GreggInFL

This conversation reminds me of the decades spent on Marine VHF. 25W with a large antenna will reach a loooooong way.

Exactly, a middle man acting as agent. In the group discussion I mentioned repeaters and everyone got glassy eyed except a friend who got his EE paper from MIT. He has zero radio experience but after less than a minute of me explaining offsets, tones, 50W base stations and real antennas he got it. He was curious about range so I invited him to stop by for a little demo. Using the worse radio I could find (UV-5R w/stock rubber ducky antenna) I explained that if we hit the local repeater we'd “hear a hiss and Morse code.” For someone trying to push a 2W FRS transmission through the woods he had a hard time believing the GMRS transmission was being bounced nearly forty miles – until we pulled up the map on this site. Sorry to go off topic, but I found it interesting that while many here think that hams dipping “down” into GMRS business is not helpful, many FRS users would enjoy moving “up” to GMRS if the transition were made simpler, all with no interest in additional features.

Love it.

Agreed. We spent the weekend with friends who do a lot of FRS on RVing and backcountry/hunting trips. When the wife and I pullout out the GMRS HTs the questions started ("How come that antenna comes off?"). By the end of the conversation everyone was eager to upgrade. The biggest problem was licensing; not that it was costly, but that it was so cumbersome. "Well, first you need to establish an FRN, then you need to apply for a GMRS license..." I loved one response: "Amazon should sell the license." Which is not a bad idea.

Welcome!

You can do this manually on the GM-15 Pro for that PA repeater. Not sure what repeater Alejandro is working with, so the values will probably differ. WN2XFO should be repeater channel #8 on your radio. It will specifically show as "RPT-8" in memory location 030. Go there, hit the menu button, find the "Rx CTCSS" and "Tx CTCSS" values in locations 10 and 12 respectively. Set them both to 107.2. Get out of the menu and back to channel RPT-8. Hit the PTT button, put out your call sign and ask for a radio check. If you're set up correctly and someone is listening you might get a response. If you're set up correctly but no one is responding, you will hear a hiss from the repeater after you release the PTT button. This means you've connected to the repeater and all is well. The repeater may also also transmit an ID, sometimes in Morse code. This all assumes you are close enough to "hit" the repeater.

Welcome Alejandro. I have the same radio and use this cable to program with a computer: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V4D6F5F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. The software is the one used for the Radioddity GM-30. You can find it on this page: https://www.radioddity.com/pages/radioddity-download. You can program manually off the screen, but I've found the computer to make life much easier.

Anyone have a feel for the typical capacity utilization of a typical repeater? I know, it is situational but, IMHO, goes to the question of whether a repeater should be private (with the understanding that the tones can be scanned to defeat that effort). If I put up a repeater I will leave it open until such time that the traffic is taking up a large portion of the capacity and keeping others off. There would be no incremental cost to me if one more stranger uses it when it is mostly idle.

I'm a fan of need-to-know. The FCC and law enforcement need to know, obviously, but the public does not.

Thanks everyone. Good stuff.

Interested; in the same situation. Our neighborhood is 1,500 acres, generally rectangular with the longest distance ~3 miles. ASL ranges from 30' to 70' with thick vegetation. I've tested 5W HTs and they make a scratchy connection when one is at a high spot; with both low it doesn't happen at all. If I hosted a simple antenna on the roof (or, in the attic, keeping it out of the wind?) I'm guessing most everyone would have coverage. I'm new to this and that's a guess. Am I missing something fundamental? Can one rent a repeater set-up to test the concept? Did I mention that I'm new at this?

Welcome! I'm new to GMRS as well. I've found this group to be very helpful, extremely patient with the noobs and highly knowledgeable about GMRS -- and other invisible things that fly though the air. You're in the right place.

If I could take the General test online I would do it.

But one still must take the Technician test first, correct?

Agreed. I have a pair and would recommend for a new user.

Thanks, Steve. Makes sense. Didn't realize the gain loss was so high. I'm probably at 100' end-to-end.

So, I could probably use the coax that DirecTV installed 29 years ago?

This sounds like the best approach. A Mickey-Mouse test might be to grab a couple of HTs and try to get over that first hill. No guarantee that you could somehow extrapolate the results, but it scales to only ~2.5 miles and might tell you something.

Good to know. Thanks!

Not a modeler, but I've found this useful: https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/

Ah, that's right, the offsets are fixed in GMRS. Duh. If the small repeater's RX was something other than 462 it might work, but then it wouldn't be GMRS would it? I'm familiar with the network linking. Thanks!

Probably a stupid question from a noob but I'll try it anyway: Any reason one could not set up a small repeater just big enough to reach the mega repeater down the street, i.e. the small TX = the mega RX? TIA, and Happy New Year!

What would one suggest for an Airstream? Is this the other extreme, a ground plane motherload?

Ah, got it. Yeah, 446 won't work. Thanks!

I'm thinking about brining my GMRS radio to Germany, assuming there is anything to hear. I'll stay away from the PTT button, so there are no licensing issues. Thoughts?