First off, thanks for the detailed reply. The M1225 certainly seems to be the popular radio to use for linking projects. I want to use an in-production part 95 radio for the project if at all possible. My friends and I have KG-1000s mobiles in our trucks and we did that for reasons of commonality and group familiarization. It’s our Boeing 737 if we were an airline. When we are out together, if anyone has anything that breaks, or we need to swap/jump into someone else’s vehicle, we all know the radio and can use the comms just like they were ours. If anything breaks, we only need to carry one spare as a group. They are programmed the same from the same file ahead of the event. Besides, the interesting part to me is how to get the control interfaces working with current radio equipment. The repeater radios would also be identical, other than programming. Again, with the one spare for the group, I could send any of them out with a radio for a swap. So a big part of the appeal to me is figuring out what the control interface needs from the radio and figuring out how to mod the radio to provide it. I could then, theoretically, apply that to any radio, at least in my head. This is the no software, no problem support model I use in the enterprise IT world. Standardize on a platform, abstract everything you can, and don’t spend time troubleshooting an individual software problem. Just reimage it and move on. In the radio world, I imagine it as rip and replace the radio with a pre-programmed one and continue ops. Since I plan to make a few of these, standardization is critical to me. Sure, there are a lot of less expensive ways to do it, but my buddies live all over the country and time when we all get together is precious, So the real cost for me would be time spent fiddling with the comms network unnecessarily. For LTE and WiFi connection, I am using the CradlePoint IBR series of routers. I can manage then through a central cloud dashboard, update firmware, manage individual or group configurations, restart, or reconfigure them remotely with NetCloud Manager. I know these systems very well. They are used in a lot of emergency vehicles for mobile data. I spec them for telemedicine units in ambulances. They also allow me to set up point to point directional WiFi links with yagi antennas, so connectivity outside of LTE coverage would not necessary be a problem as long as one of the repeaters was in a coverage area and could reach the others. They have the added benefit, when coupled with a repeater of extending WiFi access nearby the repeater for soft client use, configuration of the router or Pi, etc along the linked repeater path. For power, I plan on using LiPO4 batteries from Dakota Lithium. Very pricy, but worth every penny in capacity, power to weight ratio, temperature tolerance, shock tolerance, and life cycle count. Coupled with foldable solar, I can keep the load up for quite a while with them. Managing the power, I will be using Victron chargers, shunts, DC-to-DC chargers that will buck boost and provide isolated and clean supply voltage, and report to Victron Remote Management (VRM) servers in the cloud (as long as my private IP network can route to the public internet) to allow remote control and management. I am very comfortable with these systems. I currently travel full time in my RV and have replaced it’s entire 120v and 12v power system with a 600AH Lithium system of my own design. I really need to do some more digging on the Allstar server backend. My goal is not to link my routers with external nets, due to the temporary nature of field deployments and the mission-oriented support role they will play in our outings. So, I will need to replicate a stand-alone backend with whatever IP services I need to support the server. That is easy to do with virtualization and an infrastructure Pi. At the end of the event, my buddies could just take home a repeater, plug it into their home networks and we could still talk together on our radios. They could take it to family events and have a reliable repeater there that I could remote manage the backend of, and I would learn a LOT about running a system like this. For all these uses, it’s worth it for me and my buddies. End the end, I want to document everything and put it out to the community if anyone is interested in any component of it. I doubt many will want or need the whole thing, but parts of it could be very helpful to others, I imagine. I know that this whole thing would be a lot easier to do as a Ham. I am studying for my ticket as I speak, but I want to build a fully legal, modern, and compliant way to do it for GMRS operators that don’t have a ticket, or are not interested in becoming Hams. Also know it would be MUCH easier to do with part 90 radios, but I really want the project to have legs long into the future, and a big part of that is how to get modern radios into the equation.