deputycrawford

Very cool. nice to see another. I have one in Toledo, Ohio and there is another one next door in Oregon, Ohio. You might be able to use the one in Oregon. It is on 462.575 with a PL of XXXXX Give it a shot. [staff Edit - Please PM Jerry for access codes] Jerry.

Hello, my name is Jerry. I am an extra class ham and a GMRS license holder. I have a repeater up on 462.600. I should have it back on the air tomorrow. There is another repeater on 462.575 in my area. Oh yeah, I'm in the Toledo, Ohio area. PM me and ill get you the PL codes for the two and you can use them when you are south of Detroit. Welcome and have fun. Jerry

I know this has been inactive for awhile but Sean got ahold of Tim and got into the system. We have also given him a few free reprograms to keep him on the air. Anyone in the club, or area, that wants to use the system legally gets all updates and any help with equipment for free, as long as we have to parts and equipment. We just love a super large group to be able to talk to. We love having Sean on our system. He has been wonderful. Jerry

I would set up some "N" connectors at each end of the feed line and have much less insertion loss. Jerry

If you have to make the long run then go to 7/8 hard line and use short 1/2 hard line jumpers at each end. I would run electrical to the garage and use a much shorter run of 1/2 hard. Putting electric in the garage isn't that hard, very rewarding, and makes the property more valuable if you ever sell. Plus you can use a 50 amp run with a junction box and run many other things to fix a car, lighting, etc. I ran all of that to my garage, including a second run of cable and phone line to mine. Now I can use internet and find repairs for my car, watch the weather come in, and even use it for get togethers when I also added a furnace. Just start with electric and use the shorter line. You may go into using the garage for many other things in the future. If you don't want to do all of that, which is fun and rewarding to do, then run the 7/8 hard with the 1/2 hard jumpers. Get all the height you can get.

I wonder since they are using call signs that don't match a data base and the other mumbles his that they may even be using the repeater system without licensing. Just a thought. Many ham radios can scan for PL codes but if you don't have one that will be useless. You can turn on each PL code in your radio on receive and watch for the signal. If no audio then go to the next. When audio pops on then you have found it. Then ask them if you can use it. You might look up Bluecomm on Facebook or somewhere and try to find them. They might not have anything listed to keep it a closed, private repeater. Many thing to think about there. Jerry

You can try the water towers around you. When you find the property managers tell them about the volunteer nature and emergency communications that GMRS is for. Then tell them about personal comms, and that the manager's family is all covered under the license, and no test to take. Offer him, or her, to jump on the repeater. Talk with the Ham community and see if they know of spots to put it. They may even let you on one of their sites. Then their family's can use it without a test to take. Ours here in Toledo has gotten several people to take their ham tech tests. Tell everyone that GMRS can lead to many things. Hope this helps. Oh, and get rid of that RG8X and get some LMR400 at least. There is a huge amount of line loss in the coax you are using. Jerry

Our Black Swamp Radio Society repeater id's once every hour and again every 15 mins while it is in use. That reminds us to id in the proper amount of time. The morse id only says "time to id." LOL It is so busy that it ids all the time. We have well over 30 licenses on it and most of us are hams too. We all get along and have a good time. Jerry

I have a 14 year old kid in my neighborhood that heard me on his bubble pack radio and called for me. I answered and told him about the GMRS thing. He now listens to ch15, our receive for our repeater pair, and pushes his call button on ch1 when he hears me get home. I talk to him all the time now. I told him to tell his parents what he is doing and keep them informed. He knows who I am and what I do, and has confirmed it with the deputies at his school. His parents are fine with it and he is really getting into radio because of it. I found him a scanner for next to nothing, and have cleared it with his parents to give it to him. He wants to be a police officer and really likes talking with me. I think he is even going to join my office's explorer group. All that from hearing us on a bubble pack radio. Sounds like a next generation radio guy. Jerry

I have been told by a radio specialist that the 1/4 wave antenna has the flatest radiation take off angle. The 5/8 wave might give you that extra mile or so at the edge but the take off angle is higher. I have run them both on NMO mounts. I have not seen a difference so the 1/4 wave stays on. A little 6in or so 1/4 wave on a magnate mount NMO with 6 in or so of ground plan will do you well. The center of the roof is best in my opinion. I have a clip on NMO on the trunk of my convertible and drilled a hole in the roof of my truck. What can I say, I'm a diehard. I've drilled holes in many of my cars. Jerry

Hello Randy. Welcome to the site and GMRS. Have you checked your area for repeaters you can ask to jump onto? You should have some fun with this radio service. Read up all you can on this site and you'll be a pro in no time. LOL Jerry

Uniden, many of us here have lots of experience with radios. Pastor can answer anything. I am also a ham so get your license there also. Lots of opportunities. Jerry

Sean, this is Jerry and I am on the Toledo, Ohio repeater. Look up Black Swamp Radio Society on Facebook or BSRS.ML and we will help you. Jerry

Tim put his MSR2000 repeater back together with a 1225 radio in line. He set it at 6 watts, added a 10dB intenuator in line to drop the power to 1/4 watt to excite the amp. Then set the amp at 50 watts and programmed for the 550 and tested it until it was ready to put up. HE THEN GAVE IT TO ME. We swapped it out with the Icom repeater and let it rip. We went from 25 watts out to 50 watts out. WE are going up Wednesday to do some antenna work and put the Icom back in line wit the 575 in it. They will both be over the 400 ft mark at the same site. Kewl I tell ya. Always a work in progress. Jerry

Those things just might start causing a bunch of illegal operations if people figure out how to use them to their potential. Jerry