Durake

Howdy.
 
Most consider 675 to be the unofficial "travelers aid" or "emergency" channel. However there are certainly no restrictions on using it for anything. REACT where I live in Dallas, Texas has a 600 and 675 repeater in downtown, the 675 is open for anyone to use however it's reserved for REACT during events. During the downtown shooting where 5 Dallas Police Officers were shot and killed the 675 channel had emergency traffic on it for people downtown that were in the area, and it was heavily used. It was the only actual emergency I've ever heard over any radio service GMRS or amateur, I always have my base station at home and mobile in the car monitoring 675 for both simplex and repeater operation.
 
WQXR714.

Depending on what permissions you have set. In my case its only being used by me and my buddy if either of us are out of range or don't have a reliable signal. The repeater we're on is about 15 miles away in a rough spot putting out 40 watts, its not the highest spot in the area. I'm within range most of the time, but for those rare times him or I am not, we still have a way to communicate with the users on it. The Zello Channel is passworded as well as Zelect+ were only Admins, Mods, or Trusted Users can talk and listen. So its pretty secure as far as that goes. 

I got my M1225 35 Watt Repeater setup for me. I'll get a link when I get home. It included:
 
2 Motorola M1225 Mobiles (20 channel version, 20 channels = 20 different tones for input and output..   )
Celwave Duplexer (tuned to GMRS)
Power Supply (car charger or wall plug)
All cables supplied
 
It was put into a little tool box, plug and play operation, all I needed to get was a antenna. 
 
In terms of getting it to repeat he wired the back of them together, I bought online a plug you put into the back of each and it has a hang timer, although I'd rather get a real RICK to do some of the cool features.
 
All for about $330 not including the antenna, but he did provide free programming.

Looks awesome! Nice work.

I recommend 400-470 if you think you'll eventually get your Ham license or would like to monitor Ham.
 
If not then 450-512 is fine, but I've never had a need to go past 467.
 
They both work the same for GMRS since GMRS is just 462-467.

Hey Ken, what berkinet posted is a great resource. Myself I usually will just give the callsign that way they don't have to worry about it. I'll simply call them by their name rather than a unit number. But either or is acceptable.

Hey Ken, what berkinet posted is a great resource. Myself I usually will just give the callsign that way they don't have to worry about it. I'll simply call them by their name rather than a unit number. But either or is acceptable.

Hey Ken, what berkinet posted is a great resource. Myself I usually will just give the callsign that way they don't have to worry about it. I'll simply call them by their name rather than a unit number. But either or is acceptable.

How about another repeater part way into the coverage area you want to expand to, and part way in the existing coverage area. Same Freqs, just use a different PL to get into the second repeater, but same output PL. 
 
Think of it as overlapping circles. 
 
I know of an entire county's fire system that was setup that way years ago, we called it poor mans trunking. 

My furthest was contact was 100 miles. Dallas, Texas all the way to Waco, Texas down south. It was a really clear night and I was able to hit repeaters on all of the repeater pairs using the 141.3 tone. I was talking to an operator down in Waco on the Waco repeater, I can't remember his callsign but I did write it down somewhere. 
 
I was using my Motorola PM400 on 25 watts with a 1/4 wave drilled on the center roof of my car. I was really impressed. We have a 600 and 675 repeater in downtown Dallas and other repeaters on 600 and 675 were doubling with eachother when I keyed up so I couldn't even hear my local repeaters, the band must've been really open that night..

GMRS power output is defined as transmitter output power, not ERP. Go have fun with your beam, or even a beam array.

GMRS requires a user license, FRS does not. FRS "Rules" are generally non enforceable.
 
 'FRS is licensed by rule. This means an individual license is not required to operate an FRS radio provide you comply with the rules. You may operate an FRS radio regardless of your age, and for personal or for business use if you are not a representative of a foreign government.'
 
And you are right...businesses need to be on MURS if they want cheap comms. 
 
Maybe the good thing is that most of the cheap radios that people buy from a "store" are good for 2 watts at best. Really what was done with the rules was to make what people were (uneducated about radio) doing illegally with store bought radios that did GMRS and FRS in being legal. The fcc should have never allowed combo radios to begin with. 
 

I have noticed the same. In my area there is an automotive supplier or two, and a hotel using FRS/GMRS channels and shouldn't be....however.....
 
With the rules change where FRS radios can use the GMRS mains at 2 watts....you don't know who is legal and who is not. I say about 50/50 illegal (seller put them on GMRS), and then business using FRS because it is cheap on equipment...even though it's not right, it is legal. I hope they get tired of replacing junk radios and buy some real ones and a license (part 90). 

It is kinda sad..

I second this comment!

I recommend 400-470 if you think you'll eventually get your Ham license or would like to monitor Ham.
 
If not then 450-512 is fine, but I've never had a need to go past 467.
 
They both work the same for GMRS since GMRS is just 462-467.

I recommend 400-470 if you think you'll eventually get your Ham license or would like to monitor Ham.
 
If not then 450-512 is fine, but I've never had a need to go past 467.
 
They both work the same for GMRS since GMRS is just 462-467.

I wouldn't even bother. UHF vs VHF in a dense wooded area? You'll see a huge difference if you take 2 HT's and have them both with identical specs and do a range test on both bands.
 
At all the BSA camps I've been to they've used VHF repeaters, for very good reasoning that UHF sucks in the woods. 
 
Here at the Summit for some reason we use UHF, I think it was the sales part on Motorola of how to get the most money out of us, UHF requires waaay more infrastructure to function just as well as VHF would in the woods.
 
Not to discourage you from doing it, but in my opinion, I'd say don't bother. If it's not going to be that great of a system then don't put the money or resources into it.

I've used the M1225 as a repeater setup and mobile, I will agree. Very nice! 

I've used the M1225 as a repeater setup and mobile, I will agree. Very nice! 

I'm a Motorola kind of guy, even if I gotta spend the extra to get it. 
 
I use a Motorola PM400 UHF 438-470, 1-25 watts customizable, only 64 channels but that works for what I need. RF goes out to a 1/4 wave NMO on the center of my roof.
 
I have used a couple odd ball mobiles, but I've always gone back to Motorola.
 
Best of luck! 

There's so much good stuff out there in the way of used Part90 Commercial gear.... I've got a couple PM400's, an XPR5550 (shop truck), an old TK-880, and an assortment of portables that run the range from Vertex through Motorola. I've always been a fan of the M1225 for starter gear. It's small enough, has decent specs, and the software is very easy to use. I've picked up units off eBay for under 25 bucks for low power (25 watt) 4 channel models. The 20 channel display units usually run higher, but almost always under $100 for clean working units. The M1225 series was also type accepted for Part 95, which calms some people's fears. 
 
I have to admit that having access to all the software and cables makes things pretty easy for me, but unless you're looking at current model top of the line stuff, the software is pretty easy to come by, and most of the mobile cables you can make yourself if you can follow a diagram on Batlabs or Repeater-builder.

I'm a Motorola kind of guy, even if I gotta spend the extra to get it. 
 
I use a Motorola PM400 UHF 438-470, 1-25 watts customizable, only 64 channels but that works for what I need. RF goes out to a 1/4 wave NMO on the center of my roof.
 
I have used a couple odd ball mobiles, but I've always gone back to Motorola.
 
Best of luck! 

Considering the FCC accepts audio recordings, when making a compliant of interference or illegal operation. We have used audio recordings of illegal operation to obtain information on the individuals involved. A major convenience to review than to sit and listen the whole day.  

Most police, fire, EMS, local government agencies record all of their radio traffic. So do many businesses. Absent encryption (not legal on GMRS anyway), there is no expectation of privacy on two-way radio traffic; cell phone frequencies excepted.  
I'm not sure what value recording silent transmissions might be, but only you can decide that.