TDM827

Once you confirm your radio is programed correct, consider it may be a low use repeater. Of the 3 I can hit, one has regular traffic, one has intermittent traffic and one is almost never used. Radio checks on the one with regular traffic and the one with intermittent traffic usual get a response. On the one with little use its rare for someone to come back on a radio check.

This is gonna be fun to sit back and watch!

Seems like most people opt for an omni-directional fiberglass antenna. But there are other types out there. Tram Retavis and Harvest offer these antennas at entry level prices. Most under $125. Some people swear by Comet and Diamond, I believe they are a bit more pricier, closer to the $180 mark.

LOL, I prefer to think of it as dry humor with some sarcasm added in to keep people from taking themselves to serious.

If you are going to talk the talk, walk the walk. I propose you very publicly invest your time, money and reputation and create several of these "networks" and openly and proudly operate them. Frequently post to this group and keep us updated. This includes running it by the GMRS community. And most importantly, invite the FCC in to render an opinion on what you are doing. After all, if you are doing nothing wrong why worry, lol. If the FCC gives you their blessing you should be congratulated, I am sure you will be hero to many here seeking to evolve GMRS. I think what most people here are saying is you just don't have enough skin in the game for them to invest in your proposal. I really look forward to you updating us on your communication and coordination with the FCC.

Actually, to keep it real I think there are a fair amount of GMRS users who are also interested in turning GMRS into something it is not, lol

Trust me, after I retired I find myself valuing my time even more. And I am very picky when it comes to where I allocate my time. And using my time to study for a ham cert just doesn't fit into my plan, when GMRS fits meets my needs perfectly. But for those who are interested in HAM radio I enthusiastically say go for it. I think most hams offer advice and opinions from a place of truly trying to help, solve problems and promote their hobby. So, I don't get too wrapped around the axle when they chime in and offer information or try to recruit new hams. Now, there seems to be a few hams that seem bent on turning GMRS into something that it's not. To them I say, "move along, nothing to see here."

I think if someone who both fully understands the engineering and FCC regulations found a legal solution for GMRS linking, it would have happened by now.

Not very familiar with Maine. As far as the MXT115 my does fine and I easily get into repeaters 15-20 miles away. Thats on both the short mag mount antenna that comes with the radio. And a Midland MXTA26 Mag Mount. If you are looking for plug and play simplicity its hard to beat. That being said, if I had to do it all over again. If I was budget conscious I would go with a Mid-Grade Chinese GMRS mobile of 20 or more watts. While it's more learning and cost, commercial grade radios are very nice. If my Midland takes a dump I will be replacing it with a commercial grade radio. Probably in the Kenwood TK series. For line of sight this site will give you some very basic idea of your line of sight. While its not perfect it will give you a pretty good idea of line of sight. Sounds like you understand line of sight, but this site is worth a look. https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/

Ok that brings a bit of clarity as my GXTs are pretty long in the tooth. Looking closer at the Midland website they definitely promote them as a GMRS radio these days.

Interesting. Kind of left scratching my head. Even the most up to date radio manual from Midland says you can use the GXP radio on channels 8-14. But goes on to say the radio will self regulate its power output on those channels to comply with FCC regulations, with no power adjustment possible. Which I believe would be 0.5W On the other hand the micro mobile does not even have these channels programmed in. So you truly cant utilize those channels.

WSHJ950, nice job. Most of us knew what you meant. Learning how to use repeaters with their radios is a stumbling block a lot of new users encounter. So I am glad things seem to be working out for you.

Midland heavily marketed the GPX1000 as GMRS / FRS radios. They have non-removable antennas and are not repeater capable. I suspect they want to attract customers who primarily are interested in using simplex GMRS, like on a family farm, with the ease, familiarity and ability to do FRS. They often sell these handhelds in combo packs with their micro-mobile units, which are fully repeater capable. Like I said, it must come down to marketing because they have been selling these combo packs for a long time and they seem to have attracted a large customer base. But hey what do I know, I am not a marketing pro.

Mostly hear kids talking back and forth. Also hear contractors / road crews. During the school year I pick up transportation coordinators at our local schools talking to bus drivers and staff. The school traffic is the most entertaining as the transportation coordinators often talk to the bus drivers like a general coordinating a battle plan. Who would have imagined getting kids on to school busses could be so intense.

So as OffRoadX mentions you need to get to repeater channel 2 and program the proper "Tone(s)" for that repeater into that channel you want to use. Those tones are the CTCSS or DCS tones the repeater uses to allow the repeater to open up or "hear" you. You may be able to hear repeater traffic all day long, but without the proper tones nobody on that repeated channel will ever hear you. Sometimes those tones are listed on the MyGMRS site if they are an open repeater. Other times you have to contact the repeater owner for the tones, other times you may need to join a group or "club" to have access to the tones. As I recommend to all new users, hit you tube and there are plenty of great GMRS tutorials to watch. You might get lucky and find a video on how to program your specific radio.

You got to the most important part right here. Also coming from a public safety and emergency management background I have seen plenty of people, or groups of people, plan to use land mobile radio in emergencies. Only to never learn to properly use, and equally important, regularly practice using radio. So if there is an emergency those folks are faced with having to "relearn" their plans during some really stressful times. Without doing some "practice" or "maintenance" comm sessions its even tougher for groups of people or families to stay committed to an emergency comms plan.

I agree that most GMRS radios are repeater capable and support codes. But, while pretty rare, some GMRS handhelds are not repeater capable. So those new the GMRS world should at least confirm your possible purchases are repeater capable. As an example, my Midland GXT1000s handhelds are technically GMRS radios, but they are not repeater capable. I never viewed this as a negative as my use case includes FRS as well as GMRS. And I was in the market for some more FRS radios. In other words I knew what I was getting into and understood their limitations when I purchased them. But if I was new to GMRS and was leaning exclusively toward GMRS, I would have been disappointed if I was expecting to hit repeaters with those units.

Are you using a programming cable or trying to program through the radio itself. For my Radioddity GS-5B both computer and blue tooth programing are pretty intuitive and easy to figure out. Not sure if the GM-30 is blue tooth capable, but they do offer programming cables. As OffRoaderX brought up. It sounds pretty basic, but is your repeater fairly close? Sometimes hitting a repeater from a handheld can be a challenge especially from inside your house.

WSHG974, If you already haven't figured it out OffroaderX,s youtube channel, "Not a Rubicon" is a good place to start learning if you are new to GMRS

I don't have a Baofeng, but there are tons of how to videos on YouTube on how to use them. I am sure you will get some great info here as well. Best of Luck.

Suggest you type "Jeep" into the search bar. There has been lots of discussion about mounting antennas on Jeeps, perhaps there are antenna recommendations as well.

I really don't think about it much. Professionally, over the last few decades I used all kinds / combinations of PTT buttons you describe. I can't say I really strongly prefer one over the other or worry about how hard the button is to press, as long as the radio works. Force me to pick and I would go with a tactile click.

You hit on the head. I believe when it comes to large companies creating user manuals the legal department has as much influence on the content, if not more, than the engineers. So we get these often ambiguous and confusing user manuals.

When I got a couple Midland GXT1000s I wondered the same thing. The owners manual kind of addresses the matter when using a NiMH battery pack. The manual does not specifically say you cannot do this. It basically says... "For maximum battery life, we recommend charging the battery pack when the low battery icon comes on." And to "remove the radio from the charger when the charge time expires." Their recommend charge time is 12hrs with the radio "off." So while they do not directly address if this will harm the radio, they do say you may not have a fully charged radio if you have the unit on while it's in the charger. They also recommend removing them from the charger when fully charged, but stop short of saying it will damage the radios or the battery packs. Personally, I don't know if the Midlands are up to long term continual monitoring while the radio is in the charger. So I avoid doing it. I do leave them in the charger and simply unplug the charging cord at the base of the charging unit. I plug it in ever few days for a few hours to "top" them off. About once a month I fully drain the batteries and recharge them fully. Here is the link to Midland radio manuals: https://support.midlandusa.com/hc/en-us/articles/25312693396375-Midland-Walkie-Talkies-Owner-s-Manuals I would file this under "at your own risk."

I second TrikeRadio's advice and do some testing to see what simplex will do for your group before going too far down the repeater rabbit hole. Of course, as preached continuously on these forums, things like topography, antenna height and type of antenna will have a huge impact on effective range. As an upside you, already have a group if interested friends. So if you do need a repeater you can spread the cost over several users. If you need a repeater, don't forget to budget for back up power (battery back up) or your repeater will likely be of no use during power outages.