ROBV60schwifty

Why does every new license holder want to setup a repeater? I would like to shed a little light on some of the important things to consider if you recently got your GMRS license and now want your own repeater.
 
First thing to consider, are there any open well placed repeaters in your area that you are able to use? I can assure you most repeater owners want people to use there repeater. Owning several repeaters I can assure you all are welcome and encouraged to use my machines.
 
Do you have access to a location to host your repeater? If your answer is your garage roof you should reconsider. Your garage roof will give you about the same coverage as simplex. Unless you’re on top of a mountain and all your users are at the bottom you will never be happy with this setup.
 
GMRS is not as popular as one would like to think, unless your repeater covers 20 miles or more you may find you only have 1 or 2 users in the area. Unless you already have a group of friends together you may want to consider this before spending money on a decent well positioned site to install your repeater.
 
So you found a nice high site and the price is right, all you need to do is get the repeater installed, sounds simple right? Some thigs to consider first and foremost are the costs because they can add up quickly. Are you on a commercial tower that requires a license and bonded climber? If so this could be by far your largest expense depending on your area. I have spent $600 to $1200 on a climber; I have had quotes as high as $2500 depending on the amount of work and heights involved.  Keep in mind commercial sites require certified mounts, hard line cable, cable clamps, engineered grounding solutions and commercial grade antennas. No tower owner is going to let you install a comet antenna and 200’ of braided shield coax.
 
This brings me to my next point, the antenna. Because of the costs involved with climbers you will want to expend your budget on the antenna. Remember a $2000 repeater on a $200 antenna is going to work about as good as a $200 repeater.  Whereas a $200 repeater on a $2000 antenna is going to work like a $2000 repeater. On my first repeater I was gifted use of a 150’ tower, I installed a DB-420 on the top and 160’ of 7/8 hardline. Total cost of equipment for the antenna install was $2500, with the climbers labor coming in at an additional $800. This left me with enough to purchase an old Motorola R100 repeater running at 25W. To my surprise it had 30 miles of coverage, all due to the cash spent on the antenna and waiting for a decent spot.
 
Things happen, more so if you have an antenna 200’ in the air with a conductive cable connected to sensitive electronics. Antenna issues, feedline issues, repeater issues all cost money and I promise at some point you will have issues that need repair and require your money!
 
It is my opinion that the GMRS community does not need another 2 to 5 miles repeater as it just becomes background noise. What use is a public listed repeater if somebody in a mobile can’t use it 5 miles away while moving or the portable coverage is only a mile? If after reading this you are still going to build a repeater for your garage more power to you, just don’t expect 20 people to show up if it only reaches a mile.
 
As the owner of several GMRS and Commercial repeaters I can attest to the amount of money and effort go into my repeaters. I have only touched on the basics, if you add in any kind of testing services, duplexer tuning, addition of a combiner channel to an existing tower system, RF engineering, rent and insurance your costs can sky rocket. The best advice I can give any new licensee is to try and use the available systems in the area. Take the time to learn a little about what you’re doing and to assess the usability of the service before investing in a repeater for the sole reason of saying you own one.

"Fars."

Yes on the proper channels as already stated and you’re not running an amp.   Just 50w out of the radio to the antenna and you’re good.   Heck you can even run a 5w radio with a 50w amp.   Then the antenna can be what ever you want.  I run a 20w base with a 9db antenna and get over 200miles.  A friend runs a 50w radio and a 12db gain yagi directional antenna and does VERY well for distance but only in one direction.  

50w at the radio.  That is why it’s totally ok for guys to run 50w radios and 12db gain yaggis. 

This ^
But it depends on the channels.  Some channels don't allow that much and some channels require ERP calculations.
§ 95.1767 GMRS transmitting power limits.
This section contains transmitting power limits for GMRS stations. The maximum transmitting power depends on which channels are being used and the type of station.
(a) 462/467 MHz main channels. The limits in this paragraph apply to stations transmitting on any of the 462 MHz main channels or any of the 467 MHz main channels. Each GMRS transmitter type must be capable of operating within the allowable power range. GMRS licensees are responsible for ensuring that their GMRS stations operate in compliance with these limits.
   (1) The transmitter output power of mobile, repeater and base stations must not exceed 50 Watts.
   (2) The transmitter output power of fixed stations must not exceed 15 Watts. (You'll probably never need to know this)
(b) 462 MHz interstitial channels. The effective radiated power (ERP) of mobile, hand-held portable and base stations transmitting on the 462 MHz interstitial channels must not exceed 5 Watts.
(c) 467 MHz interstitial channels. The effective radiated power (ERP) of hand-held portable units transmitting on the 467 MHz interstitial channels must not exceed 0.5 Watt. Each GMRS transmitter type capable of transmitting on these channels must be designed such that the ERP does not exceed 0.5 Watt.

So I'm a member of the NGGMRS network, because getting access to 20 linked, professionaly designed and maintained repeaters, covering a few thousand square miles for around $90 a year is one heck of a bargain in my book!

I don't really have an issue with them charging, its their equipment, I just don't necessarily want to be compelled to join because I cant connect to anything else in the area because someone may be monopolizing the channels. Doesn't really matter all that much, as I only got into GMRS mainly for emergency simplex communication, but it would be nice to, say,  get some traffic updates or something like that when Im in the car, that might require connecting to a repeater, from time to time. I imagine it wont be an issue if the repeaters don't overlap and/or they use different tones.    ....?

Im not really concerned about the quality of the free ones, just whether or not they get "overtaken" by the more powerful ones, that I can't access without buying a membership. Seems there is an organization in GA who have a lot of repeaters, covering the vast majority of the northern part of the state, that restrict access via a membership. My understanding is that they may be using most of the available 8 repeater channels. Maybe Im thinking about this wrong, I am quite green with all this. 

Welcome to GMRS. Can't say concerning repeaters in Georgia. I live in Texas and most repeaters here (both GMRS and ham) are free to use. Repeaters that cost are not necessarily better or more powerful that the free ones. None of them (GMRS) can be more than 50W anyway. There is a real good chance that the free ones are just as good in most cases and the paid ones.

The repeaters, tower space, utilities, and  real estate, whether rented or purchased, all cost the owner money. They’re allowed to charge enough to cover their costs but not to make a profitable business out of it. 
People who incur those costs and then freely share their repeaters with others deserve a higher place in heaven. 

If the frequencies are different they shouldn’t interfere with each other. 
Two nearby repeaters on the same frequency could cause interference with each other regardless of whether they have different tones. Tones don’t prevent interference. 
 

I've no idea how much it costs to maintain a network like theirs, I imagine its quite expensive. I do know they said they had 400 new subscribers last year, according to a video from 3 months ago. So, 400 users times $90/year is a pretty good chunk of change, ( not counting existing users, the website says they have 550 active, not sure if that includes the 400 new ones or what the total is of active/non-active. ) but when they say it costs ~$9000 just to install and support ONE repeater site, that $36k from the 400 new members would only support 4 of their 29 sites! So, I certainly get the need and desire to charge for access. I wish it were a little more affordable for ME, though, haha. I mean its only $7.50/month but with my lack of travel and there being a good, available and open repeater just 6 miles down the road from me, I don't know that I can justify it, yet. I'm cheap.  As I travel more, It may be worth it going forward just to have the access because their coverage is quite extensive.

I see, thank you for the clarification. 

I don't really have an issue with them charging, its their equipment, I just don't necessarily want to be compelled to join because I cant connect to anything else in the area because someone may be monopolizing the channels. Doesn't really matter all that much, as I only got into GMRS mainly for emergency simplex communication, but it would be nice to, say,  get some traffic updates or something like that when Im in the car, that might require connecting to a repeater, from time to time. I imagine it wont be an issue if the repeaters don't overlap and/or they use different tones.    ....?

Hello GMRS "gang",
After a few postings and reflection, it is clear that GMRS owners need to make an orientation video, and/or hold a group zoom for new users before allowing access. This will be my approach 100%. In this meeting or video, politely addressing operational guidelines and expectations up front would really help! Because new users have no idea what to do, and seasoned and fresh "hammy's" are already going down the wrong path, sound mentorship is the answer. Not a rigorous military drill set, but a practical and open discussion. New users WANT to know what to do, and many "hams" think they know what to do. It is an unhealthy combo for sure. It's about getting along, sharing the resource, and not making the repeater owner want to get two sticks and gouge their eardrums out...