JeepCrawler98

Ditto; all our hubs are recorded 24/7 and retained for 90 days, asterisk makes this cake to do - literally one configuration string and a cron job.
I do it primarily for my own entertainment, but also in case there's somebody using it in an emergency and a record of events is needed later on. We're also close to the southern border here so it wouldn't be the first time we've had some 'odd' traffic show up and work its way through the system; that goes straight to BP, and is one of the primary reasons we don't post our tones anymore without a slight sanity check first.

Ditto; all our hubs are recorded 24/7 and retained for 90 days, asterisk makes this cake to do - literally one configuration string and a cron job.
I do it primarily for my own entertainment, but also in case there's somebody using it in an emergency and a record of events is needed later on. We're also close to the southern border here so it wouldn't be the first time we've had some 'odd' traffic show up and work its way through the system; that goes straight to BP, and is one of the primary reasons we don't post our tones anymore without a slight sanity check first.

Tones are not required; but unless you want to completely make a channel useless to any other repeaters on the same pair and potentially cause all kinds of interference you really should have one.  If you're running a machine CSQ it'll pick up ALL traffic and any background noise above your squelch level on the repeater input channel, regardless of if it's intended for your repeater or not.

List it now; I list repeaters months before they even go online just so there's a chance for someone to let me know if I'm sitting it on an occupied frequency.
 

At this time, we do not. We only support repeaters that are directly connected to a node or via a link radio.
Simplex nodes will add a whole new level of confusion and complexity for the users, and each node would typically only benefit one user. It makes more sense for us to devote our time and effort toward repeaters which generally cover more people. 

If that's RG58 that could be your culprit; suggest rolling up to at least good quality LMR400 to get it to work OK. By the book you should be running hardline, but that's overkill for this application IMO. Cheap coax makes noise under power of which a primary symptom is heavy receiver desense.
Also if you purchased an RT97 for the wrong band the notches on the internal duplexer will be way out of wack; meaning your receive is basically not protected from the repeater's transmitter at all (again, you'd get some major desense here). You can 'kinda' tune them with a nanoVNA (not well I should add, but you can get in the ballpark), but if you're not familiar with the process I'd have either a local comms shop do it for you or exchange it with Retevis.

PL-259 has decent loss at UHF frequencies; Type N is much better to use and is all you'll find on commercial repeater setups (sometimes even DIN 7/16 or flange connectors). On end-user equipment manufacturers tend to stick to the PL-259's since it's what people are more used to working with and they're robust.
You should get an SWR meter to check that antenna, it also looks like it has a few exposed joints in it; joints can raise the noise floor under power as well so it's yet another thing to watch out for. If you do end up switching it out for another model go for one with Type N connectors and crimp on a fitting on that LMR400. The Diamond X50C2 works decent for a home-use repeater and has some gain for the price, if you go above that start looking at used DB404/408/411's
Be mindful that when it comes to full duplex repeater setups; all the small unexciting details become a lot more important than the repeater itself - filtering, feedline and antennas are everything.

If that's RG58 that could be your culprit; suggest rolling up to at least good quality LMR400 to get it to work OK. By the book you should be running hardline, but that's overkill for this application IMO. Cheap coax makes noise under power of which a primary symptom is heavy receiver desense.
Also if you purchased an RT97 for the wrong band the notches on the internal duplexer will be way out of wack; meaning your receive is basically not protected from the repeater's transmitter at all (again, you'd get some major desense here). You can 'kinda' tune them with a nanoVNA (not well I should add, but you can get in the ballpark), but if you're not familiar with the process I'd have either a local comms shop do it for you or exchange it with Retevis.

Fair enough for simplex; but you have to remember that if you're using a repeater you don't own yourself you're actually actively using someone else's radio in addition to your own. This is why repeater owners may have their own rules and practices they want followed when using their hardware; sometimes these rules include not having roger beeps.
Since on repeaters you have people monitoring for traffic from others and are often dependent on them for communications, aside from the fact that they tend to be watering holes for radio traffic - you are forcing other operators to listen to you. Simplex, not so much a problem because you can tune out and not miss anything as you mentioned.

@WRPG591 What's your problem?  You are new to this public forum, but I am guessing you're not new to the internet.  @Sshannon provided an answer, @PACNWComms expanded on the why, and then a couple of us confirmed those points made by the first two.
If you don't like it when people try to help or contribute content, this group might not be a good fit for you.

wow...I didn't realize this was such a touchy subject.
@PACNWComms
I know that these repeaters are privately owned and not "public domain" which is why I push the request access button and ask for permission. My question was a simple one and it was answered by Sshannon. An answer I don't agree with because I'm also giving my email and call sign but one I must accept because it's the way the system is set up. I wasn't asking for your sermon. 
 
 
 

Try it with just the Transmit Tone and no Receive Tone.  
Be careful: some people claim that weather predictions heard on a Baofeng are unreliable! ?

Thanks. Here's the link to the page I used.
 
https://www.qsl.net/dk7zb/Stacking/splitter.htm
 
And here's the software. Software seems pretty good.
 
http://www.hp.woodshot.com/

I've been making phasing harnesses throughout the years, but never a power divider. I figured I'd give it a shot. Did all my calculations to get to where I needed to be with the materials that are over the counter. Finding the right combination of outer and inner pipes is the biggest challenge.  My target was the high end of the GMRS band so that's where I did my calculations. Of course UHF being extremely critical of measurements a few thousandth of an inch either way can be a PITA. Testing it on the NanoVNA yields just barely a 1.4:1 at 467.650 MHz and under 1.2:1 at 444.175 MHz, my most used frequencies. Now I know what to look out for and compensate should I decide to build another.  Anyway, here's the finished product.
Everything all soldered and watertight waiting on a coat of battleship gray epoxy paint.

 
Everything soldered waiting for the final top cap after testing. Two 50 ohm terminators for testing.

 
Center conductor (11mm Brass Tube 1mm wall thickness) ready for installation. The 12 gauge copper center conductor is left intentionally long and will be much short once installed.  N-connector soldered on other end.

 
Brass tube with 8-32 threaded brass nut with rounded corners pressed in prior to solder.

You need to scroll to where you see the map dialog and drag the myGMRS icon to where it belongs.
 

I wouldn't expect the Shari's to cause you any problems; but since you're probably familiar with AllStar - using that package as a repeater controller is perfectly feasible as well; it's the same back end that the myGMRS network uses should you be interested in linking at some point (or not)

So far so good, recommend running the 40 watt radio at 25w and blowing some cold air on it if you're going to turn the keys over to the public or use it for a good rag-chewing session; if you need a simple repeater controller to handle time-out and ID consider the ID-O-Matic IV - it has a built in fan controller too.
If you have other transmitters with decent power output at your house in the 70cm or other UHF bands that will key up while the repeater is in use, you need to be aware of and understand mixing products, how they work, and how they can be mitigated. Mixing products can and regularly do wreak havoc throughout the radio spectrum and cause all kinds of problems not just with your own gear, but other licensed uses as well. I can elaborate if this will be your setup, they're one of the reasons why commercial sites are more complicated to install at properly.
What feedline are you planning on running? Good grade cable is tantamount to having a good set of ears as the cheaper stuff will cause noise to the point where it deafens your receiver, since your transmitter is sharing the same cable as the receiver. RG-58 or RG8x isn't going to cut it; good quality LMR400 is fine for backyard or other 'short-run' installs, hardline is better but will probably not pay back in your application - save that for a site you don't want to have to yourself drive back to. Don't forget grounding, weatherproofing, and surge arrestors, but that's kind of a given...

Some of us want to keep the riff-raff out while we tend to our caviar and champagne parties, you know...

Some of us want to keep the riff-raff out while we tend to our caviar and champagne parties, you know...

It's in your profile settings; from the "mygmrs.com" site hit edit profile, there's a toggle switch labeled "repeater access requests." turn it off (grey, to the left) and hit save profile.

Just in case anyone checks the forums before the main site... we have a new myGMRS!
After well over a year of fooling around with the new website, I have finally launched it. This is a big leap in technology since the original website was created in 2006 and only had a few incremental updates over the years. This new platform will allow us to put out quicker updates, brand-new features, and bonus features for Premium Members.
Premium Membership is an optional subscription where you can remove ads from the website, generate PDF reports of repeaters and licenses in any state, and create your own Club listing (part of the forums) so you don't need to create your own website! All of the existing features of myGMRS will remain free, of course.
A new mobile app is also in the works, although we're not close to a release date for that. The long-awaited iOS version will be part of the release, as well as a completely new Android app.
Since this is such a radically different website, I'm sure there will be some issues along the way. If anyone runs into bugs or problems of any kind, please don't hesitate to submit a bug report at this Google Forms URL rather than the forums or by email (as it'll be much easier to review):  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe6XLmCW-UU0Bp9lN9zM3L9gO_TCkArIN2oY-hOLG9x01B3lg/viewform
Thank you everyone for the wonderful support and thank you to our Beta testers. You know who you are!
Have a Happy New Year!

A fixed station is one that’s not broken; I usually work on breaking my fixed station 

A fixed station is one that’s not broken; I usually work on breaking my fixed station 

You flipped the switch! Looks good Rich; I particularly appreciate the ability to pull reports and dark mode so I don't have to wear my sunglasses at night...

This will be a premium feature on the new beta site that Rich is working on; it's in the works but not here yet.