gortex2

Also check for splitters in the house. Way back when i worked for Spectrum we would get calls with similar complaints. Alot of times we found splitters with 2 cables and 1 or  empty ports with no terminations on them. As others said check the COAX. Anything less than RG6 shielded can cause the issue. My motor home would block on on multiple channels when my GMRS repeater (in the MH) would transmit. Found alot of connections (rg58) with crimps looking like they used a pair of pliers. I replaced all cable in the MH with RG6 quadshield and all my issues went away. 

We're working on a new website and this will be one of the first "new" features once it's rolled out. There will be a voting system where people can indicate whether a given repeater is online or not. Using this information, we can get rid of the offline and outdated systems.
 
Right now, we hide anything older than a year from the map page, but that's not perfect. There are systems that haven't been updated in a long time that are still on the air, and some that were listed more recently that are already gone.
 
I think this voting system will be the better way to handle it unless someone has better suggestions. I think requiring someone to log in every year to update the listing is difficult to do, and risks hiding good stuff out there. We could also handle signal reports through this system so you can get feedback on where people are reaching it from and the signal quality.

I use the same mount on my JK but with a 1/4 wave UHF whip and see barely enough reflected to worry about. the one thing I did do when installing was grind the paint from the bottom of the bracket as the NMO was not even getting a ground prior. Check with a DVM to see if you have a good ground. I did try a gain style antenna but like the short whip.

No. The issue he most likely saw was a bad antenna install. I run a 110 watt APX in VHF and a 45 watt APX in UHF on my JK with no issues.

Until this week! Retevis submitted the RT97 for FCC Part 95E approval and got it. The FCC ID is 2ASNSRT97.
 
The interesting thing is they are only certified for 5W whereas the other RT97's are rated for 10W output.
 
The best part? You can preorder yours now from myGMRS! 
 
I have 2 on the way from China and will place an order for more based on demand. Current ETA is mid-June for the first batch, but no idea how accurate that date is. Shipping to the US has been very slow lately due to the lack of flights from China. There are things I've ordered from early March that still haven't left the country, but they were not Express shipments. 
 
I think these have potential to explode in popularity for GMRS. Everyone wants cheap repeaters that are plug-n-play, and these are about as cheap as you can get while being type-accepted and not just 2 HTs taped together.

I have mine setup the same way at a couple of sites, for the reason of the illegal users that were continually using the repeater both unknowingly and knowingly. After 6 months of trying to keep the bubble pack and other folks off the repeater I changed to a DPL and PL mixed configuration. All my commercial gear allowed this and it stopped interference. I spent alot of money on a repeater, tower, hard line, antenna, electric and other associated costs to be at a tower. Its for me to decide who get to use my repeater. 
 
On similar subject I have another repeater that was at a county park. I got tons of complaints on how it worked. every time I did a PM it was rock solid. One of the complainers was a ski patrol guy from a mountain nearby who liked to use that cause there radios didn't work. after 3 trips to the repeater and doing all sorts of testing I asked to meet him and look at his radio. He had the midland mobile (dont remember model) and a handful of bubble pack radios. I explained to him this was indeed the issue and as i explained that also realized other than him no one else was licenced. I attempted to educate him on the issues with the "junk" he bought however could not convince him.I volunteered to leave him one of my older HT's to use that weekend. Everything was fine. The following week when i picked up the radio he said he planned to get one..until he found what it costs. He was bewildered he had to pay $100 for a radio to use the repeater when he could buy a 2 pack on amazon of some other radio for $35.00.....At this point I gave up. Repeater has since been removed due to said group of non compliment users,. Sad part was this was installed at the county park for users of the park.
 
At my new house I have 2 repeaters. I specifically have one in NB mode as my parents have a Midland radio. Its still not ideal but it works for them.I run my channel in WB and still use my commercial gear. In the end its what works for the users of the system, and who maintains the system.

So some issues come to mind. First is get rid of the LMR400. 
 
How is your CDM programmed. TX radio should be programmed for 462.625 TX And RX. RX radio should be programmed for 467.625 TX and RX. You cannot program a radio for TX only so i assume something is amis on the CDM. with a mic on the CDM you should be able to TX to your HT with no issues, and then recieve you HT on the RX radio with all the RICK unplugged. The rick is pretty basic and the description you mention looks like programming.
 
Also where is antenna located ? away from equipment I assume ? 

I think this thread has run its course.

I actually run 2 of my 6 repeaters in NB and most likely will be switching another to NB in the near future. For those that run the Midland gear it does help those radios. I still like my WB stuff but i use what makes it work best for the users on the system. As you said its all whats best for the repeater owners and users. I wouldn't want the FCC to say you MUST go NB cause i would be unplugging half of mine.

Nothing stops anyone today from running Narrowband in GMRS. If the repeater owner thinks that setting the receive window to 12.5 Kc will improve the receiver performance for their particular situation, they can do it.
 
Most repeater owners run 25 Kc wideband because it works better and sounds better. The day that 12.5 becomes the better alternative is the day most will switch. In most parts of the country there is ZERO issue with channel congestion in GMRS.
 
I'll keep mentioning this until folks get it. If you want to run DMR, there's nothing stopping you except for a Part 90 license. Go get yourself coordinated for a Private Carrier license for DMR, and invite all your friends and family to join in. You'll be talking Digital in no time.

That is a nice setup. I did similar in my wifes JK. I used the ICOM 6061 with remote head kit. It wasn't much more than the Midland and let me use MDC on my LMR channels in addition to being able to add some ham stuff.

There is something called the Open Repeater Initiative or OPI. It uses 462.675 with a CTCSS Tone of 141.3Hz. The frequency was selected by a group of Repeater owners who wanted to create a standard for travelers to be able to have easy access to repeater while on the road, without having to search for a repeater or ask for permission to use it. The 141.3 tone was also selected as the "travel tone" standard.
 
Scanning the frequencies is okay, but you may only talk for a couple of miles. Using open repeaters with "traveler" settings gives you a chance to reach the greatest number of operators for more distance and time.

I've reached out to my reps at Midland and they said nothing new in the Spring, and nothing to announce for later in the year yet. I think any plans they had are put on hold because of the pandemic. I'd expect something out by Q1 2021 realistically.

That is a huge step in the wrong direction, IMHO. We need FRS & GMRS to stop sharing frequencies. Let FRS be low power narrow band and give GMRS operators more wideband frequencies. I'm tired of sharing the channels with 4 and 5 year old kids screaming at their cousin who is only 30 feet away, about how much they love play dough.

Sorry Logan5, but your case is not typical. You either live in a very flat place, at the top of a hill, or atop a mount, or even atop a mountain, b/c using 5W UHF where I live (near Madison WI), with my antenna placed atop a 40 feet mast, using Heliax 1/2" feedline doesn't reach reliably more than 5 miles out to HT, and that is spotty at best... even when pushing 50W GMRS out using Vertex Standard EVX-5400 mobile, through the same 40 feet antenna, it barely reaches 10 miles to another EVX-5400 mobile using a vehicle mounted NMO antenna (no magmount crap)... but to HT?... Sorry, but not typical to get 10 miles out of 5W.
 
Using BTECH crap, TYT crap, or in general anything CCR crap, or anything that isn't commercial grade gear will result in disappointment. I've alredy been through the CCR road, and while they do have their uses, reliable comms at long range isn't one of them, and I am talking about all these cheapies with flashy screens and 10 million channels with fancy colored buttons and slick shapes... etc. In the end, my Vertex Standard EVX-5300 G7, with a single digit 8 segment LCD display and a total of 8 channels draws rings around all of these cheapies in terms of what matters: radio reception performance.
 
G.
 
 

I had to look up a chart...because in my 30 years with radio I never saw 69.3 used. I find it on all the 50 tone charts, but it's not one of the original 38. We avoided 67.0 and 118.8 due to 60hz interference from AC power. 
 
I would speculate that it is not in the radio because it is in not one of the original standard 38 or there was something in the original radio design that didn't like 69.3. It's possible the decoder is not accurate enough for narrowly spaced tones (selection). 
 
That doesn't help your case, sorry. 
 
I personally use DPL on my repeater because for many years, only an expensive radio would do DPL and most people didn't have them, thus my intrusion risk was low. Still is actually.

This happens more than people realize. 

It's like being angry at the guards for catching your kids playing around on Area 51's land. "How dare you scare my kids that were breaking the rules?! I want to speak to your manager!"

I scare the kids that are using the GMRS repeater outputs on simplex, I bet my XTL5000 base is the sound of god with its desk mic. I have even had some parents yell at me for freaking the kids out.

I tried an Ed Fong j-pole in the attic 6 years ago and it went in the trash 10 min later, worthless as far as resonant, basically a nice dummy load. Several years ago I purchased an Andrew DB404 for my base, still 30' in the attic but I am able to hit my repeaters 35 miles away. I regularly talk simplex 25 miles without an issues. As with anything, you get what you pay for.
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/uhfbase2.jpg

Obviously I can't speak for every situation, but for the team I'm a part of, the government employees that don't know squat about amateur radio or RF comms in general, went out and bought a bunch of garbage and insisted we used their gear. The problems were that there gear wasn't just poor quality, but didn't cover bands and services needed. So even when it wasn't broken, it still didn't work.
 
 
After a few years of us bringing our own gear (including portable towers and power) the right people finally asked us what they should buy. So, the gear here is owned by the government and we just maintain and use it.
 
We still end up bringing our own gear 100% of the time, because we just never know what to expect.
 
I would like to think our situation would be worst case. I can't see a club or group like ARES wasting time and money on cheap gear.

The fiberglass and aluminum poles are 1.75" O.D. so the I.D. of 1.8" for the tripod makes sense...

Still no wideband.  Still no split tones.  I don't expect that to change anytime soon.
 
Just an assumption on my part, but I think the target market for their GMRS products are non-tech people who want an OTC product that works out of the box with no special knowledge or prep.

Yup he is pretty firm on his price. We were able to get a donation to help out and get it.
 
May be worth grabbing a 4'x4' sheet of 3//4 plywood to throw on the ground first and screw or bolt it to it. Then throw some blocks or something heavy on it ? I had spikes pounded in the ground on all three when ours blew over. They were about 16" long but the ground was mostly sand and didn't help much.

Nice setup but watch the Tripod you have. I tried similar setup for our SAR team in the past and it didn't last well in some wind even with guy wires up. We since switched to a military style mast kit we found here - 
 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTENNA-TRIPOD-29FT-ALUMINUM-PORTABLE-TOWER-MAST-KIT-NEW/361384099911
 
It is night and day better and faster to set up that what we had before. It cost a bit more but in the end it was worth it. The selling point of the tripod is the custom "tripod" adapter he ships with it. Here it was last summer in the national park. This was hooked up to a mixed mode Quantar for an event we handle comms for.