gortex2

I'd recomend the 8180 and not the 8180H. You wont see a difference in 30 vs 45 watts and if 90% of your use will be simplex and low channels being able to program 5 watts is better. No need for an LMR license unless you want an LMR frequency.

You need to reach out to thew owners if its not listed on the site information for the repeater

It all depends on the owner and the site. Many have no backup power but a well installed thought out repeater would. If there is a repeater yours curious about I'd ask the repeater owner. Thats the only true way to know for sure.

Are you calling them on a repeater ? or simplex. Just call them by name. thats 99% of my traffic on GMRS/FRS. People get worked up over it and its not critical. Use it at the 15 minute time frame and use the service.

So for remote head I'd plug into deck unless you have a jumepr on the deck. Basically he asked if you have CTCSS or DPL set on the channel. If you program a monitor button it should make noise.

is this dash mount or remote head. Sorry may of missed that. If speaker is plugged into deck on dashmount thats where audio should come from.

https://forums.radioreference.com/attachments/tk790-pins-pdf.23051/ Shows pinout

So does it have the rear jumper plugged in for internal audio ? Pins 2 & 6 need to be jumpered. Constant Green LED is probably due to Squelch set to low.

The system in question is not remotely near NYC. Its 6+ hours NW of NYC....

First off no one knows my call sign around me. I dont plaster it on my vehicles nor even tell many folks I have it. It was and is still used for my familty use. Being I live in the country I really dont see neighbors calling me. Again why would I even remotely need to answer someone. Thats not why I got GMRS 25+ years ago. If I want to chat with someone I'll go to another service. Just becasue this service is now ham lite and everyone thinks they need to rag chew on a repeater or have a SHTF need for it doenst mean we all do. If the SHTF GMRS would be the last thing I was worried about.

What do yo uexpect from a repeater ?

GF550 shows online on the map. Thats not saying that its really working. Did you try there facebook page and ask what may be up ? They also have a link page - https://network.arkradio.net/link.php?nodes=1000 May be worth digging around on stuff. https://network.arkradio.net/map

The FTM500 is not a GMRS radio anyway. I assume you want a ham repeater ? If so many better options out there but to stay Fusion the DR2 is all ou can use.

Did you reach out to them and ask what is up ? I'm not sure what group had those on the air but maybe they have other issues.

I assume the DRC was UHF correct. What was the duplexer tuned to ? They need specific tuning for the frequency you are trying to use. Also a duplexer can have close to 3db of loss. 3db is half your power so a 50 watt base would be 25 after duplexer. As far as ports yes normally TX Low (462) and RX High (467) on the duplexer. But again how was it tuned.

The industry standard handheld in UHF is 4 watts. Thats been the standard UHF LMR radio for as long as I have been in the field. All more power from a handheld does is drain the battery quicker.

The ham world has been linking for decades, first with RF and now internet just like GMRS. They can't get a decent handle on their stuff with "experts" that tell us what frequencies we can put our repeaters on and so forth. Its worse in the DMR side with hams. I dont see GMRS being any better if linking continues to happen. The simulcast systems that are out there and were out there where built by good techs and folks who know what thye are doing. Not everyone has access to Quantars, TRAK units and MLC 8000 simulcast stuff but some do and know how to setup a system. 99% of the GMRS community does not. We can't even get folks that do link repeaters to set levels right. As much as I think a true voted/simulcast system should be acceptable on GMRS (and was common before the ham lite crowd hit the service) I think all linking should be dropped from the service. For decades GMRS users used the service to do what they intended it for. Its only been the last 4-5 years its turned into this.

Sorry 38 vs 45 wont see any noticable difference. Folks get wound up over a 50 watt radio but dont account for losses in the duplexer and other factors. In the LMR world test gear and equipment is a 10% variable. Yes our gear is really good and normally wont be that far off but I have seen many 110 watt base radios only show 95 on a power meter and still pass all operational tests for the unit.

I run the midland mobiles in my parents vehicles as they are KISS and plug into the lighter jack.

SWR really doesn't mean alot for a duplex system other than TX power. You also need to receive on the receive radio and not have decense. What duplexer do you have ? What is the tuned specifications ? You will have a db loss in the duplexer back to your receiver. Depending on the duplexer there could also be decense in that. Lots of variables when you change from a standalone base to a repeater.

Are you talking about power out of duplexer or radio ? Duplexer will have loss with some almost 3db. What duplexer is it and what are the specs at the tuned frequency ?

Many folks have dropped their links over that and other stuff. GMRS was never meant to be long distance communications.

What do you think you are supposed to get out of the duplexer ? No radio that puts out 50 watts is going to give you 50 out of the duplexer also. Looking at your meter looks like your seeing 45 watts from radio add in duplexer I think 40 is pretty decent.

Correct 462.525 is in the industrial bussiness pool block and requires a part 90 license and part 90 radios to operate on. That is not a GMRS frequency.

Yup...but I love the Crescend amps. I just installed a site with a 250 watt amp on a LMR system. It wasn't cheap but they are out there. We used to use alot of the TPL unit but most of those max out at 125 watts.