's actually one of the questions on the technician test.

The 17 minute video I posted on YouTube took over 4 hours to get the contacts I posted in it. Editing can make things look faster than they actually were.

I wanted to respond to this and condense your response so that people can see that sometimes activating a park is work, and far from easy. I think a lot of people watch these big name channels activate and hear them say things like "Wow, 12 contacts in less than 5 minutes" and then have that same expectation for when they try it. I, for one, appreciate your detailed account of the struggle. It validates my own frustrations. Thanks...and congrats on the activation!

I own a repeater in the Cleveland Ohio area and it is an open very wide area repeater with no fees charged, but I do accept donations for maintaining and improving the repeater, so check with your local repeater owner and ask if you can donate. http://www.parma575.online

If they can't hear you, then there are only a few of possibilities: Radio is not transmitting Transmit freq. is wrong Transmit tone is wrong You are out of range of the repeater - just because you can hear it does not mean it can hear you.

I got the 97L for a song, 280 bucks shipped. Open box, brand new. Everything was with it. Ebay, at the right place/time. Really a solid unit and I was showing 26 watts out into dummy load. The pistar/allstar setup can control or just announce. Can give you a courtesy tone, annoucnements, and skywarn plus. I like tinkering with it. Setup was rasperry pi - URIx radio interface- repeater. The pi and URIx are always wired the same, but the pinout (db25) to repeater can differ. The 97L was pretty easy. Not sure you'll get COS, PTT and audio in/out from your mobile radio setup. Only because I'm not familiar with the radios you'll be using.

I never could figure out why someone would spend thousands of dollars putting up dozens of GMRS repeaters, charge a fee that attracts very few on a service meant for family and friends. But at the end of the day, there is nothing that says you can't.. There are no fee based repeaters in my area. One repeater owner here has multiple repeaters on an awesome mountain top that can almost reach God. He is on BLM property on a nice tower and operates an impressive communications business. Pretty sure he writes off the GMRS and HAM portion as a community service. I'll bet ya he does a lot better taking advantage of tax laws than he would at charing an access fee that few would pay. If I were in his shoes I would be dong the same.