gortex2

While I agree we need more in some areas half the people on this forum complain about spending money on a decent handheld or mobile....

I guess that was my point. Some discussions get wrapped around the axle for days or weeks. We have thousands of folks using GMRS with no licenses. Following best practices and doing what you can as a licensed user is all you can do. I have no ID on any of my repeaters and as your friend had multiple inspections by the FCC with no issues.

So either order a UHF 1/4 wave or move the antenna. Those antenna's are junk anyway. You can grab a 1/4 wave on amazon for $15 that will screw right on the mount.

I know there are valid points from all but this is an awful lot of discussion about a repeater that may cover a mile.....

By the time you buy all the parts you can but a RT97 thats made to do what you want....

I was at a shop in the early days of NXDN for ICOM. We took 2 25khz channels and ended up with 8 6.25khz channels. Issue was filtering and combiners. Ended up putting 4 repeaters over the facility and using the others in simplex mode. Was a cool idea for sure. Never dealt with any of the NXDN trunking stuff but hear it works well. Not sure if its still using 6.25 or 12.5 though.

I wasn't trying to mandate anything. I just don't get the reasoning. Yes digital is the new age but why not say we need digital on CB, Marine and other services also then. GMRS has been around for a long time. With limited channels I don't think digital is the best option. It further limits the usage of the channels and causes more confusion. How many posts are there daily on folks who can't get the repeater to work ? Now add DMR, or P25 and its a mess. I cant even listen to most of the ham DMR stuff because of how bad some of it sounds now. Hot spots, CCR DMR radios and poor backhaul creates a lot of audio issues. Done right I agree DMR, P25 and NXDN sounds good but in an "open" service with no one being the "buck stops here" there is no management of that. This is the issue amateur radio has. Some clubs public best practices, or recommended settings but I still get alot of ID1 pop up on my display at times. I think the only way digital would work and work well with GMRS is to dedicate 1 or 2 channels to DMR that are not current channels. Which the FCC will never do. Then again taking some amateur 440 channels away and giving GMRS second use on them seems prudent. I work in the field and deal with P25 daily so I get the advantages of digital when done right. If It was allowed I'd have a P25 repeater system up already. As a public safety users I'd push P25 over DMR as I could use all my public safety radios. In the end I dont think the FCC will ever change the rules. Look at the mess they already created with some need a license and some don't on the same channels. My guess is another 10 years it will be just like CB because there is no structure or anyone helping direct the hobby/service.

DMR will only increase the channels if used in TDMA. Rarely that happens. And why should P25 or NXDN be pushed aside for DMR ? That's the issue. Only so many channels for repeaters. And why should an analog user who has had a repeater on the air for 20+ years be interfered with because someone bought a license and put up a DMR repeater in the same area. I know this can happen in Analog also. Still doesn't make it right. Linking should not be part of the digital standard. Again I get baffled by trying to make GMRS another ham band. Its one service that has some basic rules that anyone can spend the money on and get a license and use. As said earlier there are many places you can go use DMR, Fusion, P25, and NXDN outside of the GMRS service.

Personally as much as folks want digital I think its in FCC and evey one best interest to stay analog. There are only a handful of repeaters for GMRS and if we add in DMR, P25, NXDN then it will turn into the ham bands. If you really need digital get a ham license or another license and use that service.

Commercial VS Amateur Radio. Commercial radios will always be better. Less bandwidth and better filtering.

No the ghost antenna is about as effective as a dummy load. Think of it as your portable radio antenna crammed into a pepper shaker. They were designed for transit and public safety with TLMR systems in mind (many repeaters covering large areas) and are used in public safety alot. But those systems are designed for it. I run 2 Laird/MSI ghost antenna's on my work truck. One in UHF and one in 800. On a good day we can get about a mile Car-Car on UHF but that's on the highway. Get in the city and its less. For trail riding in a group its a good antenna as your talking to the guy in front or behind. If there is a good repeater in the area it works well. To be honest a 1/4 wave will out perform the ghost/transit antenna all day long and be just as durable as the ghost. I run the 1/4 wave on both my Jeeps and have yet to damage one or have issues talkign to folks on the trail.

What radio are you using to hear the said tones ? I highly doubt a county would be on GMRS. What location is this ?

The EVX is in the Motorola lineup so contact Motorola regarding software. I believe you can get a wideband entitlement key for that unit after a training.

Just program both radios then have the shop re-tune the duplexer. The controller has dip switches for hang time and repeater enable. Here is the manual that has the dip switch stuff. No ID built in. We used an external COMM SPEC repeater panel on some so they could have MPL. This was not designed as a full blown repeater but really a small construction style unit to take from place to place. Basically to complete with the MSI GR300/500 series repeaters. https://www.icomamerica.com/en/downloads/DownloadDocument.aspx?Document=71

The RT97 is ideal. Had one in my motorhome and would cover most camp grounds just fine with a decent antenna. The issue with the surecomm simplex repeaters is people understanding how they work and worse if they can hear both conversations. Save up and get the RT

The baofengs are not good for scanning. Does it but not well. If you want a real scanner for a vehicle then there are many options from uniden and other scanner manufacturers.

If its the true CY repeater yes. Sold many when I was at a radio shop. Basically 2 121 mobiles with a duplexer and custom controller in the box. Great low power repeater for home use.

Send a message to Rich and he can fix it.

Many part 95 certified radios. Just do some searching on the forums and you will find many of them.

I can look tomorrow when i get home. Had some left.

I guess the question is do you want a repeater that works or one that you can talk a mile from home with. That's the cost factor. All of my repeaters have at least $5000 into at minimum for hardline, antenna and repeater. All have 30-40 mile range. Can you do it cheaper yes but dont expect to talk all over with it. A good DB404 antenna will be $500 alone. Even my home GR500 (2 GM300 mobiles, rck and duplexer) was about $300 used. Thats a solid little repeater but then add the DB404 and 25' of 1/2" hardline, polyphasers and tripod mount on my roof and im well over $1500 and I can only get about 3 miles from home. Granted I'm not on a hill and the only reason for the one at home is to talk to my farm stuff.

Already have them... https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/702373 Uses MURS channels. Have seen them in many SXS already. Have not had a chance to order one yet but plan to for off road use.

Sell it and buy one in the ham band ?

I'd start with a cheap watt meter on a radio and feedline. As I say over and over thats the most important part of any system.

Our first tower site for our SAR team was owned by a concrete company. You could almost not see the building with growth. We told them we would clean up the site, mow all year and help fix windows doors etc. We were there for 5 years until we moved to a county site. It was a great partnership and we left the place much better than it was. With that said we were a 501C3 with insurance. Without that it may be a stumbling block in these days.