mcallahan

Kevin Custer W3KKC at repeater-builder.com does a pretty good job of explaining everything that one would need to build a repeater: http://www.repeater-builder.com/rbtip/repeater101.html eBay also has pre-assemebled repeaters like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/GMRS-Ham-prepper-30w-CDR700-UHF-16ch-Repeater-S-split-450-512mHZ-free-prog/283041647587

I was finally able to complete the mobile shack install, here's some pics. Radios, from top to bottom: Uniden BCD996P2 Kenwood TK-8180 (GMRS) Kenwood TM-281A (2m) I also keep a spare CB radio in the truck, just in case: Check out the complete install thread on RadioReference: https://forums.radioreference.com/pictures-your-shack-mobile-setup/372941-k7mfc-mobile-shack-2013-f-150-lariat-4x4.html

Looks like that may be the case. According to the specifications for the GMRS-V1 listed on Baofeng's website, the output power is 0.5W / 2W. https://baofengtech.com/gmrs-v1

I posted my home made center console mount here a while ago: https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/1169-finally-ditched-the-mag-mount-and-drilled-some-holes/ I'll update that post soon with the latest configuration, I've swapped out some radios since then. I have a center console shiftier in my 2013 F-150 so I was pretty much limited to the arm rest storage area for radio installs. There's plenty of room and it's definitely great for the inconspicuous part, but it is also a big compromise on usability.

Post some pics of yours when it's complete! What vehicle are you installing the radio(s) in?

It sounds OK with the arm rest closed and audio is still intelligible, but it is a bit muffled obviously. There is room for the mic cable to be fed outside when the arm rest is down, presumably put there by Ford for phone chargers and such. Sometimes I leave the armrest up, especially when operating the scanner. What I am planning on doing though is taking the truck to a shop that specializes in interiors, and seeing if they would be able to modify or build me something custom that will allow me to completely remove the arm rest so I can set it aside and have easier access to the radios, and pop it back on when the radios are not in use.

Yep - here's a better picture of the radios as I was programming the scanner: That is one benefit of the center console armrest install - the radios are out of sight, and they don't attract any unwanted attention. That's kind of the theme/look I'm going for with my install. I'm not really trying to advertise the radios anywhere on the truck. The all black antennas are barely noticeable at a distance, blending into the background or the black color of the truck itself, and no radios are visible from the outside looking in.

I built the mount myself with 3/4" plywood and 1x2 pine. The base drops into the center console, and I attach each radio at the base with some bolts and wingnuts. Here's a pic before I painted it black

Being one of the last cool Saturdays left before summer hits here in Phoenix, I finally got around to drilling and mounting some antennas on the roof of my 2013 crew cab F-150 4x4, 3.5 EcoBoost. The truck has a sun roof which significantly limits antenna placement. With the sun roof fully open, I was able to place both antennas 12" from the rear of the roof to clear everything. Not ideal, but it works MUCH better than the mag mount I had been using. Stretches of highway on my commute that were completely deaf to our local repeater when using the mag mount antenna I can now hit easily. Here's the final result: I picked up a Laird X-ACT hole saw from a local radio shop and it worked great. Holes marked and masked - measure twice, cut once! I got a great tip from a fellow AGRC member which was to put down a protective layer above the headliner when it was dropped down in order to catch all the mess from drilling and sanding; I laid down an old towel on top of the headliner before I got started. I used gorilla tape to keep the coax from flopping around, and ran both cables behind the rear passenger side airbag (super important!), down the rear pillar and under the door trim up to the center console. Antennas installed - in the photo is a Laird QWD144 1/4 wave 2m on the right and a Larid BB4502N 1/2 wave UHF for GMRS on the left: I also have a Larsen 150/450/800 on the front fender for my scanner: I currently have a Uniden BCD996P2 and a Motorla CDM1250 installed in the truck; an Kenwood 2M rig will be in there soon: Action shot!

Being realistic, there is minimal possibility of causing harmful interference and obviously the FCC won't be sending jack booted thugs thru the door the second you key up. But considering this is a GMRS forum, nobody here will help you use any radios in any illegal fashion, on GMRS or any other band. The bottom line is that there is no scenario where you can use those Retevis RT5 (re-branded Baofeng UV-5) radios on the GMRS band (with or without a license) and be in full FCC compliance, as the radios lack the proper FCC type certification.

I'd agree with Hans - I'm a radio communications enthusiast. Being a GMRS operator is just one part of that. My main interest as a radio enthusiast is applications in off-roading, camping, outdoor recreation, etc. Many people here in AZ can relate or at least see the benefits of having a two way radio, as there is extensive forest and desert area where cell phone coverage is sparse or non-existent.

Someone on the radioreference.com forums was kind enough to send some replacement bulbs for my Realistic Patrolman the other day. I swapped out the bad bulbs last night and the radio now has a permanent home on my desk:

Ah yeah my mistake, I looked up his callsign but definitely misread or confused his license page with another.

This guy's blog posts sum it up pretty well, but the long and short of it was that a board member was censured for dissenting opinion, all hell broke lose, etc. Basically revealing what a dinosaur of an organization it is. Part 1: http://www.kb6nu.com/heck-arrl-board-thinking/ Part 2: http://www.kb6nu.com/heck-arrl-board-thinking-wait-theres/ What I find weird is that the current president is only a tech: http://www.arrl.org/president For me, ARRL membership offers not much benefit so I have never joined.

> I know that with Ham we need to have at least 4 people to start a club, is it similar to GMRS? That's only if you want to be an ARRL-affiliated club (and honestly, who would want to be affiliated with them anymore after recent headlines..)

Come see what the Arizona GMRS Repeater Club is all about at our next lunch get-together! No club business to be discussed, just a good time to sit, eat, and talk about GMRS! The meeting will be held at Barro's Pizza in Glendale, AZ (67th Ave & Loop-101) on Saturday, Feb 3 at 11:00 AM. Current and prospective members are invited to attend - Facebook event invitation here: https://www.facebook.com/events/819018661639790/ Check out the club website too! https://www.gmrs1900.net/

I got a good chuckle at that too. If you did purchase this new in 1973 though, you would indeed have had many years of use before 800 MHz, trunked, and digital systems became widespread. I don't exactly know when, but the UHF-T band was opened up for public safety land-mobile use in certain cities at some point. Growing up in the Chicago area, many suburban agencies were operating in the 470 MHz range, just above the receive range of this radio. I still hear plenty on this radio though. Phoenix metro area FD still simulcasts on the same VHF frequency they've been using for years, and the state police are still on a conventional UHF system. Rural agencies in Arizona are still largely on VHF, and with a roof antenna I can hear many of the surrounding counties. I'm currently working on fixing up this radio a bit, including replacing the bulbs on the dial. I'll post some pics in the near future when I have it all fixed up!

Definitely never seen a Tompkins Tunaverter before, very cool! Here's something I picked up last week - a Realistic Patrolman Pro 3A: I found this on eBay for $35 and is in good cosmetic and working condition. Here is the original Radio Shack catalog ad from 1973 (image courtesy of RadioShackCatalogs.com). The MSRP of $179.95 is a little over $1000 today! http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1973/pages/171.jpg

The 15W Midland is a pretty decent radio from what I've read, but the stock antenna is your bottleneck. You should see a significant increase in RX and TX signal quality with a high gain antenna. Make sure the antenna is cut to the right length as well. RG-58 should be sufficient for short cable runs and you won't be breaking the bank. The ranges you see people reporting here are about what you can expect. Assuming there are no obstacles between both stations (trees, buildings, hills, etc), and both antennas are about 6 feet off the ground, you should be able to reliably talk about 5-6 miles at 15 watts. This range will obviously drop in urban/forested/hilly/noisy RF environments. You may want to check out this VHF/UHF line of sight calculator to get a better estimate of range: http://www.qsl.net/kd4sai/distance.html

I haven't been down to Tucson in a while but I don't recall hearing much GMRS activity on the repeaters listed on mygmrs. If you're headed up to PHX, have a listen to the AGRC repeater on 462.5500 MHz. It is located on top of the White Tanks and has a massive footprint, covering the entire PHX metro area and well beyond. It reaches pretty far down I-10 as well. The repeater is open to members only, buy on Tuesdays we activate the travel tone on 141.3 Hz and guests are welcome to say "hi." The first and third Tuesdays of each month we host the AGRC 1900 Net, which is also open for guests to check in and see what the club is all about. Although we do not operate any repeaters in Tucson, membership is open to everyone in AZ (or anywhere in the USA) if you're interested. If membership is something you're interested in and you do get a repeater up and running, we would love to include it on our repeater page as well. https://www.gmrs1900.net/about-us/repeaters https://www.gmrs1900.net/about-us/membership-options PHX High Power 550 footprint:

I'm curious as to why you chose the Nagoya NA-701C antenna to use on the GMRS-V1? That antenna is a dual band VHF/UHF antenna, and I can't imagine it would perform as well as a UHF specific antenna. The stock antenna on the GMRS-V1 I have found to be very excellent.

In that case you may want to use "split tones." This is means the that TX and RX tones are different - for example TX on 467.675 MHz with DCS tone 654 and RX on 462.675 with DCS tone 172. Our club repeater uses this strategy to help limit interference. There is even a repeater in my area that uses a digital tone for TX and an analog tone for RX. The caveat here is that many radios are not capable of operating with split tones - the recent Midland GMRS offerings are not capable of using split tones as far as I know. A split tone strategy can help limit interference and people inadvertently keying up your repeater, but this is not a silver bullet. A persistent repeater jammer can easily thwart this strategy.

Hello and welcome! How do you like the MXT400?

Not "old" old, but here's a weird scanner from the 90s I still have laying around - a Sony Wavehawk ICF-SC1 which I bought around 1999 or 2000. I remember not being able to afford the PC-programmable version of this radio, but it was my first 800 MHz scanner (upgraded from a Radio Shack Pro-71) and I could finally listen to the local county sheriff at the time. I also remember performing a mod that I read about on a Yahoo Groups forum which would open the frequency range up to 200 KHz - 1300 MHz which was really awesome.