gortex2

You have to login to mygmrs website to access tones.

Sorry I use it on all my radios so I know which radio is being used. Each radio has its unique ID. With many users on a repeater its nice to keep track of who just called. JMHO

We spent 6 months arguing over this before. Don't think we need yet another thread. Both points of view were discussed. Use a channel you want and go from there.

If you are using repeaters change it to wide. If your not dont worry as 90% of the other folks will most likely be narrow.

I get your opinion. I'm not debating that. What I asking is where in the rules is this stated.

The only problem with listing them is really getting a repeater on the air. There are tons of repeaters on the list that have never went on the air. I'm all for adding if your seriously adding one, but if you dont have equipment or plans I'd wait. Too many people look at the repeater map and program a radio to use a repeater that's not there. With that said there are guys who spend alot on getting a repeater online and they do follow thru with the work. Dont want folks to think everyone lists and doesn't do the work.

So where in the rules does it say that ? Many folks use MDC as well as P25 and other signaling on amateur radio. Many folks use MDC on GMRS.

And who do you think would do this ? Cell companies dont care about critical infastructure at all. Its all the bottom line. I have seen some rough cell sites over the years. Many with no generators, small battery plants and horrible installs. Some good but the point is who is going to spend the money ? I get there is no "real" service to get help in an emergency but GMRS isn't it either.

Yes to both.

I run 3 APX 8500 all bands, 2 to multi antennas and one on the vhf Normally

So Im a bit confused how are you linking. If your going to be a "mobile" on the 550 repeater that means you are TX at your site on the link radio on 467.550. What is your repeater ? I would assume no matter what you do you will decense the repeater at your site major when the 467.550 radio is keyed. I dont know of a filter that will keep that close of a spacing out of the other. RF linking in GMRS is about not able to be done in my process. I can't see where you could get the seperation.

you should be good with the first option. I run similar on my F150 (6 NMO mounts). Rear is CB and VHF, front are all bands, and farthest front are UHF

Depends on expectations. There are no GMRS repeaters in your area that work well so I would look for good part 90 gear.

Where ? https://mygmrs.com/repeaters List all sorts of repeaters and has multiple filters by location.

Hardline is LDF4-50A. Its a very stiff cable and is not great for bending. Thats the benefits of loss. If your under 50' grab some LMR400. Anything more that 10-15' of RG58 and you wont have any signal on the antenna port. Who tuned the antenna and set it up on frequency ? It sounds like you ordered a TRAM style put together antenna and they need cut to specific lengths to work properly. As said above this was ordered and programmed for GMRS ?

SO your going to need some basic test equipment to determine your issue. First is a DVM and second is a basic watt meter. First thing I'd do is take a DVM and check the antenna line and make sure the center and shield are not shorted. You did not mention cable type, length or antenna specification so can't help alot without that info. A watt meter would allow you to test output power of the repeater as well as antenna system. The RT97 is a great little repeater for home use and with the proper accessories can be a great little box. Who did programming and tuning on duplexer ? Did you specify the repeater frequency to them when ordering ?

Going with the DB404 and a 50' piece of 1/2" LDF will give you much better results. LMR will give you about 1.5db of loss. LDF is about .75db of loss. If your using adapters there is some loss, not enough to really argue one way or another but LMR and adapter will be a bit more than predictd loss. My thought is spend the funds the first time to do it right vs something that will not meet expectations, then spending more money after. Sometimes waiting a bit longer to accomplish the goal makes the experience better in the long run.

Put the 1/4 wave on and test. Think you'll be surprised. Think of the Ghost antenna as your rubber duck on your portable jammed inside a pepper shaker.

You can order a back to back repeater cable for under $20. Throw all that other stuff out and just use a back to back to verify you have stuff programmed correctly. As said in previous posts one pin on the RX radio must be set for COR. Normally pin 8 or 14. RX audio would leave the radio on pin 11 (Discriminator). TX radio PTT is Pin 3 and TX Audio is Pin 2 on the CDM. You need to program the CDM to use Flat TX audio and not Mic audio. Litterly 3 wires can be used to make a repeater with no functions.

1.4" wave UHF whip is a better antenna and is cheap and short.

Being the topic is completely off topic I'll bring it a bit further. Its not only radios and subscriptions. Vendors pay similar license fees for router licenses, firewalls and other devices used in P25 and other systems. Backhaul is huge money as well and depending on the system you pay for certain licenses as well. To add bandwidth they sell another license. End users normally do not see all of this as they are the ones using the subscriber but behind that system is alot of licenses. Heck even at home I pay for XYZ in bandwidth on my fiber but have multiple other options if I want them. So back to the part 90 debate. As said in the past I had the opportunity of an FCC technician to visit and audit one of my sites 15 years ago. I had him on site for other issues but had a great conversation on GMRS as he used it with his family. He looked over my repeater (MTR2000 at the time) and even reviewed my test data and last PM check on the repeater. While he never produced any documentation he had no issues at all with the unit. At the time there really was no one who made a Part 95 certified repeater. His comment back then was if he had the funds he would have the same setup.

Sorry to sound negative but if your doing solo wheeling and out of cellular range there is no way you should rely on the GMRS repeaters unless you know and use them often. Buy a spot or an Inreach to be safe. GMRS is not for hailing emergencies for the most part. While I know of places than monitor certain channels I'd be careful thinking thats your safety net.

Depends on the cable. 100' of LMR400 on UHF is about 3db of loss meaning a 50 radio will hit the antenna at 25 watts. RG58 is about 10db of loss so basically you'd have nothing at the antenna.

Not sure on the button but on the ICOM I have i can turn that button on and off. As for channels repeaters normally only have 1 channel. Thats the channel that the duplexer is tuned for.

Dont believe anything the repeater listing shows. Those range miles are not accurate for the most part. The only way to get a valid range is to ask the owner.