gortex2

Along with either the wrong RX tone or the repeater not transmitting a tone, the repeater could be programed to not transmit a squelch tail.  Meaning, when you stop transmitting the repeater stops transmitting immediately or it stops transmitting the RX tone you need the instant it stops receiving your single, and then drops the transmit a fraction of a second after.   That is very common in the DC metro area.

Make sure the jacket can handle being in water. Unless you use steel threaded conduit and seal connections you will most likely get water in it. We use Rigid at tower sites to eliminate this and still can get some water in it. I have helped a few SAR users with small control stations where we actually used PEX pipe in a short distance and worked well. 

People need to think about the delay that exists in linking repeaters. The more repeaters, the bigger the delay. This is not a problem with trained hams that meet and discuss operational procedures. They are trained on what to expect.
Now get a bunch of newbies with a fresh GMRS license and a $25 radio and you will hear a ton of partial transmissions, people stepping on each other and requests to try again.
I spent 8 years in NATO (Germany and Italy) and just making a simple phone call across the Atlantic was an issue because of the delay. Even though we knew that there was a delay, it was still difficult to time your words without stepping on each other.

So if I understand your experiment correctly, you were calling for help when you didn't actually need help? Just to see if anyone would answer your call?
Got it.

As soon as you included ARRL and GMRS the post is useless. 

If only GMRS ops would adopt trendier-looking traffic vests and hard hats, they would get a bigger response 
🤣😄😂

These are theo nly frequencies your license covers
https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/general-mobile-radio-service-gmrs

Sorry, but I must disagree.  Given the original intent of Class A Citizens Band/GMRS radio, of facilitating reliable local area communications between family and friends, linking is neither normal nor expected in this radio service.  In areas with cellular dead spots, or where people may wish to have backup comms for the possibility of a cellular outage, a well-engineered and fortuitously located stand-alone repeater can be a real blessing to the community, county, or larger area that it provides coverage to.  A cellular outage lasting a few hours could create a minor panic if a family member were not heard from in some time when they normally call or "check in" by a given time each day.  Likewise, emergencies such as severe weather, missing persons where a community fields volunteers to search an area, etc, could be well served by such a repeater. Linking to other repeaters outside of your area, especially across the state or across the nation provides no practical or necessary comms for your local area.  Instead, more often than not, they jam up one or more of the only eight repeater/50W simplex channels with inane and pointless chatter from other areas which have little or no bearing or interest to your local area.  Frequently, chatter on only one or maybe two of the linked repeaters, ties up multiple repeaters and frequency pairs unnecessarily, hampering efforts to use the remaining repeaters in their local area, or just someone wanting to use 50W simplex to communicate locally, only to be washed out by the linked repeaters.  The only real purpose I have seen in linking to distant repeaters and networks is to give the repeater owner doing the linking a level of Freudian "compensation", as they imagine the masses gathering to admire how far theirs can reach.  In reality, most who are not newbies are not impressed.
The technology used in linking is the same technology that allows most cell phones to make long distance calls.  If you really get your jollies talking long distance over a commonplace network, call a friend or relative in another state.  If you have no friends or relatives in another state, call a motel desk clerk elsewhere and ask them questions about their rates.  You have just achieved the same exact thing as you do talking to or listening to a bunch of ratchetjaws many states away on a GMRS linked system, but without jamming scarce spectrum.  If you really want to do VOIP DX, talk with the nice man or woman in India who calls to help you get a better rate on your credit card, next time they call.  YEEEE HAW!
IF that still leaves you dissatisfied, do the minimal studying required to get your Technician Class ham license and put up or utilize one of the many VHF/UHF networks there.  While the linking there is annoying too, they at least have a lot more pairs (than our GMRS eight) to do these networks on.
 

Way back when our county linked the RACES ham repeater to the StasteWide system (all RF days no internet) one had to use a different PL to activate the link. After x amount of time with no traffic local the link would drop. think it was 15 minutes back then. Maybe 30. The goal of the link was to give us outside area help on an event when needed but not to have daily qso on the channel. It worked great for years. Then they linked via internet and since its been non stop chatter from the other end of the state. So basically no one uses the repeater. 
Thats been my issue with the GMRS repeaters I have come across that are linked. I have no cares in the world about stuff 300 miles from where I am. In a disaster its different. But not for every day life. If you need long distance traffic use zello or something else to talk on. WE do the samei n the SAR world. We have multiple repeaters across an area but none are linked full time. If there is a need for an incident then they can be patched. If you want to listen to one or the other you go to your zello app and listen in. 
As said earlier resource allocation is more of the issue. On top of that is the limited amoutn of repeaters. I have been in areas where I can hear 3 repeaters and its all the same traffic as they are all linked. There is no reason for that. Pick one channel and link it. If you need more coverage build out that repeater site. 

Have used GMRS for over 3 decades. Alwasy used as a family communications system. Few years back started using it for some off road events. Now its either GMRS or CB for all the off road events I go to. Still use it primarily for private communications. Not to sound rude but if someone was on my repeater thant not my user I wont answer answer them and neither will my users. Thats my decision. In a disaster I doubt GMRs would be much use no matter how many claim it will be.
 

We ran a NMO mount in the hood on our old grass truck for 30 years. Was a rag top on an old military truck and the hood worked just fine. 

I can't stand it, that's what I think.  For me, from the first day I ever got a ham ticket, to me the purpose of a repeater was, is, and always will be - for lack of a better word - "tactical" - not "social." 
Use a repeater for a purpose. If you want to chat with your buddy about the weather and your health problems, call them on the phone or facetime or whatsapp or whatever. 

I use GMRS locally - no repeater - as much as possible, and for the most part, the only repeater I use with any regularity I use while I'm on a long fire call to check in with my wife because we have some epic cellular dead zones, and even when I'm not in a dead zone, the quick and easy "push-to-talk" does not require me fumbling with a phone while wearing gloves or whatever.  It also maybe more useful as we're thinking about banning use of mobile phones on calls for a lot of reasons that start and end with Social Media.
GMRS is now starting to get exactly like everything I hate about DMR - when these repeaters start joining up over the internet, all they are doing is making a radio and other equipment into little more than a complex microphone/speaker for an internet chat room.
Just use your smartphone and zello if you want to yak. Nobody wants to hear you.
 

Dear Baofeng:
I see that a short time ago you have come out with a new GMRS HT (UV-5G Plus).  It looks like a pretty nice upgrade, but I think once again you have missed an opportunity to make a pretty nice radio into a really nice radio.  My complaint falls entirely in the menu system.  1.  Why can we not change/enter a channel name in the menu system? 2. Why can we not set whether a channel can be scanned or not scanned in the menu system?
Baofeng, I think if you fixed just these two things your radios would move up a notch in the value/quality matrix.
I would really like to buy this radio to add to my collection, but I don't want to frustrate myself.
Thank you for listening.
WRPL700
 

To bad neither radio is a GMRS radio. Both are ham radios and should be used for ham. 

Way back when our county linked the RACES ham repeater to the StasteWide system (all RF days no internet) one had to use a different PL to activate the link. After x amount of time with no traffic local the link would drop. think it was 15 minutes back then. Maybe 30. The goal of the link was to give us outside area help on an event when needed but not to have daily qso on the channel. It worked great for years. Then they linked via internet and since its been non stop chatter from the other end of the state. So basically no one uses the repeater. 
Thats been my issue with the GMRS repeaters I have come across that are linked. I have no cares in the world about stuff 300 miles from where I am. In a disaster its different. But not for every day life. If you need long distance traffic use zello or something else to talk on. WE do the samei n the SAR world. We have multiple repeaters across an area but none are linked full time. If there is a need for an incident then they can be patched. If you want to listen to one or the other you go to your zello app and listen in. 
As said earlier resource allocation is more of the issue. On top of that is the limited amoutn of repeaters. I have been in areas where I can hear 3 repeaters and its all the same traffic as they are all linked. There is no reason for that. Pick one channel and link it. If you need more coverage build out that repeater site. 

It's not in the actual rules, just some silly mention, which could be a misinterpretation of the actual rule, or a carry over rule from some other service, or even just a plain mistake, on a rogue web general informational page that 95% of people would never see. Your putting up a repeater, you check the rules. Not rogue informational pages.  So, I would dispute the  "ruled them illegal" . Until it's in the actual rules, it's not a rule. Even then it's just a "rule". Certainly not "illegal". There are so many linked repeaters, they wouldn't just go around and start issuing fines, which is the most they could do anyway They would most likely start sending warning letters. But, again, they can't even do that until it's in the actual rules. CB is supposed to be 4watts. But I've yet to see any of those 1500w jibber jabbers on there fined, sent letters, or have any enforcement whatsoever. So it appears, the FCC, doesn't care.
That said, When a new repeater, the 1st one within my access range, came online last weekend, it is linked. I was initially happy. Had some good conversations with some people. But then last night came. The Friday night tomfoolery. Holy cow the idiots on there. It was exactly why I stopped running a CB radio.  Yeah I can just turn it off or filter that repeater station out, but..they're broadcasting this stuff across 1/4 of the state.
The first actual law we need is to ban any radio from have that stupid emergency/call button!
 

We ran a NMO mount in the hood on our old grass truck for 30 years. Was a rag top on an old military truck and the hood worked just fine. 

We ran a NMO mount in the hood on our old grass truck for 30 years. Was a rag top on an old military truck and the hood worked just fine. 

I hope they all go away.

Sent from my SM-A136U using Tapatalk

Absolutely 100% agreed.  Here’s the actual paragraph:
You can expect a communications range of one to twenty-five miles depending on station class, terrain and repeater use.  You cannot directly interconnect a GMRS station with the telephone network or any other network for the purpose of carrying GMRS communications, but these networks can be used for remote control of repeater stations. 
It must be pointed out that that is the FCC’s interpretation (which counts! 🙂) of 95.1749.
I don’t have a dog in this fight.  I don’t have a GMRS repeater and if I did I doubt that I would link it.
I think it boils down to this, based on the definition of remote control, I can connect to a repeater and remotely control it via the Internet.  But connecting one repeater to another repeater to carry traffic between them over the Internet goes too far for the FCC.
But my understanding should not be taken as any kind of authoritative source.  

I've always opposed them.

GMRS is designed for families and small groups to communicate locally.

Of course, now that the FCC has finally, definitely, ruled linked repeaters illegal, we can now see a return to sanity.

Sent from my SM-A136U using Tapatalk

I'm sorry, but if you're using a Baofeng (or other CCR with a Direct Conversion receiver on a Chip) then  you're missing half the show if you're just focused on transmit power & ERP.
The real game is played on receiver selectivity & desense. Sure, the CCR's have some good/great specs (on paper) for sensitivity in a laboratory testing environment. They fall short when you start looking at adjacent channel rejection and desense. Stuff like that matters in the real world. Measure your Signal to Noise and Distortion and now you've got something worth measuring on the receive side. Do you have tools that can generate a low level calibrated output to test receiver performance?
10 watts in a handheld looks great on paper, but it doesn't take into account how well the other party receives. I'd rather have lower ERP with a more selective receiver that can actually pick out a desired signal at -120 dBm & recover it into understandable audio. If your CCR is still sitting silent in the presence of a -114 dBm signal, you're missing out on more than 6 dB in the math of Signal to Noise. The ERP side says you'd need to quadruple your transmit power to achieve the same S/N ratio.
Take a look at the Motorola XPR "e" series and the Vertex EVX radios if you want to see what a SDR chip coupled with good electronics and a little filtering can look like. Heck, even the older CDM mobiles had great analog receivers with some nice audio.
Focusing on transmit power alone is missing half the equation.

Going back to one of my old experiences when I worked for Motorola years ago...
A small city police department had a failure of their old GE repeater they had been nursing along for many years, so they needed a new one. Budgets were tight, but they insisted on a 100 watt unit. Now, the repeater was naturally on a hill, on a water tank, and was at the highest point in the city, and no more than a mile from the city limits in any direction. They wanted 100 watts. VHF, carrier squelch mind you...and 100 watts. 
While they waited for a new repeater, we loaned them a Desktrac (not what you need for public safety, but it'll work in a pinch). 
Once on the air, the asst chief said, man, that sounds good. And the range is great, can we just keep that one? Is it 100 watts? 
Sure, it's 100 watts. 
It was in fact 25 watts..... no one could tell. They later got a new repeater, but we still didn't set it up for 100 watts. 
Point is, don't get hung up on wattage, use what works for the situation you need it in. 

By any chance, did you look into the Multi-Terrain Lift Kit for that Camry that Walmart or maybe it was Amazon had a special promo on including the installation?

I attended an FCC luncheon held in Harrisburg,PA the subject was brought up on GMRS linking. And within 24 hours I found the CFR and other law websites have the updated CFR 95.1749.  Where they updated and includes the words “or other networks”
they made the update real quick, showing they are serious.advise.. don’t link on GMRS
This meeting was a warning. Internet is allowed solely for remote control only. Linking is not legal… think I am kidding look starting  at 1:12:40 in the video of the meeting here is the link