RCM

2w vs 4-5w makes very little difference anyway. The main thing the additional wattage does is heat up the radio and drain the battery. A good antenna is far more important.

Kenwood TK-805D. I've bought a half dozen of these. 16 channel, making them ideal for GMRS. They do repeater splits (even non-standard splits), include PL and DPL, and have front-panel selectable talkaround. 
In other words, you can program a repeater channel and use the same channel for simplex on the output, just by pressing a button.
 
I program all the standard frequency pairs on channels 1-8, which also gives me the standard simplex frequencies.
They do scan all channels, or you can lock out individual channels from scan.
 
They are rated 25 watts, but mine generally run 35-40 out of the box. I've read that most of them do exceed the rated power. They're simple to turn down to as low as 3 watts. You have to pull the top cover, but that's no biggie.
 
They are Part 95 accepted.
 
And here's the best part: They are front panel programmable! You have to move a jumper under the top cover, but it's simple. And you can leave it jumpered so you can reprogram at will. That doesn't affect normal operation.
 
They show up on fleabay quite often, usually for $50-$75 with mounting bracket and microphone. And they are a bargain at that price.
 
One more thing: if you want to use one as the transmitter section of a repeater, a standard 4-conductor telephone cord that you can get for $3 at Walmart plugs right in the mic jack and works fine.

That first link says Larry Waggoner, W0KA was in on this project.  I didn't know he was ever into Phoenix radios, but his big repeater is made from a GE MSTR-II.  Larry is a personal friend of mine, and fellow broadcast engineer.  I have his info in my phone, and talk to him on a regular basis.  If you have any more specific questions, I can call and ask him.

How are you testing to see if you are hitting the repeater? Are you are expecting to hear a beep or squelch tail (a short period of carrier after you unkey your transmitter)? While those features are typical, they are not required and, in many cases, not present. Sometimes the only way to tell if you are activating the repeater is to listen on another radio -- one that is as far away from your transmitter as possible. 
Other than that, there are several possibilities...
- Have you ever heard any traffic on the repeater? It may not even be working.
- The PL tone may have changed from that listed in MyGMRS.
- You may have set your radio to require a PL tone on receive, possibly a different tone than the repeater transmits or forwards - or the repeater may not have PL on the output at all.
- Your signal may not be reaching the repeater. Try driving to some location that is line-of-sight from the repeater and see what happens.
- And, finally, just as a test, you could give your Baofeng a try. You will not get arrested.
 
Good luck, keep trying.

MyGMRS Staff is providing some resource information below, but does not guaranty the accuracy of the data in these links. Use at your own risk.
 
 
Link (1):   http://www.rtzaudio.com/kg4lne/pages/phoenix.html
 
Link (2): https://www.qsl.net/w4xe/rpttech/rpttech211.htm

If that shop is still in business, I'm sure they could tell you which vintage it is.  Heck, if it's the PLL one, they may even program it for you if you slip them $20-25 or so.
 
 
EDIT:  You might also ask them for a copy of the manual, or at least a photocopy of the alignment instructions, and the pin-out for the back connectors.

So I finally got around to programming my controller today, and it went off without a hitch. I set it up for Morse ID and an EOT tone (Morse "K"). Most GMRS repeaters I've heard have nothing except a squelch tail, but that's not how I want to do mine.
The RF chores will be handled by a pair of Kenwood TK-805Ds.

Awesome! I'll check that one out. I'll also make sure to look for the Part 95 certification and offset capability. Thanks!

Check out the Baofeng GMRS-V1 for a decent handheld radio. It's a pretty good radio for about $55 shipped from Amazon.
And, it's type accepted and therefore 100% legal.

Check out the Baofeng GMRS-V1 for a decent handheld radio. It's a pretty good radio for about $55 shipped from Amazon.
And, it's type accepted and therefore 100% legal.

Check out the Baofeng GMRS-V1 for a decent handheld radio. It's a pretty good radio for about $55 shipped from Amazon.
And, it's type accepted and therefore 100% legal.

That is a very good, time-tested and reliable controller. You won't be disappointed with its performance.

No doubt about it. That man was a hero.

Others may disagree with me but that's a brave and compassionate man to order his crew off of the tower and remain there himself to figure out the problem.

I think the Alinco DJ-500TB (Part 90) and the Alinco DJ-500T (Part 97) (practically same radio except label and how it is set at factory) check all of the first list boxes and many of the second list. It is also sold as the Anytone AT 3318UV-A (Part 90). Unfortunately, it doesn't have: alkaline battery option, decent programmable function keys, or BNC antenna connector. However, they are sealed nicely against the elements and sound really good on the air. They run from $80 to $130 on Gigaparts, Newegg, etc. They are very easy to unlock. The DJ-500TB requires a programming cable (generic will work fine) and a freely available dealer program to unlock the keypad. The DJ-500T only requires a key press sequence at power up to unlock it. After the keypad is unlocked, the DJ-500TB requires the same key press sequence to unlock the frequencies. I assume that the Anytone AT 3318UV-A is already unlocked? The Anytone uses a standard Kenwood connector for the speaker mike and the Alinco uses an Icom connector.
 
I'll take a closer look at your posted needs and wants lists and compare to the DJ-500 radios we have here.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone on the forum!

900 MHz also avoids licensing, equipment authorization, and channel availability headaches. Any time there is significant separation ("outside the immediate vicinity of") from the 462/467 MHz transmitter and the person operating it, the transmitter becomes a remote base, and there are some additional restrictions that come into play. Since 2.4 GHz is already accepted for short-range wireless microphones, 900 MHz is also fine. The question then becomes whether crossbanding to 900 MHz causes a 95.339 violation. Fixed, base, and repeater stations can be operated by remote control. Short-range 2.4 GHz microphones are designed to only operate in the immediate vicinity of the transmitter, so use on a mobile station is acceptable. Crossbanding a mobile station to something like a set of DTR650s would enable violating 95.1745, producing a 95.339 violation, as the mobile station is considered remotely controllable.

Heed this Midland engineering.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone on the forum!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone on the forum!

We hope that everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving holiday. Please use caution if you are traveling - especially in areas of the US that are seeing abnormally cold temperatures and freezing precipitation.

Have a good day and be safe.
 
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The MyGMRS Moderator Staff

We hope that the various manufacturer marketing departments, who read MyGMRS postings as guests, take seriously what is being discussed and consider making the equipment that they are producing, more licensed operator friendly rather than limiting the functionality of their products.

May be a letdown, but it's still a great find! Thanks, Hans.

It looks like we have a winner, folks!

I think it's a case of you can't get there from here. I'm pretty sure I understand what you are wanting from a mobile repeater, and it would be simple on the ham bands: a cross-band mobile with an HT talking to the mobile on one band, and the mobile repeating on the other band. But if your people won't get a ham license, I guess that's out.
 
It's just a step beyond what GMRS is designed to do, at least currently. Someone (Hans?) mentioned in another thread a wish for one or two VHF frequencies for crossbanding to GMRS. Perhaps one or two of the MURS freqs. I would like to see something like that too, specifically for this use. I think 900 MHz might be a better choice than VHF, though.