gortex2

I highly doubt the FCC will open up more GMRS frequencies for repeaters. Today its all about money to the FCC. They make millions on frequencies. But with all the griping about hams maybe we can petition the UHF Ham band to get moved to GMRS. It sounds to me many don't use it anyway.

Garmin released the new Tread Off Road GPS with Ride Talk. It operates on MURS. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/702373/pn/010-02406-00 https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-16B1D74D-857B-4FFB-8DE2-A0960FE0D090/EN-US/GUID-1C57D760-1BD2-46F6-B0CE-BC46503AEDBC.html Water resistance IEC 60529 IPX71 Operating temperature range From -20° to 55°C (from -4° to 131°F) Wireless frequencies (United States) From 151.82 to 154.6 MHz @ 31.7 dBm

As reference Radio Reference is $30 a year. Others I belong to are $50 a year for download or limited access. Some sites use points systems to allow you to view or download certain items based on how many points. I think that's complicated. I think 2 levels would make things better with a basic package with no adds and maybe limited downloads to a premium package that lets you download other data (maybe base codeplugs, firmware, etc). I hate to say this as I run multiple sites also but it costs to do this stuff and most want everything for free.

This is part of my issue. There are many 70cm channels to put a repeater on the air and chat or hold nets or what not. I agree ham is not for everyone and I get that. But I have yet to hear chatter on some repeaters between wife and kid or family member. Its normally 2 hams chatting about lunch or doctors etc. I have no issues with using repeaters but with only a few repeater pairs available it wont take long to clog up the airwaves. On top of the linking that every feels we need in GMRS its not going to be good for those that still want a base repeater to use with family. Landscapes change but its frustrating for those who have used the service for 2+ decades.

a DB404 will work fine. I run a 404 on 3 of my repeaters. 2 are on tower sites 1000' higher than the surrounding area. 1 is on a 60' tower. I also run a DB408 as a receive antenna at one tower site with a DB404 for the transmit thru a combiner. The 408 and 420 are higher gain so if your way up may over shadow the area you are trying to cover. In the end all three are commercial made antennas used by Public Safety and LMR all over the US and are built to last.

Front fender or rear tailgate is fine. If you search around I would say 90% use the front fender or hood with a lip mount. A few use the rear tailgate. Both of mine are on the front cowl mounts with my off road lights.

Not commercially made. Are you looking for simplex or repeater use ? A RT97 repeater would be perfect for that situation however it would be used with you and your users only. If your looking to talk to other repeaters I'm not sure of a simple solution. Even once you can run coax 165' is going to require good cable and not LMR if you want any useable signal. In commercial applications a TRA on a radio is done so you run a 4WT cable to the base and hook it to the radio. Inside a Tone Remote would be used to transmit and receive from. They do have ethernet based remotes now but that isn't a hobby device pricewise.

Thanks @marcspaz. I travel thru the metro DC area weekly (multiple days) yet never hear much chatter on GMRS. I scan the RPT channels in CSQ but never hear alot. Normally when I get over near Annapolis I'll pick up some guys but they are never clear so normally turn down the radio. I'll have to look into the repeaters and get them loaded in my APX with tones.

Interesting you say this. I am a active ham and have been for over 25 years. I run multiple APRS digipeaters for SAR and personal use, as well as have multiple repeaters on the air. All are P25 but in the ham world. Additionally I help with another regional ham system that I'm not even able to use from home. Both myself and my wife have been hams for years. My issue with hams is very similar to @marcspaz brought up. I have removed repeaters for many of the common reasons, jammers, no use, no support. My main issue is 95% of the hams are just cheap. Spend $1500 on a HF rig but then complain their $29 CCR wont work on my P25 machine. I asked a simple question hoping to get some clarification.

I know I am opening a can of worms but I'd really like to know a true answer on this. Why are there so many hams getting into GMRS vs staying on 440 ? More and more in my travels I hear ham chatter on GMRS. Yesterday I listened to a 30 minute conversation and about half way in realized it was on GMRS and not ham after turning my ham rig off and still hearing it. I don't get the lure to GMRS other than not having to follow certain rules ? I mean 440 had tons of repeaters pairs not used especially in rural America. If its truly because others in the family dont want to get a ham ticket ? I get that but rarely do I hear mom & dad or kid on the radio. Its always 2 or 3 hams (who sometimes give their ham call instead) babbling about this or that that happened on on xyz repeater or going to doctors or just nothing in general. I just find it odd.

I would not set it to none on any XE radio. The entire reason its there is to have a certified battery on the radio. I ran into a customer who changed this on all the fire radios so they could use cheap batteries. A radio was sent in for water damage and was not repaired as it was using non IDLH accessories.

FRS/GMRS without a doubt CH1 and CH2. Listening to hunters right now on CH2. For repeaters I have them on 600,625,675. Some of my locations are above line A so cannot use 462.650 MHZ, 462.700 and 467.700. I used to have on on 550 but too many folks programmed the radio on the input and would use it to talk simplex.

A scanner is a better way to listen to other frequencies other than GMRS. I have one bank dedicated to GMRS on my scanner.

It would not be type accepted to use in any other band.

Why not make the sheet into a google sheet and share with you net folks. Simple and every one sees everything.

I told you yesterday in another post to leave the firmware at 17. There is no functional reason to move it to 20 unless your dealing with P25 simulcast with Geo-Primes. I have seen MSI shops brick a XTL pretty quickly when done wrong. Is there a specific reason you think you need to upgrade the radio ?

The noise issue in in duplex applications. It has been discussed many times. Its worse if any water gets in it or the connectors. If your running a repeater fine a variant of LDF and it will resolve the noise issues and have better loss.

The XTL2500 is no longer supported so you can no longer purchase flash upgrades. If its R17 it will be fine for HAM and GMRS.

Only place on the GR1225 repeater that has audio is out of the 16 pin on the back. The GR500 was technically the chassis and was originally for the dual radius/maxtrac radios. When the GR1225 came out they sold an adapter for the 1225 head to mount in the chassis. Good unit. Good idea about the low power. I still have 6 in use that work fine on low power. If needed they would support an external controller but try to use the internal for simplicity.

Just get a sat unit and don't rely on the GMRS radio. A Garmin Inreach Mini will cost about $20 for the safety plan and allow you to send a text or message home to let folks know your ok. Simple and cheap solution that will work on the entire AT. In the end the cost of the GMRS radios, paid repeater access will cost just as much

To be fair there are other communications forums that have subscription fees to access certain locations. To me some of it makes since after running websites and forums for some time. Its not cheap. On top of that some of this gets more interested parties in certain conversations. You will see more and more subscription fees as we move forward.

For 10 years I unscrewed my NMO mount when backing my F350 in the garage every night. Sometimes a better mount requires a bit of work. Just food for thought.

So being this has been beaten to death on RR I don't really want 200 posts on this forum over it. It is up to you to pay or not. I provide multiple feeds so don't pay for service however paid prior to my feeds for many years. For me its the ability to download scanner files and to look up certain data. So its all what you can get out of it. Prior to him hiding some of this stuff we had adds and everyone complained about that so he removed the adds and said pay to get certain items. For the cost of servers and everything it takes to host the RR Site, Forums, Databases, and Broadcastify I don't feel its unreasonable.

The software is still on Motorolas Website and available via myview and mol. You need to setup an account with Motorola. Alternative is take it to a shop and ask for it to be programmed.