gortex2

OK. First and foremost GMRS is not 70cm. Thats the HAM UHF band. Many commercial repeaters can be found in the UHF 460 Mhz range. They are cheap. LMR400 is not the best cable for duplex operations. Many posts on here about the shielding and issues you will find with duplex operation. Ed Fong antenna is also not a good antenna for a repeater. Again many posts on here but its basically a put together antenna made by a ham. You want a worthwhile repeater buy a antenna made for the use case. Duplexer jumpers should be a well shieled jumper with the proper connectors on each end. Short as possible to the radio. 12" are the standard most of the time. RG142 is a good cable to use. Again manage your expectations. The setup you are proposing may give you 5 miles. I guess if its on a 6000' mountain it may talk further. No idea. Do a search on the site. Many folks have started with cheap setups like this and found it didn't do what they want. Either they disappear or spend the funds to do it correctly.

As I say over and over the ghost antenna is about as good as a dummy load. If your goal is to talk to a guy in front of you on simplex use it. If you need distance a 1/4 wave is a better choice. A quick search on this site will give you hundreds of posts with the differences between the ghost and the gain from Midland. There are also many posts on the JT/JL/JK/TJ antenna mounting solutions.

I know very well what the difference is. My point was we are bickering over stuff that 99% of the GMRS users don't care about nor have a license to care. "Licensed" users will follow the rules but there is a HUGE amount of folks on these channels with no license, no care about a license or about anything we are talking about.

All how you read the rules. But I digress. Years ago we had a GE Master II for our GMRS repeater. It had an RTL (Radio Tie Line) from the tower site to our house and had a "DC" Remote. The Remote allowed my parents to call on the repeater and answer. By the rules at the time it met "remote control" via telephone line, but was not a PTSN network. It was basically a pair of copper wires from one location to another. Now its all done over IP and is the same basic concept. The biggest issue with linking is the ability to shut down the repeater remotely. When everything is working all is good. When its not its and issue. In the past one of the ham groups had a repeater linked with all star. Something on the Pi broke and the repeater was keyed solid for 2 days until someone went and unplugged it. Anyway my repeaters are connected via microwave links and comparators. Even though its not simulcast its all run thru a digitac and votes best audio and sends that over the air. Much cleaner than IP linking in the hobby world.

And lets face it 90% of the folks on those channels are using baofengs from amazon and don't have a license anyway. Don't sweat the small stuff. Worry about the high power channels and repeaters.

There has been a huge shift in the thought process of GMRS over the last few years. Not sure why but some feel its like social media and you get online with a radio and repeaters are all over the US and active. While some areas have great repeaters most of the US does not. Many repeaters are not listed nor open for anyone use (Mine for example). I don't know where folks get the info but it puzzles me at times. Been in GMRS for over 20 years and still use it for the main aspect of my first repeater - to talk to my family and friends on a repeater. That's it. Never since day 1 did I install one so i could talk to folks I don't know.

I personally wish this were the case but sure there is someplace that counters the text you screen captured. To me linking has ruined GMRS but that is only my opinion.

It all depends on your expectation on how well the system will work. A duplexer helps keep desense to a minimum. The antenna is the most important part of the repeater. Spending quality funds on a good antenna and line twice is normally more money than a duplexer and one good antenna. Also if your going at a commercial tower you pay per antenna and line on the tower. I can say you can get a repeater that is designed as a repeater cheaper than you will get 2 KG1000's ...food for though

I have heard a ton of digital on GMRS. Get near any port on the coast and its non stop. As I go thru DC and Baltimore I hear it on and off in the cities. Alot is simplex but I know of locations with repeaters on the air. Sad part is people buy CCR DMR stuff and just program away not knowing anything about rules or caring. When they sell stuff on amazon to anyone who has a CC its going to happen. When I was at a radio shop in the past they put a IDAS/NXDN repeater on GMRS for a school "cause they have no money" for licensing. I wasn't there much longer. All we can do as GMRS users is try to follow the rules and encourage others to do the same.

The ORing is to keep water out of the NMO. Nothing more.

If you go this route just toss a 1/4 wave on it. 6" vs 3" wont be noticed. I had run one of those on my Motorhome before I switched out to the LAIRD fiberglass stick. Worked fine for my application as I had no ground plane on the motorhome.

Thats a question for @rdunajewski

TX and RX is what you use. RX is repeater output. TX is repeater input. PL/CTCSS/DPL tones are the same format.

It was on our license back in the day. I'm not sure I have any old copies around. Never specified a PL tone just 462.675/467/675. Then you only got one frequency when you got a GMRS channel. My first one was 462.625/467.625. Later on a few of the larger GMRS based groups pushed the 141.3 as a traveler code. Our area had a REACT repeater on 131.8 (still active today) but was an old repeater that used reeds. I searched for 2 years and finally gave up. Some history on that is here and is a good read. http://www.nsea.com//index_files/nseainfo.htm Our REACT team was very involved in GMRS and CB at the time. Sadly it fell apart as soon as most of the guys went to HAM radio. Our SAR team took over the GMRS repeater and have upgraded it a few times. Its on the schedule to be replaced this fall and will incorporate the 141.3 in the list of available PL tones.

A repeater at 4 watts will talk no further than a portable at 4 watts. No need to install an amp. You would be best served by purchasing a quality antenna and feedline.

Depending on your location there may be repeaters and other locations quiet as a mouse...

Or just grab a RT97 for half the cost of the KG1000 setup.... KG1000 - $369.00 x 2 Duplexer - $150 (Fumie China Duplexer) Various cable - N-PL259 (Radio to duplexer) - $25-50 Power Supply - $100.... Granted the RT97 is a high power repeater but 99% of the folks that will be putting up a repeater are doing it at home on a garage or house. The RT97 is a all in one box. Just program and turn on. Simplicity for many. And to be honest if you have a great location the repeater will do fine with portables. Just another option.

Rich owns and run mygmrs.com. You can get him on the main gmrs page. https://mygmrs.com/user/rdunajewski

For once I agree with OffRoader and we need more info. What is LAW ENFORCEMENT EMERGENCY RADIO NETWORK ?

I guess Im confused what you want to do. Is not the TX radio programmed for 462.700 ? If so you can talk on your portable to 467.700 and hear it on your RX radio. You can then answer on your TX radio and your portable will hear it. Also if your portable is on simplex (462.700) you can transmit and receive on the TX repeater radio (462.700). Thats how the repeater works. Your RX radio should have 467.700 RX Only and your TX radio would have 462.700 TX/RX as you can't make a TX only personality.

Yes if the radio is set for RX/TX on the 462.xxx you can talk and receive on it. The GR series repeaters used to ship with a mic for that reason. It would allow a "dispatcher" to talk back to his vehicles without needing another radio on site.

So your on portables. Drive a mile from the repeater. Then test. Dont test with both radios in the vehicle at the same time. Dont believe anything the repeater says for coverage unless its a true coverage map. The "circle" is only based on what they enter and is not accurate. The distance you get on simplex is about average in a neighborhood. Not sure what you were expecting.

Looking at Connersville 650 neither PL/DPL are listed. It says request permission. Did he reply with information ? https://mygmrs.com/repeater/4934

How close are you to the repeater location ?

Well regardless of reasons when you sign a contract to be on a tower things need followed. We ran into this when I was at the radio shop. Our owner let a small ham club on the tower and the install was horrible. He gave them 3 months to resolve the issues. They did nothing so he kicked them out. Regardless of service its not your property. In todays world I can't imagine the tower owner didn't kick the stuff out already. When rent isn't paid normally it was 3 months and I went and powered off the equipment until we got paid. Sounds harsh but its the reality. Lessons learned by that club. This also enforces the issue to all the new folks on this board buying $25.00 radios the real cost of repeater ownership and time commitments it takes to do a proper site.