WRFP399

3rd.  I know I have posted this around before...but this is my "throw down" repeater.  It was originally a "proof of concept" for my solar repeater, so it's not the prettiest of construction. 
 
Hike this up a mountain in a backpack..."throw it down"...walk away. Coverage for 15,20, 30 miles depending on height.

Same tones as it was. I went up and "replaced" it in late May. I used a higher voltage panel and a better MPPT charge controller. The controller is rated for colder temperatures and I was able to program it to cut off the load at 12.0 volts instead of 11.2.  It is also running a Laird 5/8 over 5/8 collinear antenna vs the roll up J-Pole. I saw no improvement in reception or transmission with the Laird but I have not done any extensive testing.
 
When I removed the battery and power line from the "old" repeater a month or two later, when the ground was thawed. I found that the battery was at 12 volts still. I examined the power line and found it was broken internally. Corroded and failed.  It is very likely the system failed in December due to that and not due to a frozen battery. Winter will be here in a few months and we shall see what happens this time.
 
Feel free to use the repeater. It has seen very light use this summer.

Thank you...I bought that kit. Not worth the effort to source the materials when its only 30 bucks!

3rd.  I know I have posted this around before...but this is my "throw down" repeater.  It was originally a "proof of concept" for my solar repeater, so it's not the prettiest of construction. 
 
Hike this up a mountain in a backpack..."throw it down"...walk away. Coverage for 15,20, 30 miles depending on height.

On Ebay look up seller mre1032 and search through his offerings. He makes a plug and play for what you want. His instructions will include any programming info needed. He’s a very reliable seller and highly regarded in Motorola legacy user community. 
 
edit to add: This will do trick: 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/350576654026?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=2EZBpsHPQDa&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=GPyqobjPSYK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=EMAIL

Not only that but instead of "stale" repeaters they can be community confirmed to be working which might filter out some of the repeaters that are listed but do not exist.  
 

Not only that but instead of "stale" repeaters they can be community confirmed to be working which might filter out some of the repeaters that are listed but do not exist.  
 

I noted that a lot of the Alaska Off-Road Facebook group tends to use Channel 20. It seems to be a popular channel in the Knik River Public Use Area as well.

You can't really get any more simple than a 4 or 16 channel part 90 radio. Something like a Motorola CP200 or Vertex VX-231/261.

"Mom, turn the radio on, select channel X, press PTT, Talk, Release"

I see you have it all worked out but as far as wide band goes I have another option. You can use the International version of the programming software to allow you to program in wideband channels. That is what I do. Granted I have only used it on EVX-530 and VX230/260 series radios.
I also found that communication errors between the radio and computer were vastly reduced when I bought the OEM FIF-12 programming cable.

Anyone have tips for getting the online audio for the net working? I can't hear the feed.

The RT97 does have a low power setting. I have no idea what it's output is at that setting but it does exist and it does seem to reduce the power output. I note that the RT97 goes from consuming about 30 watts of power to 20 watts of power when you switch from high to low power.  I am hoping someone can test the power output on a functioning one, after the duplexer, to see what it is to satisfy my curiosity.  

RETEVIS is really good about sending out replacement units. Email them and let them know what is going on. Show them the poor output power of 700 milliwatts with your image. 
 
 

I think if you came to GMRS to rag chew with randos you probably feel underwhelmed. That is definitely ham territory. GMRS is really just an expanded FRS and seems to be focused on family and friend tactical (meaning local) communication.

I have used my RT97s on all of the GMRS freq pairs and while the testing was not extensive I found them to work on all pairs between 550-725.
 
One RT97 says it is tuned for 625 while the other is 550. Or so it is written on the duplexers.

Your RT97 is more than capable of working on that tower.

I have two of these units. The both worked fine out of the box. 
First thing I would check is that you are not testing it by trying to talk between two radios in close proximity to each other. When you do this the radios overpower the repeater. If you attempted to test this way move the radios further apart and try it again.
With that out of the way you have a few other things being talked about.
Make sure your antenna on the RT97 is at least close to being tuned for GMRS. If it was marketed as such when bought it should be good enough to work. Further tuning would just tweak the performance a bit better.
The next would be coax leading to the antenna. The RT97 is a low power machine, 5-10 watts. You can lose that real fast with low quality coax. LMR400 would be a much better upgrade to RG58. You, in theory, may run into noise issues with LMR400. Long story short and vastly over simplified, as a radio tranmitts it puts power into the coax, the dissimilar materials in the LMR400s shielding can cause "sparks and arcs". Those "sparks and arcs" make RF noise. Those normally don't cause issues on a regular radio because it is not receiving at the same time. A repeater is receiving at the same time it is transmitting and those noise gets repeated.  If you want to run coax look for something like RG393. It's all silver plated and doesn't suffer this issue. If you want to do it "right" get hardline. I run RG400 on my RT97s as I only run about 6 feet to the Antenna from the RT97. RG400 is thinner RG393.  But this is all theory and I have heard people use LMR400 without issue.
 
The UHF connector, while not ideal in theory, made zero functional difference when I swapped it out to a type N. Granted the biggest advantage the type N affords me is it's weather resistance which is better.
 
 
Your RT97 is weather resistant and uses very little power. You can leverage this by mounting the RT97 to the tower and powering it by solar. This keeps your coax run short and keeps that RT97 running for "free" and off grid if the power fails.
 
I don't know where you are and how much you time want to spend transmitting but a simple 30 watt panel, small solar controller and 12 volt battery can be plenty.
 
 

If you get the one they sell here you can add in the Raspberry Pii myGMRS noise which appears to have the function of adding voice or Morse ID.
 
I have thought about using a "remote base" radio to ID to my RT97 every 15 minutes when in use but I just have not bothered with it.

You can't really get any more simple than a 4 or 16 channel part 90 radio. Something like a Motorola CP200 or Vertex VX-231/261.

"Mom, turn the radio on, select channel X, press PTT, Talk, Release"

You can't really get any more simple than a 4 or 16 channel part 90 radio. Something like a Motorola CP200 or Vertex VX-231/261.

"Mom, turn the radio on, select channel X, press PTT, Talk, Release"

Thanks for the suggestion. I decided to go with a Liard FG4603.
 
Still want to figure out what the deal with th Comet is.
 

Thanks for the suggestion. I decided to go with a Liard FG4603.
 
Still want to figure out what the deal with th Comet is.
 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224684607008?epid=1800453427&hash=item34503f0620:g:VfgAAOSwdh9gAbBL

Yeah...whatever you Motorola Snobs are just angry my 200 dollar Retevis RT97 does the same thing.
 
 
 
::Heavy sarcasm::

Yeah...whatever you Motorola Snobs are just angry my 200 dollar Retevis RT97 does the same thing.
 
 
 
::Heavy sarcasm::

Yeah...whatever you Motorola Snobs are just angry my 200 dollar Retevis RT97 does the same thing.
 
 
 
::Heavy sarcasm::