WSAQ296

So they've changed the application process? Used to be, get FRN (or log in to acct if you already have one). Apply for new license, (type ZA) and fill out info. Pay $35 and wait. Now you say they process first and then ask for money?

WSLP625 Congrats!

I got the 97L for a song, 280 bucks shipped. Open box, brand new. Everything was with it. Ebay, at the right place/time. Really a solid unit and I was showing 26 watts out into dummy load. The pistar/allstar setup can control or just announce. Can give you a courtesy tone, annoucnements, and skywarn plus. I like tinkering with it. Setup was rasperry pi - URIx radio interface- repeater. The pi and URIx are always wired the same, but the pinout (db25) to repeater can differ. The 97L was pretty easy. Not sure you'll get COS, PTT and audio in/out from your mobile radio setup. Only because I'm not familiar with the radios you'll be using.

How close are you to this repeater? mygmrs only allows so fine of a tuning of that ' it'll work here' circle. Many times those are the extreme reaches, with a mobile. Often many times repeaters are off the air, or being changed. I know of a repeater owner that uses a RT97L as his base also, so at night when he doesn't care to be disturbed he turns it off. Poof, no local repeater until dawn. I wouldn't beat myself up until you've 1. contacted the owner and verified settings and location and 2. Been close enough to make sure you're in to it. Just hearing the squelch tail back does not mean you're legible in to the machine. Your programming looks good as far as tx/rx and tones. I rarely use a rx tone, until I know I have things right. Can't tell because the columns are covered, but also try Wide vs Narrow where ever that is set. (it looks like it's on wide now).

Well, you're hitting it. How well is the difference between 2watts or 5. I listen every day to people who blather on, after being told they aren't solid in to the repeater. But they hear a voice and a courtesy tone and it's off to the races! at 60 miles, short of a hilltop repeater, you are likely not making any friends getting in to the repeater at 1.5 watts.

Fun to build. But I happened upon a RT97L and other than the repeater ID it's all there. Built in,weatherproof. A pi-star with hamvoip or allstar on it can easily do repeater id, weather alerts, and custom announcements. I could deploy this with a vehicle mounted antenna in minutes, and it'd run until the dc source stopped. One connection (Okay two, power and antenna), easily programmed, and also capable as a local/base part of the equation. Antenna feedline loss is always the killer on low power repeaters. Best to get the whole setup as high as possible, and then reduce feedline. The skywarn stuff, is available on a allstar node, you can build it all, lots of tutorials. Mine is not 'linkable'. My raspberry pi-4, URI-x, and a serial cable make it easy. There are other tricks for radios without pinouts for COS, ptt, etc. Easiest is to use a sound card interface on the pi that actually is a uhf transmitter.

The form factor doesn't thrill me. Radios need to be durable and look it. This looks like it's less durable than an Iphone, and was built for functions, not longevity. I appreciated the review. Lots of PoC stuff out there, and everyone is playing their game a little different.

The very first post was about him thinking it wasn't programmed right because when he changed channels he didn't see the frequency on the ANI display window. " my issue is when i check the repeater the only thing being displayed and changed is the channel numbers so in other words uf i send 16 channels to repeater all 16 will go in and i can use the up and down button on repeater to scroll through them but nothing displayed on screen as in alpha"

I found this thread late, but for those wondering, the repeater does NOT HAVE a frequency display, so the original question was an invalid one, as nothing you can do will have it display frequencies. Also, to the last question, 30 watts out of a flat pack duplexer isn't unusual on a 'maybe' 50 watt radio, specially if the duplexer was purchased and not custom tuned by someone locally. My duplexer (costs as much as this repeater, used) only takes about 9-10 watts away. That's why people poo-poo the flat packs. That, and a heavy use repeater at 50 watts in will likely saturate that flat pack duplexer at some point.

Shouldn't that be H.A.M. and eggs?

That's not what made you go blind, OR what put the hair on your knuckles.

And then there's the hobbiest that keeps his eyes open for opportunities. I was given 3 MTR2000's by a property owner that discovered them in his mechanical space, best we could tell, part of a system discontinued 10+ years ago. No owner/tenant for them now. Traded one for a good duplexer, no flat pack stuff. DB-411 antenna for 100 bucks from a commercial shop that had upgraded someone, another 100 for a 40 foot telescoping mast. The MTR's even came with 4 foot of racking to mount it all in. Short run of antenna cable and poof. Oh, repurposed a raspberry pi, 10 bucks for some db-25 connectors and 90 bucks for a controller interface for the mtr200. Really pretty cheap for mine. Was good, since it's rarely used. (I live very rurally). But it was fun! Now, if I hadn't hoarded equipment first it might have been cheap, but I still have a VXR-7000, a moto 1225 repeater set, and a few flat pack duplexers. I'll wait for the right person to come along, if I sell/give it to the wrong person they become a pain in my side.

Couple of things. Height. You'll want it. Users, you'll need them. 40 foot above average terrain will get you 6 to 10 miles out, depending on terrain and users radios. You can use the fcc sight (now that it's back up hopefully?) to search on GMRS license by zip code. Or get a premium membership here and pull a list for your whole state and sort the pdf. See how many licensed users are in the area you might cover. Here in south central Michigan, we've got a plethera of local GMRS repeaters, and a few powerhouse repeaters. They serve their communities well, if needed, but are fairly quiet most times. For me it was certainly more of a curiosity than a neccesity, but the repeaters all serve a purpose when needed. Mine ideally was put up to allow coverage on the section of the Grand River near me, where cell coverage often lacks due to terrain. Now, hopefully some day, others will find that need LOL.

Yeah, and the local drugstore could replace the hygiene products with more snacks. I camped once in a large campground for a swap meet. Enough space for many of us to set up for HF. Luckily most of us played nice and alternated bands so as not to clobber thy neighbor. But when the wind hit just right, it got gamey!

Or, reword it to say "ARRL Membership is at an all time low so they're trying to resurrect this issue in an effort to gain members". We all fell for this once, and we got nothing in return other than a strongly worded act that had no legal backing to it.

Trust me, if they didn't want them coming off, they wouldn't/couldn't. I was first in line in the FRS craze 30 years ago (ish) and they made sure they were integrated antennas. Many radios were 'caught in the car door' and antenna casings broken and extended. It worked, but looked like garbage.

Thank you, and interesting. Btech's new GMRS pro radios are designed to do just that, and have removeable antennas. I know, as I was just hanging with the repeater owners for central Michigan last Saturday and one of them had one. But I see they 'loctite' it from the factory, so it takes a little work (or lack of knowledge that it shouldn't come off. Thanks for the education! (Now I get to beat on the guy with the GMRS pro LOL)

You've gotten your answer, send it back. Likely someone else did too, and when they did they said 'new unopened' on their return form. So it got sent out again. As far as GMRS, the antennas are not glued on. GMRS allows external antennas. FRS, does not. So you may find if an imported FRS radio is sold, it may have the antenna glued on. Typically they're just molded in the radio.

Yeah, I spent an hour the other night slowly spelling out an email to a '50 year ham' (I spelled slow so he could read it slowly) that rules change. It was in regards to another now defunct GMRS 'rule'.

Huh?

It is amazing and frustrating how so many will fall back on 4-8 year old posts about line A, and not read the current rules. We've had this battle locally, and still the mumbles. It's just not there, as you know. Like building codes, when they remove one, they don't let you know, it's just gone.

Midland calls it a ghost, others call it a 'phantom' antenna. There are ground plane kits for it, nmo mount with radials. Works nicely for wall or mast mounting. Myself if I decide to mount using the ground plane kit, I go with a 3 db stainless whip. Little more to capture signals.

Copy as of yesterday, if you could highlight the part about line A or C, or 462.7 for me please, I am unable to find it. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-E?toc=1

what version are you reading? I downloaded the most recent copy the day you posted this, and the line A is not listed anywhere in the document. (CFR 47 part 95 subpart E, reading 95.1705. And 95.1763 is gone altogether. A word search on the document finds the word canada missing altogether, per 95.1733.

And if your repeater is AC power based (as many are) just get a wifi smart plug. Easy Peasy.