gortex2

All depends on location. Same with every repeater. I've posted before on my repeater in my Motorhome. Was a GR1225 and switched to the RT97 before we sold it. Worked for a good mile around the camper with some places more. At the wide open race tracks it worked perfect for our use. While camping in the woods it covered most of the campgrounds we were at. If I were camping with that kit I'd grab a 15" antenna cable and stick in on a 10' pole and be done.

Rich doesn't remove listings from the site. After 1 year of no updates it gets "hidden" on the map unless you click on stale and offline repeaters. It would be great if they dropped after 1 year completely from the site with no interaction as I'm sure many would disappear. Folks don't use repeater book as that's primarily a ham site. Most hams keep stuff up to date but I can tell you many are not valid there either. I'm sure both sites have good info for certain areas but none are perfect. Even LMR licensed stuff may or may not be on the air for a particular license.

Correct. This is the issue. This service doesn't do what you want but you don't want to use another service for a multitude of reasons. That's not a reason to change this service. There are services that do what you want, either amateur, LMR or broadband. All of which can be done if you want to. As far as the radio issue you seem to have the radio posted is ham radio and not GMRS so why is that ultimately the perfect radio ? You plan to use ham now after saying you can't use ham ? Are you planning others in your caravan to also get ham license so you can use APRS ? In the end HAM will do what you want but everyone needs to be a ham to take advantage of it.

As said the rules limit MURS to 2 watts. For SAR use we run VHF and UHF stuff. VHF is better in the woods and same power level on commercial LMR radios will work better on VHF vs UHF.

The main issue with this site as well as others is its all about user input. Its up to a user to add, edit and modify or delete the site based on its use. Many come here get all excited list a repeater and never put one on the air. Others put them up, find out it doesn't meet expectations and leave the site and don't remove them. At one point some on the site said to list it before they even had equipment which isn't the best route. To me until a repeater is up, operational and tested you shouldn't put info online. JMHO. But in the end its all about user input. Lastly I run 6 repeaters along the east coast and none are listed here or anywhere else. They are all repeaters for my and my family use so no need to list them.

To bad many of them are not in existence.

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

Just program a conventional channel. No need to touch the trunk stuff. Just remember software may lock it to narrowband channels. Don't recall what version works.

You wont get COR out of them ic jack. Requires the accessory cable. You may want to look at this thread. http://www.repeater-builder.com/kenwood/pdfs/tk-805-wiring.pdf

They will work the same as a CDM, or any other MSI Radius line mobile. The difference is the accessory cable pino ut. You'll need to buy the kit of plug and pins and make your own cable. Also need to program the pins in the radio. Dont run them on high power or they wont last long. Basicaly the XPR 8400 repeater has two of those in the box.

Really depends on what you looking to listen to. If its public safety and trunking systems the SDS series is about whats there. There are older BCT15 or 996P2 but they all have drawbacks. For air my BCT15 is a solid unit. SDR is great but takes some knowledge in software and scans different than a scanner. In additon requires a computer on all the time to scan.

All my antennas on my roof and shop are grounded via Polyphasers. In the house the cables enter via a 1 1/2" Galvinized pipe and as soon as the leave the pip go to a brass ground bar with the polyphasers on it. From there a a #2 goes to my basement and out to my main ground rods. All ground rods are bonded together and to my main electrical system. Shop is done similar but all cables enter thru a standard shelter entry port with a brass bar just inside.

I'd go to there site and ask questions. Rich run mygmrs linking.

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

Motorola, Kenwood, ICOM all make good commercial gear. For SAR alot of our users utilize ICOM for cost and programmability. Personally I use MSI equipment but I did use alot of ICOM in the past. Kenwood has some good gear also. As far at Motorola there is no need for APX radios. A CDM1250 is a solid little GMRS rig.

This has been discussed a few times. Here is the last post on one repeater.

I only use CommScope FSJ. Also just started using Eupen cable. The EC4-50-HF appears to be very similar. I have run some tests with CommScope connector on the EC4-50HF and so far it appears to sweep and work ok. Only issue with eupen is the lack of support from the large companies. Last check neither Tessco or talley carried anything for it. Thats why I stick to CommScope. https://eupen.us/products/coaxial-cables/

If its at least R9 version it should be wideband on repeater channels.

When I was in the north we ran 4 and 16 depending on the club. My new CB scans and when I was in Moab last summer I heard chatter on multiple channels which surprised me.

Sadly many repeaters talk out better than talk in. With a portable you may be able to hear but will not be able to talk. Its normal.

Probably better to send Rich a message and ask him....

I agree with this however many manufacturers have sone this in the past and are doing some again. Motorola for instance is doing APX and XPR free. The problem is folks complain about the cost of the radio. Cost of a radio can be argued to death but engineering costs and many other process's dictate price. Way more than we need to discuss here. But its also a supply demand situation. IF folks aren't buying new radios it doesn't bring funds into a manufacturer. In the end if you want a quality radio you research as you said and find out if you are capable and comfortable with the purchase you intend to do. Purpose built equipment, ham, gmrs, lmr is jsut that. The CCR world has caused most of the issues with all those services. Good or bad can be argued but the mentality of cheap stuff is much larger than 10 or 20 years ago. I go back to my first HT, HTX202 that I put on layaway at Radio Shack and paid $325.00 for and had no software or any of the stuff anything new has to offer. Our first GMRS mobile was a Uniden Xstal Radio with 2 channels. It had a button with RPT and TA. It was close to $500 which was about what Dad paid for the AMC Hornet that it was installed in !

So first of all the CCR world is the issue at hand. Long before Baojuk and others the ONLY radio you could get on GMRS was a LMR radio with Part 95 certifications. My father bought many for our local radio shops. Hell back in the day it was a crystal so no adding 50 channels. We had RPT and TA to use thats it on our Unidens Anyway I have software for the M1225 Ive had for decades and was purchased when we bought a radio back in the day. As other said the software is pretty easy to find. Folks seem worried about finding software yet have no quams at using a HAM radio on GMRs with a mod.

Offroad and family. The intended use.

Thats the advantage of RAS on MSI gear. No CCR junk on my repeaters. Only users that have the RAS code can access.