Ian

Don't assume the coverage shown on the map display in My GMRS is accurate. It's a generalization based on assumptions such a antenna height, efficiency and generally flat terrain. Software that uses more accurate Longley-Rice propagation models are very expensive and those do include terrain modeling showing coverage holes used by hills and ridges.

I'd like to be able to see the map with __all__ coverage circles __at the same time.__ Should make it much easier to tell where repeater coverage is required!

I think the FCC let the cat out of bag with ‘Channel Numbers’ for GMRS when they allowed hybrid FRS/GMRS radios years ago. The masses do not easily relate to frequencies, only channels (think TV, FRS, etc.). FRS radios before hybriding (if that is a term?) were originally 1-14 so the hybrids with GMRS became 1-24 with 1-14 remaining unchanged. And now with repeater support they are all 1-30.

Every FRS, Hybrid, and now the newer GRMS radio hav the concept of “channel numbers”; they are the memory numbers of the radio. On the programmable ones, the default programming of the part 95e radios uses the same memory numbers to represent the same frequencies, without exception to date. Since the programmable radios also allow for a custom name for the memory channel, they all are labeled as ‘GMRS 1’, ‘GMRS 21”, etc…).

While there are many long-time GMRSrs that have never thought of GMRS frequencies in terms of ‘Channel Numbers’, for better or worse, the manufacturers of type certified radios appear to have all adopted the use of the same number to mean the same frequency. Users that think in frequencies will now need to do some mental flip-flopping. Good for building brain cell connections I guess.




Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

For years GMRS 462.675 was the emergency channel in many folks area's as channel 9 was in CB. Many REACT teams had repeaters for this channel. Prior to SAR in CNY React had a repeater and got given to SAR when React faded. It is still on the air to this day on 462.675. While it was used more for SAR stuff before local VHF systems flourished it was used randomly by hikers on the FLT. There is alot out there on GMRS 462.675 (CH20) being used for this. I knw many monitor this channel while traveling still (my Priority) with the travel tone. 
As said in the end unless the FCC designates a frequency its going to be up to an individual or area to use what they want. Personally I think CH1 is the smartest channel as most never leave it.  On my last Jeep ride that's basically the channel they said to go to if you can't get an answer on the trail channel.  My guess is its simple and basic and most radios all match on CH1. If you use the travel PL on it you wont hear all the FRS users who just got a Christmas radio. 
On a similar topic State of Wyoming designated Channel 3 and PL7 (307) as a search and rescue channel. People are giving 100 reasons why it wont work. So no matter what gets picked some will like it and some wont. 
As for scratching the Line A idea I can't argue as it takes forever to get public safety and LMR licenses above Line A also, but its the rules. Saying to disregard the rules is not what GMRS users should be promoting. We should be promoting following the rules as well as getting a license. 
 
 

I wish people would do some basic research first about travel tones for open repeaters and the semi official channel 20 for travel. A simple Google search lists a bunch of references on this topic.
If people just used what has been the norm for years instead of trying to change it maybe we would have more people using it.
 

Really, if they added a dedicated jack for the off-the-shelf ID-o-Matic board, that'd solve like every single problem in one fell swoop.

I always ask "How much radio do you need?"
But I also have an unhealthy obsession with "vehicular repeaters" and wireless speaker-mics.  So take this with a grain of salt.
But sometimes you really don't need much radio -- range or power -- to achieve your goals.  We should really be encouraging small garage repeaters on Open Repeater Initiative configurations; there's a lot of coverage holes, and this would help with that.

Its a waste of hardware and resource to need so many radios to accomplish what is a simple software setting. Make a big warning appear when you turn on 2/70 or other bands. Installing three radios in the truck is just silly and wasteful. The FCC needs to do better on this front.

Midland has not yet announced an official release date for the 500 or 575 ...  I have both.. but I'm not yet allowed to talk about them... ?
 

Alright.  Since I am the guy with the tens of thousands of dollars setup and the commercial install I believe I need to interject here.  Never did I say that a small repeater system is useless.  And there are COMMERCIAL repeaters available that ARE indeed two mobiles in a box with a controller between them.  And those work find if that is all you need. 
My point was if you are going to put up a big commercial grade install that you need to NOT pull the crap of wanting fee's paid for access, as this level of install has a huge footprint that will interfere with other repeaters on the same frequency in that footprint.  And the frequency resource is limited for repeaters.  I am all for guys that want to put up a repeater on their roof or short TV tower and be able to talk 8 or 10 miles.  This sort of thing SHOULD be encouraged.  But you still need to be aware of others on the frequency and try to find a quiet pair to set your repeater up on.   
The other thing that needs to be said here is IF you are going to stick an antenna WAY up in the air and cover a 60 to 80 mile radius, you DO need to have good commercial equipment and not two portables with a back to back cable between them and a cheap duplexer.  And here's the reason.  If you are the only one that will be using it, and the usage is light, it don't matter.  But with a big coverage footprint there is a good chance that it will see a lot of use and portable radios are NOT designed to be run at that duty cycle.  The commercial repeaters I use for GMRS are 100% CCS (continuous commercial service) rated.  This means they are designed to be transmitting up to 100% of the time, 27/7/365 and live.  If you were to try that with the two back to back mobiles the transmitter would not survive the abuse, even with a fan and additional cooling.   Now, my repeaters are only logging 30 to 45 minutes of use a day currently... but that number keeps increasing.  And that's fine.  I built it to run all the time, and offer it for free to all licensed users in the coverage area to use at their leisure.  But I would hate to see someone put in inferior gear at some remote site and it die when it was needed.  That situation is actually worse in my mind than it not being there at all.  Because if it's needed and expected to be operational.  And that operational repeater is part of someones emergency plan, then it needs to work as such. 
 
 

Ultimately, my goal with a garage repeater is essentially a chunky base station radio with a pocket-sized "terminal".  But I live in a coverage gap between all the repeaters in the area.  When conditions are good, I can occasionally hear one ID.  95% of the time, I hear nothing from them; 100% of the time, I can't open them up.
 
I think there's a role for the garage repeater, but that role goes away if there's preexisting good coverage.

"A repeater that is beneficial to the end user" can be quite limited in reach, if it covers a small, user-dense, area with no cellphone coverage, though.  Low-altitude, low-power, and transportable systems can be extremely valuable.  You just can't pretend you're going to blanket a whole ZIP code with two potatofengs.  Understanding and evaluating your requirements is the first step in speccing out any system, be it radio, computer, or chemical plant, for that matter.  Frankly, festivals and such are probably 30% of my use case, all of which can be covered by a truck mounted repeater without much trouble.  (It helps that the fairgrounds slope away from the parking area, in my case - but again, understanding and evaluating requirements.)
 
Mobile Repeaters can be done!

I'd like to be able to see the map with __all__ coverage circles __at the same time.__ Should make it much easier to tell where repeater coverage is required!

MXT275 is the way to go. Throw the mic in the glove box or center console and no one knows its there. 

I'd like to be able to see the map with __all__ coverage circles __at the same time.__ Should make it much easier to tell where repeater coverage is required!

We'd have to rename it something like "guaranteed minimum radio service."  :-P
 
I've had the same fantasy, but I'm not going to get emotionally involved without a path to agitating for the cause.
 
Edit:  Anonymous delivers, and so do I:  https://www.retevis.com/handheld-gmrs-two-way-radio-rt76

https://www.retevis.com/shop/Mobile-GMRS-repeater-RT97-Handheld-GMR-Radio-RT76/
 
Two handhelds and a repeater for $457.  Be still my heart!
 
I think I could use like four of these things, including one for the truck.

Very good point for us newbies!
I have found repeaters not listed here, but local in the area.  I figured that the repeater owner would not hear me trying to locate the CTCSS until I had found the correct code to get  tone or, no static.
 
I am on the very outer edges of two repeaters AND ONLY HAVE LIMITED time in areas that I can make contact in the mobile situation I am in.  But I have found one owner that now listens for me every Weds morning as I pass thru an active area where we can chat.  Hes happy his equipment is reaching the far and I'm a happy to know my rig is actually working as designed too.  

If the transmitter is at the antenna along with the necessary power the the transmitter can be coupled with Bluetooth with the GMRS (or other service) transmitter sending the signal. What people are assuming is there needs to be coax involved. The transmitter is part of the antenna. Think cellular BDAs or WiFi range extender.

The Retevis RT76 is everything I hoped it would be, and no more.  This pleases me greatly.  What I wanted was a dumb-as-bricks radio I could hand to "limited users" (hereafter, "lusers") with little they could screw up but changing the channel unintentionally and turning the volume too low.  As a result, I am very fond of this radio.  It is … nearly perfect.  Side-button 1 is limited to "alarm" and there's no scan mode I can bind instead; disabling the ability to start transmitting an alarm tone (AKA "jamming signal") with an unintended button press is possible, but it doesn't let you bind a function you want in its place -- and indeed, there is no scan function.  This is the only thing separating this thing from perfection.
 
The Retevis RT76P is… Not so pleasing.  The menu doesn't function as the manual describes, the menu won't let you change wide-narrow in spite of letting you select it; hitting the "confirm" button causes the radio to say "Canceled".  It has a scan function!  But you still can't reprogram SK1 to scan.  Until this thing gets a firmware update, it's hot garbage.  Feels like a Baofeng missing a few buttons, and with worse translation in the menus.  It looks like it had potential, but the potential was squandered.  Still don't regret purchasing it, though; I have a spare charger and battery for my RT76 which I love.  This one… I don't.  Avoid.
 
Edit:  Just tried the programming software.  Instead of flashing the codeplug I just created (not compatible with RT76 codeplugs, natch; this thing has nothing internally in common with the RT76, I'm sure) it unlocked the 2M amateur band and changed the CTCSS on channel 1 to 2100 Hz.  This thing is in dire need of some day-1 DLC.  
 
Edit:  As of February 2024, the most recent firmware for the RT76P (released quite a while ago, actually) is genuinely functional.  It works with the CPS, it works with CHIRP, and the menu on the front panel works as intended.  This has gone from a hard pass to a recommend for me.  The one remaining pain point is that the top side-key is not programmable, and is hard locked to setting the S-code and sending an alarm tone.  If anyone needs a cheap GMRS jammer, this thing here will do the deed…  S-code is like some kind of poor man's trunking system.  It'd be suitable for large worksites with a limited number of frequencies, but GMRS licensing is incompatible with those use-cases, so … this "feature" is still essentially useless.  
 
What I'd like to see in the next firmware revision is the option to drop both functions from SK1.  This will open up SK2 for a monitor function, while still allowing you to activate both broadcast FM and weather radio modes, which are far more useful than the proprietary PTTID function.  In addition, if you want a PTTID function, Retevis, may I suggest something that uses either audible or modulated-CTCSS tones to broadcast the user's callsign in fast Morse?  

Update 2:  Wrote a review of the 76 and 76P.  
 
TL;DR:  76 is recommended, 76P is not.

First:  WELCOME!  Welcome to the forum, welcome to the hobby.
 
Second:  The Midland magmount is disposable.  The environmental sealing around the magnet lasts about a year, then the magnet rusts and the thing falls apart.  
 
Third:  What kind of car do you have?
 
Fourth:  What do you mean by "clean install"?  Do you want it in-dash, or just screwed to it with a bracket?  Me, for example, I went for the MXT275 and a passthrough mount.  When done, it'll look utterly factory and stealth.  Other options I've considered was ripping out the stock head unit for a single-DIN unit with CarPlay, and a single-DIN two-way radio below it.  (None of the links constitute an endorsement, just an example.)
 
Fifth:  Nagoya now makes an antenna specifically tuned for GMRS.  This may be your best bet.  (This is an endorsement)

Ultimately, my goal with a garage repeater is essentially a chunky base station radio with a pocket-sized "terminal".  But I live in a coverage gap between all the repeaters in the area.  When conditions are good, I can occasionally hear one ID.  95% of the time, I hear nothing from them; 100% of the time, I can't open them up.
 
I think there's a role for the garage repeater, but that role goes away if there's preexisting good coverage.

Retevis RT76 is as close to that as you're going to get.
You'll have to do all the programming up front (BaoFeng cable) but after that, it's just a knob with thirty channels, the last eight of which are repeater inputs.

I'm betting the Retevis with a J-pole will do the job, but you'll want something like a solar charger to avoid killing your car battery.
 
re: SamCom, they sell them as GMRS certified, but I have my doubts...