gortex2

I would venture to say 3/4 of the GMRS repeaters and probably same for HAM repeaters do not have battery backup. I know of a few guys who run them on DC plants and have emergency backup but they are far and few between. The county I lived in NY had 0 Ham repeaters that had battery backup. Only one in 3 counties were in a EMCOM building with Generator backup. The main RACES/ARES repeater was in a shed with neither. I can also say only one of my repeaters are in a generator equipped shelter. 

Backup power and type might be interesting data to add to repeater listings. 

I would venture to say 3/4 of the GMRS repeaters and probably same for HAM repeaters do not have battery backup. I know of a few guys who run them on DC plants and have emergency backup but they are far and few between. The county I lived in NY had 0 Ham repeaters that had battery backup. Only one in 3 counties were in a EMCOM building with Generator backup. The main RACES/ARES repeater was in a shed with neither. I can also say only one of my repeaters are in a generator equipped shelter. 

You are looking for 1225LS_RSS_V3.0.zip. I have a copy of it which is about 5 meg in size. It's designed to run on WinXP or Win95. For best results, it should be run on an older machine which has a true serial port (COM1).
If you open the radio and it has an LTR Passport accessory board made by Scholar-Johnson, you can simply remove the board and the radio will revert to a standard M1225 which can be programmed with the version 4.0 1225 HVN9054 software. The Scholar-Johnson board is desirable by some hobby folks. I sold one on Ebay in less than a week.

By "Grid Down" we typically mean " no Internet link". It is my understanding that most, if not all, Repeaters have a battery backup system. I could be wrong. 

All Repeaters should be operating on a battery backup. 

If he has a 100' run he really needs LMR400 or equivalent. Hopefully RS gave him 50 ohm cable and not 75 ohm Cable TV cable. What connectors are on it ? If it has a F connector and adapters its definitely 75 ohm. If it has PL259 its most likely RG58 which is ok for CB or HF but not much good for UHF. 

It depends on the subscribers and the radios. a CCR radio wont do what you want. Motorola supports RAC (Repeater Access Control) but that's a form of MDC. There are not many options for analog options. I also use DCS for input and CTCSS on output. This helps eliminate many users but isn't a fail safe. 

Id get your antenna fixed first. At least get some sort of ground plane under the mag mount

If he has a 100' run he really needs LMR400 or equivalent. Hopefully RS gave him 50 ohm cable and not 75 ohm Cable TV cable. What connectors are on it ? If it has a F connector and adapters its definitely 75 ohm. If it has PL259 its most likely RG58 which is ok for CB or HF but not much good for UHF. 

Id get your antenna fixed first. At least get some sort of ground plane under the mag mount

If he has a 100' run he really needs LMR400 or equivalent. Hopefully RS gave him 50 ohm cable and not 75 ohm Cable TV cable. What connectors are on it ? If it has a F connector and adapters its definitely 75 ohm. If it has PL259 its most likely RG58 which is ok for CB or HF but not much good for UHF. 

If he has a 100' run he really needs LMR400 or equivalent. Hopefully RS gave him 50 ohm cable and not 75 ohm Cable TV cable. What connectors are on it ? If it has a F connector and adapters its definitely 75 ohm. If it has PL259 its most likely RG58 which is ok for CB or HF but not much good for UHF. 

It amazes me in some areas hams are all over GMRS, crying over usage but on the 70cm band its crickets. Maybe we should petition the FCC to give us the 70cm band for GMRS use ? The only UHF repeaters I hear around me are linked repeaters and 90% of the folks talking are not in the area I am in. The others are crickets. 

I concur. 
There is a lot to unpack in that filing, and it will likely go nowhere with the FCC.  As a ham, I find this desire to by many of our fellow amateurs to "change" GMRS a bit disturbing.  I've run into this "attitude" with several hams local to me.  
All license classes of amateurs have full privileges from 420MHz - 450MHz (70cm).  Most everything outlined in that filing we already have available to us in the 70cm band. And for you non-hams out there, guess what?   The 70cm band goes largely unused!  The only thing that filing does is further annoy the FCC when it comes to amateur radio operators.  My eyes were rolling reading it, and if I were the FCC it would be targeted for the circular file. 
Allowing digital voice modes (DMR, etc..) is a very bad idea.  This would be very confusing and annoying to existing GMRS users.  To another point, most hams can't figure out how to program their DMR radios. 🙂
As for the random joe-ham or the VM (Volunteer Monitors) performing band police duties?  Seriously?!? 
 

Yup hams trying to inter-fear in yet another service. My hopes are the FCC laughs at this one. 
 

Personally, I think it's sloppily written with inaccurate premises and illogical conclusions.  I see absolutely no reason why a ham radio licensee should be excused from paying for a GMRS license and arguing that equipment that requires no certification should be allowed on a service that requires certified equipment is ridiculous.
But it's interesting what people will ask for.

Yup hams trying to inter-fear in yet another service. My hopes are the FCC laughs at this one. 
 

Yup hams trying to inter-fear in yet another service. My hopes are the FCC laughs at this one. 
 

I read the document. Wow, there is a lot going on there and I'm not talking about the technical aspects.
I am not sure I understand why anyone with an amateur license would need or want to make all these changes to GMRS. Everything the document proposes is available in the amateur bands and is not relegated to the small number of frequencies given to GMRS even with going narrow band to add channels.
The most disturbing paragraph to me was proposing people holding an amateur radio license could volunteer to be the radio police for both GMRS and the proposed GMRS+ services. I guess having an amateur license makes one superior to the folks on GMRS. I have a "HAM" license and a GMRS license and I am not better than anyone. I'm sure there would be plenty of volunteers for that gig.
 

You miss understand public spectrum. Spectrum is the frequency and airwaves. Equipment I purchase, install, maintain is my personal equipment. If someone requires membership its up to them. Personally my repeaters are closed. I see no need to pay for power, tower fees and other associated fees for others to use it. GMRS is not ham radio. Sadly many feel if they buy a $35 license they are entitled to use any repeater they want. 

You miss understand public spectrum. Spectrum is the frequency and airwaves. Equipment I purchase, install, maintain is my personal equipment. If someone requires membership its up to them. Personally my repeaters are closed. I see no need to pay for power, tower fees and other associated fees for others to use it. GMRS is not ham radio. Sadly many feel if they buy a $35 license they are entitled to use any repeater they want. 

I'd run a 1/4 wave basic antenna on a air stream personally. My CTC ran one and it worked perfect. 
 

Personally, its not that I don't want others to use my repeater, but I do want to know who is using it. It also helps if I have to make a change, that I have a list of people to notify.

Pretty much everyone I know personally... we all use the exact same methods.