gortex2

What are you programming in the radio ? Its a HAM Radio not GMRS.
 

Ed Fong, PhD is an electronics engineer that is reputable and knows what he is doing. He developed these antennas from a request that he design an antenna given explicit criteria for a corporation in the communications business. There is no need to criticize unless you are willing to back your critique with explicit engineering facts. You don't have to buy Doctor Fong's products, but the proceeds do go to supporting the college students in his college courses.
As for the big brand name antennas, I would suggest you take the time to look inside the next one you buy before you put it on your tower or mast. You might just be shocked by what you find, and maybe even a bit disappointed if you know anything about soldering and antenna theory. 
I intend to purchase his antennas for my use when I go portable. I just don't want to have to carry around some 10 foot to 17 foot fiberglassed fragile antenna that could be broken, then spend another $200-300 replacing it.
Stay well, see you on the air, stay well and try to stay positive
73
Dave, KJ7WUZ/WRHW845

I was around back in the days when 462.675 was designated for emergency use only and for point-to-point communications for REACTS.
My GMRS license back in that day stated that 462.675 MHz was for emergency use only.
Orange County REACT was one of the licensees that had authorization to use a repeater on 462.675 MHz in the 70s and they had a repeater on Santiago Peak for all the REACT monitors to relay information.
This repeater is still in existence today and still owned by Crest Communications and used by their Club members.
In later years, the FCC deregulated the use of 462.675 MHz as an emergency only  and the North Shore Emergency Association was instrumental in getting the acceptance of the 462.675 MHz GMRS as a highway calling channel with the 141.3 Hz as the national travel tone.
Here is some info from the North Shore Emergency Association on the history of the National Travel Channel:
This briefly discusses how the "travel tone" of 141.3 Hz and the national calling/emergency frequency of 462.675 MHz came to be. NSEA was one of the very first adopters of GMRS in the early 1970s, then the Class "A" Citizens Band. Here's a quick snippet from the link:

NSEA members were instrumental in bringing UHF technology to other public service groups in CB, especially R.E.A.C.T. (Radio Emergency Associated Citizens Teams). Beginning in 1976 key NSEA members spent extensive time meeting with REACT teams in more than a dozen-and-a-half different states, bringing a portable repeater, together with a number of mobile and portable units for field demonstrations...As a result, over 200 personal use repeater systems (all on the same frequency [462.675 MHz]) were set up throughout the United States. In recognition of this trend of explosive growth the Federal Communications Commission formally recognized our frequency [462.675 MHz] as the national emergency and traveler's assistance channel in the Part 95A Rules and Regulations.
Below is some info from Wikipedia on the National calling and highway channel;
GMRS: 462.675 MHz is a UHF mobile distress and road information calling frequency allocated to the General Mobile Radio Service and used throughout Alaska and Canada for emergency communications; sometimes referred to as "Orange Dot" by some transceiver manufacturers who associated a frequency with a color-code for ease of channel coordination, until the creation of the Family Radio Service, in 1996, "GMRS 675" or Channel 6/20 on mobile radios today.  It can have a repeater input frequency of 467.675 MHz, and a tone squelch of 141.3 Hz. The national calling channel is still recognized by some GMRS users and Clubs that are still alive and well but the channel may not be widely recognized by the newer GMRS users today.

As I've said multiple times I've had GMRS since I was a kid. Dad had a license and we rented a "PL" on a repeater originally. Later on he found a good used repeater and we had it on a telephone pole in town. Years later we ended up at a small tower on a hill. It was always used for "dad" on the way home and "Mom" saying she needs bread or milk from the store. No one else was on the channel. Once in a great while we would travel caravan style and use radio to radio. In those days portable radios were expensive and didn't work well. I dont think we ever had a portable until I got into it in the mid 90's. Even then it was a midland 2 channel xstal radio.  During this time we never even thought about talking around the state let alone the country. It was used for utility purposes. We still use GMRS in that way for family use. I also use it now for off roading with JeepJamborree but that's all simplex. No need to talk 200 miles away. 
I still firmly believe the linking is pushed by unhappy hams. Same with nets and all that. While many think I hate hams I've been one for over 30 years. I use HAM radio for APRS, SAR and other uses. Again each service or technology is used for a need. No different than Cell Phone Apps. we use Zello to Patch SAR channels for situational awareness, Internet for console sites and plain old simplex to talk to teams in the woods. 
I hope the FCC clarifies further myself and will slow or put an end to linking for those that want repeaters for local use. Also I run 8 repeaters. None are linked, nor can be used in the same area. No need. 
 

How about just buy a GMRS radio then buy a HAM radio for other stuff.
 

I would start with the D162N. That's for normal. Most don't invert DPL unless they are trying to eliminate users. 

Control station.  A station at a fixed location that communicates with mobile stations and other control stations through repeater stations, and may also be used to control the operation of repeater stations.
IMHO, the two keys to understanding Part 95 are to just read the regulation as it's written (and not "interpret" it) and to accept the definition of terms as the FCC lays them out, even if they don't agree with common usage.
If you have a mobile radio (because AFAIK no one makes a GMRS 'base' radio) connected to a power supply and antenna on your roof, and you are talking through a repeater, the FCC calls that a control station.  That's what Part 95 A (which applies to all other subparts of 95, including 95 E) says.
Base station. A station at a fixed location that communicates directly with mobile stations and other base stations.
If you have a mobile radio connected to a power supply and antenna on your roof, and you are talking directly to other mobiles or base stations (i.e. simplex) the FCC calls that a base station, even if it's the same setup you use to talk through repeaters.  Again, that's what Part 95 A says.
Mobile station. A station, intended to be used while in motion or during halts at unspecified locations, that communicates directly with base stations and other mobile stations, and with control stations and other mobile stations through repeater stations.
A mobile, on the other hand (and HTs are considered a sub-class of mobiles) can do both ... direct and through repeaters.
Again, the key is not to try and make sense of the distinction between base and control stations.  Just accept the definitions and go with them.
I will also bet that someone is going to come back and argue with me about what a control station is because they want to interpret "may also be used" as MUST BE USED.  Uh, that's not what it says.  It says, "may".  "May" does not mean "MUST".

I would start with the D162N. That's for normal. Most don't invert DPL unless they are trying to eliminate users. 

What kind of response are you expecting?  Are you saying anything or are you just clicking the PTT(kerchunking)?
The normal response to kerchunking is to ignore it.
If you’re asking for someone to verify they can hear you then it depends on whether someone is listening at the time and whether they are inclined to talk.

Unfortunately, to save money, the Chinese radio industry utilizes doves in their quality control department! 🤣

Why would it matter if there was a list posted ? Majority of the topics on this forum are about uncertified radios over and over and how to modify, program or use said radios. @OffRoaderX is spot on. If it says GMRS its probably certified....not always but mostly. 
 

Dont have this issue with factory provided antenna's
 

How about just buy a GMRS radio then buy a HAM radio for other stuff.
 

How about just buy a GMRS radio then buy a HAM radio for other stuff.
 

That's a valid point. I think a fair number of GMRS users would agree given the limited number of repeater frequency pairs available.
IMHO one should look at what the original purpose of GMRS was targeted at. You get a feeling for that based on the licensing rules, basically a family with parents and siblings. The typical communication would be limited to a small area. I don't think the intended operational vision was communication over large geographical areas, such as state wide or multi-state systems. A city wide or county wide system might be more reasonable.
I'm neutral on the topic. I don't have a dog in the fight, not a repeater owner/operator.  I'll let others do the heavy lifting.
Advice given to new attorneys by the old experienced ones : "If the law is against you, pound on the law. If the facts are against you pound on the facts. If both are against you pound on the table."

So someone else asked a similar but more specific question to the FCC and the responce was much different....Itsn ot my post but can be seen here - 
http://forums.radioreference.com/threads/considerations-about-linking-gmrs-repeaters.462408/post-3973769
 

So someone else asked a similar but more specific question to the FCC and the responce was much different....Itsn ot my post but can be seen here - 
http://forums.radioreference.com/threads/considerations-about-linking-gmrs-repeaters.462408/post-3973769
 

Well, this is a loaded question.  And the owner of the tower is the one that's going to load it. 
You are going to have 3 main types of tower owners.  Knowing who owns it and the ground under it is going to be key in how you proceed and what to expect.
First you have the 'vertical real estate' companies like American Tower and Crown Castle.  They own a vast number of the towers that you are going to see.  They are teh most difficult to deal with but the most willing to take your money (a LOT of your money) to allow you to access their site and put up your gear on their tower.  First requirement is going to be the climbers or 'tower crew'.  Some of the major players will allow anyone that is licensed and bonded to work on their towers.  Others will require that you use only specific companies that are 'on their list'.  Sort of like preferred body shops in the auto insurance business.  But be assured that YOU will NOT be climbing their tower and working on it at all.  They also may or may NOT have a structure on the site that they will rent you space in.  Mind you this is a separate fee from the tower access fee.  Then they may or may not require you to install at your expense, an electrical service for your equipment.  Lastly, most any of them will charge you a civil engineering fee to verify your antenna and line are not going to overload their tower. I have seen this fee charged to people to access old microwave towers that you could literally hang a truck from without overloading it.  This is usually around 3000 to 4000 bucks.  And if it doesn't pass they will then ask you, at your expense, to reinforce the tower (tens of thousands of dollars typically) before you are allowed to pay another company to put your single antenna and line on their tower.  These people deal with cell providers that make thousands of dollars a month on these towers.  The cell companies don't care about all this because they make all the money back in a few months to a year.  Or, because they rent thousands of other sites from the company, the owner does the work and increases the rent a few bucks and gets their money that way.  Of course marking up the work a good bit.  Again, the cell companies don't care.  They have the money.  Oh, and your install better be top notch.  Not to mention that they will only write multiyear contracts that are going to typically be at bear minimum 500 a month in really rural areas to thousands a month for urban areas that have more people. 
 
Second is going to be the private owners that know the business, or are a small player (own a few towers and not thousands).  Some times you will run into these folks and they might even be a ham operator that might support your endeavors that will rent you space for a reasonable fee, provide power and a place to put your gear but still has the good sense to require licensed climbers.  However he may know a guy that he uses and will allow you to work with him directly to do your work as he is doing other work on the tower (maintenance or whatever) for a really reduced fee.  These are the folks that you hope to encounter in truth. 
 
Last ones are the unicorns.  These are the property owners that got a tower dumped on them due to the previous tower owner going bankrupt (lots of old paging and small cell upstart companies did this).  They have little to no idea about the tower, how to maintain it, what requirements for lighting it may have and typically shut the power off to the building years ago.  If you know radio, towers, and building maintenance, you can sometimes work yourself into dealing with all that for the property owner and getting access.  But if there is no utility, you will be the one to deal with that too. 
 
Last ones are the owners that are somewhat radio savy, or at least ham / GMRS friendly and will allow access for a fee, or not based on no given reason.  These situations are great until they aren't great.  And this sort of goes for the guy above as well.  When they hear that they could be getting thousands a month in rent and you aren't paying that, you have no agreement, and you will be out the door.  They may even try to keep your gear.  It just depends on the person.  So good lick and I hope it works out for you.
 

Anything you ever wanted to know about the Gm300’s can be found at 
 
https://www.repeater-builder.com/rbtip/

I apologize if I missed it, but 75 feet of what kind of cable?  75 feet of the wrong cable will consume most of the output power before it ever arrives at the antenna.
Something you might want to try, even if just temporarily as an experiment, is to mount the RT-97 on the mast just below the antenna with a short jumper between it and the feedpoint.

I'd shortne the cable to bare minimum. 

I really like my RT97..Works great for what I need, which is occasional use in the mountains for communications. I can get about a 30 mile circle which is more than enough for my needs. 
 
 

Use your cellphone and download zello. have family download zello. talk on zello. 

Use your cellphone and download zello. have family download zello. talk on zello. 

REACT was big back in the CB days. Many of the teams fell apart in the early 2000's. Our team used GMRS for a few years before they disbanded. Back then a team could license the frequency as well. This is actually how our SAR team got the channel and location we used for a few years also.