berkinet

I would agree on that price estimate as a worst case estimate. However, you might be able to get the cost down by quite a bit depending on:- Whether you have local people with radio skills and experience. - You use used commercial (Part90) equipment. - Electricity is available at a good site location. If you do have reliable commercial power available, I would suggest avoiding solar and investing in extra battery capacity instead. On the other hand. You will need some safe, protected place to install the equipment. If nothing is already available (cabin, shack, etc.) you will need to budget for something. A solid weatherproof toolbox might be a good start. All-in-all, I’d say you need to consider the best combination of coverage and facilities together when looking for your site. For example, a location with power and shelter, but a bit less coverage, might be the best option. So, one more thing to do before you drive/climb up that ridge is to identify the absolute minimal coverage area your project will require. And, keep in mind: perfect is the enemy of good.

You are right about the cost/expense. My point is you can’t really compare amateur radio to gmrs or cb. The latter two services are restricted to a single band with limited modes of operation. On the other hand, US amateur radio has 22 bands and numerous operating modes (really unlimited for those who want to experiment). However, that does not make amateur radio better, just a very different type of radio service.

You didn’t think someone would call you on that? ;-) That is like comparing a seven course meal in a three star restaurant to a packaged burrito and a tuna sandwich. There is nothing wrong with the burrito or the tuna sandwich but they are not full course meals with lots of options. BTW, don’t get me wrong, I like all 3... for everything there is a time and a season.

Not really. There really is no protocol beyond the FCC identification requirements. Since GMRS tends to be used within groups of people, each group tends to create their own protocol for identification.

This is not exactly accurate. The repeater must only identify every 15 minutes when in use. In fact, many repeater controllers have an option to identify at regular intervals or only when in use.

Aah. In that case I would suggest you buy a radio dedicated to your house for the purpose of talking with your mother. That would allow you to use it on a regular basis, maybe even a nightly check in, and let her get used to the operation of the system. I would also suggest you try with two simple quarter wave antennas. But, prepared to go pick up a couple of yagis. By the way, as long as you are just talking line of sight directly to your mother, you don’t need much in the way of the radio. It doesn’t even need to be repeater capable.

If you are interested in hitting one specific receiver, like a repeater, you might consider a directional antenna if the omni directional antenna doesn’t work for you.

For your purposes, the ground will be the braid of the coax cable. You do not need a full circular ground plane, three or four radial wires will do just fine. Typically they would slope downward at around 45°. You might also look at an antenna design that did not require a ground plane. Most UHF gain antennas fall into that category.

Based on the initial description, I would say it is more likely a case of something intentional. Perhaps something like Rich describes. Note the repeater pair is used upside down(in low, out high) and also is not the standard UHF 5 MHz split.

Well not exactly. Just to keep it accurate you would have a received signal strength at certain locations, depending upon the design of the antenna, that would be equivalent to 15 W into a 0 gain antenna.

If you can’t hit the repeater with 2 watts it is very unlikely you will do any better with 5 watts.

If you have no PL tone programmed for receive on a channel, you will hear everything on that channel. Well, everything that is strong enough to break the audio squelch.

Kidphc. Although, as usual, your technological description is accurate, I think you got the question backwards. He was asking if he is listening without PL will he hear everything. And the answer to that is yes.

It really all depends. Key factors are the terrain between you and the repeater, the length of your coax line, and the quality of your receiver. But, honestly if you can make it with 50 wants you stand a pretty good chance of making it with five.

Nice update on your avatar.

Regarding the possibility of setting up a repeater… If most or all of your communications will be between your base station and remote portable or mobile units, and you have good radio contact from your base station to the entire property, you probably don’t need a repeater. OTOH, depending on the need to talk between mobile/portable units, you might need a repeater if there were locations on your property that were shielded from reaching other locations. Though, as has already been noted, I would certainly try using simplex first to see if everything works as you desire, before spending any effort on a repeater.

You could use both simultaneously. But, you'd need to split the signal while retaining a constant 50 ohm impedance to the radio. A duplexer (in reverse) might work. But, there is really no value in doing it this way and getting it tuned for optimal performance would be a nightmare. You would be better off getting a remote controlled antenna switch (so you don't have two long cable runs) and using that to switch to the Yagi when you heard traffic on the J-Pole from the repeater.

The standard 1/4 wave will out perform any stubby antenna.

I know nothing about that antenna. However, I can tell you two things for certain. #1. Antenna gain (the apparent strength of your signal at some arbitrary point) will almost always be a function of the antenna length. Shorter antennas generally give less perceived gain. #2. The antenna you linked to is a dual-band antenna with a broad UHF coverage and is not specifically designed for GMRS. So, performance, especially on repeaters, may be less than perfect. Based on the 2 points above I would not expect great GMRS performance from this antenna. However, if you are only working a local, well situated, repeater and want an unobtrusive antenna, this might work well for you. Especially if you think you might run a VHF radio at some point.

Well... #1. Unlike ham radio and CB, most GMRS contacts are within a group of users, often family. So, there wasn't really a need for a standard way to call someone you don't know. I'd just ID my self and ask if there was anyone else on frequency. You could also add that you know are calling on the repeater output and looking for information about the repeater. However, the real reason you did not contact anyone may be because they are using PL or DPL to limit their receiver to only hear output from the repeater. If this is the case they won't ever hear you unless you know the correct tone - which might, or might not, also be the input tone to the repeater. #2. Unless you know someone with direction finding skills, there is not much you can do to locate the repeater. #3. A call sign is public information. There is nothing inherently wrong in looking up someone's address and sending them a letter. If they take offense, I'd say that's their problem and maybe you don't want to be on their repeater anyway. However, before you do anything more, did you check the MyGMRS repeater listings? They show a repeater that appears to be very close to you which may well be the one you are hearing. Good luck

A receiver amplifier will raise the level of the received signal, but not the quality, and will not help the problem. The way to improve incoming signal quality is to use a better antenna or one with more gain. As for product recommendations, do you mean for a radio, or an amplifier? If you mean radio, then please look through the forum topics there are many posts with reviews and suggestions. If you want an amplifier suggestion, I have no idea. I don’t use them.

Keep in mind that the 22 FRS and GMRS (simplex) channels are the same frequencies. So, you really can’t tell if any given transmission is one service or the other. Unless, of course, they ID with their GMRS license.

Sufficient for what? If you are connecting to a local repeater across flat terrain you can probably get by with your current cabling. But, if your current cable is long, or of poor quality and your signal needs will be borderline, you should upgrade the cable. Connectors are harder, since most radios will have the same UHF connector as your CB. Personally, I’d try it with what’s in place, with a new antenna of course. But, do check the SWR first just to be sure you are safe.

The main problem with most CCRs is not the transmitter (though that too can be an issue, but usually to traffic on other frequencies), it is in the receiver. Most, but not all CCRs, are created equally (i.e. poorly). But there are exceptions.

Have you considered a random long wire and an antenna tuner?