WRXB215

FCC rules still apply.  Call sign is required on GMRS. 

The repeater receives on 467.### and transmits on 462.###. The .### part is almost always the same. I've heard of it being different but I've never seen it myself. You have repeater channels that are already set up like this. You have to use the tone on TX or the repeater will ignore you. You can hear the repeater with the same tone as the repeater or no tone at all. Tones work like this:
I set a tone on receive and I only hear signals with that same tone. I don't set a tone on receive and I hear all signals regardless if they have any tone. Hope this helps.

I second this, I personally would recommend the Anytone AT-778UV (Yeah it's a 2m/70cm HAM radio, but they make a GMRS version.... or you can unlock that one, either way.)

Most people in my area on GMRS have one, and love it. It's perfect for hitting the repeaters and without breaking the bank. Perfect little radio.

Apparently electrons have trouble making that 90 degree turn. 🤣

I got a kick out of this product.

Well, that depends on your current, future plans and interests.
1. Do you have or want to get your Ham license too? A significant number of GMRS users also have their Ham license. For example I am dual licensed.
2. If answer to #1 is yes, then do you plan on using the radio for both services? There are used commercial grade radios with Part 95 certification so they are legal to use on GMRS, and can be programmed for Ham 70cm band frequencies. I have a number of those and they each have their place and uses.
When you say cost isn’t important there are some radios that run up to the high 3 figures and low to mid 4 figures, so you might want to quantify that a bit more. Those radios typically are the commercial grade types, tend to work better and have a lot of features the usual CCR’s, Cheap Chinese Radio, don’t offer.

@WSAA635 Be careful, you are going to end up needing an inventory system to keep track of all your radios like some others on this forum. 🤣

There is always something lost in translation. 
Also, advertisers tend to struggle with technical info.

A repeater in the myGMRS database which has had no data updates in over a year. The repeater might be just fine or not. 
Old data in a database is called “stale data.”

Use the equipment regularly.

That way you will understand what works and doesn't work.

Watch videos/research on questions that may arise as you use the gear. Rinse and repeat.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

This is true. But messages can be relayed between different radios if at least one base station with a good antenna up high is in the mix and can communicate with all near by radios.
Relaying messages is common and we do it all the time when conducting simplex nets on 2m and 70cm bands. There is no reason why it can't be done on GMRS either.

I'm not recommending anyone do anything illegal, just nice to know you have many options for coms during a real emergency. 👍
That's why I don't like GMRS radios being locked out of other bands. I'd hate to be in a real life-or-death situation, listening to someone on a band that is locked out of TX while I bleed out. 😮
I know it's not likely to ever happen, but then again, that's the kind of luck I have. 🙁

Totally depends on terrain and vegetation, buildings, etc, but generally less than 10 miles.  Often much less.
If someone "sold" you on GMRS being the solution to this problem, they mislead you.

30 miles simplex on UHF is possible given ideal circumstances (mountain top to mountain top, for example, or two locations in the desert with no vegetation or sand dunes in the way) but probably not going to work for you.  If there *was* a repeater in a good location then that would be doable.  
The other question is easier:  absolutely.  Just get a power supply.  This is a good one, but there are lots of less expensive alternatives:
https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/alo-dm-330mvt

There are two options in the Repeaters Map that maybe were set differently each time:
Show Offline Repeaters
Show Stale Repeaters
These come up when you click the hexagonally shaped widget in the upper left of the map.

Is there anything out there to listen to?   Do you have a buddy to test another radio with?   I have 8 repeaters near me and sometimes there is just no one on the air.   Simplex sometimes has all kinds of traffic and sometimes none also. 

You won’t notice any difference in the 5 watts difference.   Even though these are “gmrs” radios the advertised watts it’s usually for vhf. Uhf is usually under vhf watts buy 5ish.  Both will probably do the job.  I don’t know much about the Anytone except one guy in my club loves them.  The radioditty is the same as many qyt and tyt and btech units.   Affordable and worlds ok for the money.  I run tyt 8600s in my trucks because I need the water resistance.  They do great and take abuse well. 

What are you programming in the radio ? Its a HAM Radio not GMRS.
 

It would be helpful to monitor the repeater frequency/frequencies you are planning to use (with no RX tones set) for a couple of weeks to see if anyone else close to you is already using them. Just because a repeater isn't listed in a database doesn't mean someone isn't using one near you. Some people have repeaters they use for family only. Even though there is no repeater coordination you are still required to not cause interference.

The repeater receives on 467.### and transmits on 462.###. The .### part is almost always the same. I've heard of it being different but I've never seen it myself. You have repeater channels that are already set up like this. You have to use the tone on TX or the repeater will ignore you. You can hear the repeater with the same tone as the repeater or no tone at all. Tones work like this:
I set a tone on receive and I only hear signals with that same tone. I don't set a tone on receive and I hear all signals regardless if they have any tone. Hope this helps.

I got a kick out of this product.

@WRQC527 I used to understand all that metallurgy but for some strange reason I'm not into it anymore. 🤣
@WRUE951 I've seen some mag mount antennas that come with a small round version of that for use on fiberglass tops like Jeep tops. 👍

Some times repeaters are just very quiet. This morning I was on two different repeaters that are usually very active but both were quiet. It just happens sometimes. There are other repeaters I monitor that are quiet almost all the time. Very rarely is there any traffic on them. This goes for both GMRS and ham repeaters.

Why not just take the logical step from the Radio Merit Badge to earning an amateur radio Technician license?

Let us go through the sands of time as best as I can tell and Im sure i got some dates and or specifics wrong.
1930's LMR is created for business use.
1960's GMRS (Class A CB) is created and is very popular among small rural business use. Ie Family Farms etc. Basically as a subset of LMR and then some channels absorbed into LMR (MURS started similarly but thats another story) 
1970's GMRS business channel pair licensing rule established. 
1987 End of GMRS Business exclusive license's and the channel pair rule
1994 FRS is created near GMRS for people who don't need GMRS and didn't want to pay the fee.
2000's GMRS/FRS combo radio's start appearing and people are using 15-22 unlicensed (who could've possibly seen this coming? 🤓).
Early 2010's GMRS begins to become popular among Outdoors enthusiasts
GMRS communities start forming
Late 2010's GMRS linking starts occurring over the internet.
2012 UV-5R appears.
2017 GMRS/FRS combo banned, free band UV-5R's kinda dealt with from the FCC.
GMRS really takes off and starts to become Ham-lite.
2020 FCC realizes the floodgates that they have caused ensuring HAM-lite is an eventuality.
2021 FCC tries to clarify some rules/definitions to prevent it, its too late.
 
Whether GMRS being Ham-lite is bad or good im not going to comment as I believe GMRS provides essential short range communications, but; also always had the power and design to talk at least county wide. GMRS is also being less enforced by the FCC and being self enforced by users playing nice is telling me the FCC really doesn't want to be forced deal with GMRS.
 
As long as it continues to play nice and not have interference/nuisance issues basically how they currently treat Ham.
Combining FRS and GMRS led to this eventuality and not re-seperating the channels made enforcement extremely difficult and hard for them to justify.
Again im not going to pass judgement besides on the FCC's inability to achieve what they want to whether or not I benefit/lose from their mistakes.
TL:DR:
Issues stemming from the FRS/GMRS combo era mean that the FCC cannot enforce GMRS as strongly as some people wish and the FCC is hoping that people can be civil on GMRS so they do not have to. 
 
 
Like all things in life:
Play nice, Work hard, Worry less.