DeoVindice

Different terminology describing the exact same thing.

Have you tried listening with CSQ as your RX/decode tone to see if there is traffic on the repeater? Where are you transmitting from, and what antenna are you utilizing? I find that I sometimes have a hard time hitting repeaters while indoors, but after stepping out onto the porch I get great signal reports. Your antenna may not be tuned well for GMRS, and your radio could be sensing high SWR and automatically operating on low power. Unsure if the TYT8000E has that capability, though.

I've been brainstorming solutions for a mobile local range extension system. A full duplex repeater using two mobiles has been considered, but bulk, complexity, and power consumption don't have me too enthused about it. The specific application would be for intergroup communication between groups also utilizing handhelds for intragroup communication, primarily for family hikes and possible SAR. My future in-laws purchased a house in an area I frequently hike and prospect in, with little to no cell service, and I'd like to be able to relay signals through my truck to their house in town. It's not particularly long distance, but terrain obstruction is a real issue and I tend to park the truck below and outside of whichever gulch we're hiking on a given day. This has me thinking on a simplex repeater. I've nearly finished a TK-880 mobile install on my truck. The idea would be to program a channel into the 880 with a repeater input as its RX channel, and a repeater output as its TX channel. A simplex repeater box would be plugged into the 880's mic port via an RJ45-RJ45 cable. Normal intragroup operation would be on the extender's output frequency. The simplex repeater unit would have courtesy tones enabled, so that any intergroup transmission going over the extender could be identified. Activating the repeater would require the user to either turn off talkaround or switch to a dedicated channel with the repeater input programmed. Aside from the size, weight, complexity, energy, and cost advantages, eliminating the duplexer would also seem to make the system frequency-agile since no tuning is required. This appears to be a real advantage if in an area with a GMRS repeater, since deconfliction is just a matter of changing channels. Has anyone else tried something like this?

I don't believe the Midland radios can do split tones; split tones are typically hard-coded to a channel or a list of OSTs when programming the radio. Great to see another GMRS licensee in Albuquerque! I'm on the Sandia 675 repeater quite a bit; there's usually somebody monitoring after 5PM weekdays. If you get on the air tonight, I'd be happy to chat. Jim/WREC548

Not surprised that it's the first time you've seen that. I've never heard of that arrangement before.

Yes, you will have to program your encode tone as 146.2Hz for the repeater to retransmit your transmissions. If you program your decode tone as 146.2Hz, you will only hear traffic using that tone. If you leave your decode tone as CSQ, you will hear all traffic on the frequency. This could conceivably include bubble pack users talking simplex on the repeater output freq, so I'd recommend programming both encode and decode tones.

I'm not enamored with Baofeng quality control, but the GMRS-V1 is pretty well a plug-and-play solution. If you aren't inclined to try your hand at programming old Part 90/95 commercial/public safety HTs but want a repeater-capable unit, it's hard to do much better.

I've thought about this myself for a couple different applications. Nonstandard and split QT tones would be one option for barring unlicensed users; it would restrict repeater use to those with OSTs or the ability to program nonstandard tones. I bet you could also use DTMF FleetSync option signalling, with every transmission through the extender SELCALLing the extender such that it would only be usable to users with DTMF or FleetSync. No bubble pack radio I'm aware of can do FleetSync or DTMF. "Upside-down" repeaters could be used, whether permanently or temporarily, to expand repeater coverage into an area to which the repeater lacks line of sight. There are quite a few areas like that in the Mountain West, where a mountain range's shadow blocks RF. It could also be useful when working in deep gulches or hollers, with a portable repeater/extender placed on the spur to facilitate comms into the holler. I've dealt with that sort of situation while doing SAR in the deep Ozarks; we wound up placing a man up high to act as a radio relay since no extenders were available. A high-power extender would also make quite a bit of sense mounted in a vehicle if you anticipated being dismounted with a handheld and line of sight to the vehicle, as you'd be able to leverage the extender's higher power and better antenna to reach out a lot further/with better signal strength.

That sounds like an excellent design. PM inbound.

I've been doing some research on building a light-duty portable GMRS repeater and have decided to use a pair of TK-880s for ease of programming and FleetSync compatibility. Where I haven't been successful is in finding a layout diagram for this arrangement, or programming guidance for the TX radio. N0KEG decently covers the RX radio's programming. If possible, I would omit the repeater controller to save space and weight. Would the following arrangement work, or is a repeater controller 100% required? - TK-880 RX radio connected to battery and high/receive side of duplexer - TK-880 TX radio connected to battery and low/transmit side of duplexer - KCT-19 cable connecting RX and TX radio - Antenna connected to duplexer antenna connector

What is the longest distance you've been able to talk on GMRS? Specify simplex or repeater, and your equipment used. My personal record is a confirmed 88 miles from the high desert to a mountaintop repeater. I was using a TK-390 with a KRA27 whip, then swapped out for a KRA23 helical and experienced some signal degradation but no difficulty communicating.