gortex2

Drilled 8 holes in roof. Ran cables down C pillar to radios on back wall.

The entire point of this thread was to explain the differences of a real repeater that wil ldo what you want vs 2 CCRs with a plug and play box. There are many who have lofty expectations of GMRS and think you can talk 30 miles with a $100 of parts. Thats not going to happen. As an established GMRS user Id rather have folks play on ham radio if they want to experiment....

As said the CDM makes a great base radio. I only have the GMRS Main repeaters channels in mine with DIR vs tying up repeater and simplex. Works for me as I only talk on repeaters 99% of the time. I do have a second zone with all repeaters in Narrow band as I do have some setup as 12.5 on the air. They work much better for midlands.

You need to be logged into the GMRS site and not just the forum to see the PL.

I'm baffled by the amount of folks who think they want to re-write the rules and channels to benefit them. Until a few years ago we had 8 repeater splits and thats it. For folks above line A they lost 2 off the bat. If your talking simplex use a channel not in a repeater. Its simple.

If you spent the money for 7/8" it wouldn't make sense to use LMR or something like that for the jumper. Just go with 1/2" hardline jumper and be done.

I would go Heliax. Order a 25' remade cable. Also remember to put a Polyphaser where the 7/8" entered the building to a ground.

Repeaters are not required to ID. Many do as it satisfices the requirement of ID for the user. Many don't as they don't want folks to know a repeater is there. For my repeater that does ID I use tactile call signs vs dealing with my GMRS call. The repeater is sending it every 15 minutes. The repeaters that don't ID I need to ID. Any repeater cal sit on the air for years and as long as its not being used there is no requirement to send an ID. In commercial and public safety that is different.

Yes APX7000 is a dual band radio. Could be ordered with any of 2 bands ie: V/U, V/8, U/8, UR1/UR2 etc APX8000 is an All Band as its V/U/7/8

Your not going to find a CCR/HAM/GMRS radio that does what your looking for. ITs all about certifications. If you want a true dual band V/U radio that is useable in these bands you need a LMR radio. AX7000 is dropping in price but the VHF/UHF1 is a expensive devise being all the hams want them. Personally I think you need a radio for the service you want to use. I dont carry my APX8000 when im in the Jeep on the side of a mountain. No need to. I use my Midland Mobile and Motorola FRS radios. When Im in the woods for SAR I carry my APX.

Radio is not certified for Part 95 and should not be used on GMRS.

Do you know if the repeater is actually a functioning repeater ? If your display says 16r then it should be set correct. you need your tone set to the repeater tones.

Thats basically how alot of the cellular stuff is run to be honest as well as the low power microwave stuff now. LMR has not made it to that point although I'm sure its coming. Issue with radio on the tower lets say in a box is repairs. It costs alot of money to put a climber on a tower. Most tower guys know nothing about radio but are more of a "plumber". Basically they would have to bring the box down to fix. Also no way to do a PM check on stuff on the tower. In the end a shelter is a better location for a repeater with the antenna line up the tower.

UV-5R is not certified for GMRS use. Greensboro 675 works ok on a mobile radio.

I have yet been able to get into Alexandria. I try every week and never been able to bring it up. If you friend needs a repeater he is better off gettting his ham ticket.

It depends on the use case. The MVA is just that. It allows the radio to have an outside antenna and mic and speaker with the portable in the base charging. I used many with the XTS5000 radio and have a APX one in my vehicle. They do make amplifiers for them but unless your VHF or UHF dont see many.

I would remove all those adapters. I assume your tests are with the cabinet closed ? Without a real service monitor its hard to do a true test but it appears the TX is still getting in the RX. I doubt its a power issue. I assume the CAT5 is not shielded so I'd start with some ferrites on that.

I carry my APX8000 for SAR most of the time but do grab my FT1DR sometimes. I dont see a need for GMRS/MURS most of the time anyway. If I can't do what I need with ham I grab the 8000

So have you tested this into a suitable dummy load on high and low power ? If your still getting desense it could be the jumpers between the duplexer and radio. If it does not do it with a dummy load check the antenna and antenna line. I have seen antenna's with high reflected cause different issues. Also how far away is your test setup from the radios ? If your using an HT in front of your bench its very possible the HT is getting into the mobile radio. This happens alot with non shielded radios. Mobiles were not designed for repeater use so not all are properly shielded for high RF around the box.

Yes. Seal up the antenna connections.

Most FRS/GMRS radio are fine with water resistant. Unless your swimming or walking thru a hurricane I think your ok. I have yet to cover a radio up.

The MTX speaker is pretty weak. I run an external CB speaker and it works well. I jammed mine under the dash. Being the Andy 2 is pretty small you could mount that via bracket then use velcro or double sided tape to hold the MTX to the bottom if you want it there.

https://mygmrs.com/map/#/ Click on outdated or offline. Only ones that have been added in last year, or updated will show up with both off.

I drilled 7 holes in the roof and installed NMO mounts. That's the proper way to install an antenna. A single UHF quarter wave in the center of the roof on an NMO almost disappears to 99% of the community.

When I talked to them at the last vendor show they indicated Q4 but guessing it will be Q1 of next year before the 500 is out.