coryb27

How can you just leave us all hanging, what was the outcome?

How high is the antenna? Is the antenna resonant on the freq? What type of cable, how long is the cable run to the antenna, did you hook the duplexer up backwards? I am guessing TX and RX on duplexer us backwards, try swapping your cables. Corey

I once had the same thoughts on my own machine. After several years of occasional use i decided to list it as open and publish the access tones for the world to see. Over the last few years I have seen a steady increase of users, most recently after linking several other repeaters for wide area coverage. Somethings I have learned since I started hosting a repeater. 1. Longevity is the key, the longer you have it the more users it will gather. 2. Do not change your frequency or access tones, some people dont enjoy programing radios or may have to pay for programing. 3. Make friends with other like minded people to encourage use and spread the word about GMRS. 4. Use the repeater, traffic attracts users, the more people that hear you the better. 5. Promote the repeater and GMRS in your area, be it a website, message boards, clubs or friends the more people you can engage the better. Without a way for people to find you and a lack of users in your area nobody will ever know you have the machine if you dont tell them. I have learned you can't count on any one outlet to promote your machine and hobby. Just my thoughts Corey https://mwgmrs.com

I was only speaking from experience, in no way am I trying to bash anybody's setup. The original poster asked for an opinion and I offered mine. I have 3 Tram/Browning omni sticks in the garage, all 3 are junk. If you connect them to a spectrum analyzer with a VSWR bridge to measure return loss and resonance in the GMRS spectrum you would see what I am talking about. Your analogy of how far you can talk with an HT connected to one is no true measure of its performance. Just for fun I connected my XPR HT to my DB-404 @ 30 feet and was able to work repeaters 35 to 45 miles away on just 2 watts of power, with coax and connector loss I figured less then 1W at the antenna. As an owner of several GMRS repeaters and a commercial UHF system I am speaking by real world experience. My best advice to anybody getting into this hobby is don't be cheap with the antenna or feed line as it is the number one factor excluding height that will effect your overall performance. Corey https://mwgmrs.com

I have no issues with any of the inexpensive Chinese radios as long as you keep them off my GMRS repeaters. After trying to diagnose some audio issues for weeks it came down to a few operators on Baofeng's. Second hand part 90 equipment is easy to find and is inexpensive, some of it is even part 95 approved. Every radio has its place and Baofeng's place is not in GMRS service. Just my $.02 Corey

Is the duplexer possibly tuned backwards?

Find a different antenna if all you plan to use if for is GMRS a 460 to 470 would provide better results and from what i have personally tested Browning antennas are junk. Corey

Several thing I would not have done. 1. diamond u200 (worthless in duplex service, its a dual band HAM antenna) 2. LMR400 is a total no no in duplex service, you can and will have noise and desence issues. 3. Mobile Duplexer 4. Talk of purchasing a comet 712 (this is about as efective as a dummy load) If you are at all serious about this purchase a quality commercial antenna in the 460-470 range, I prefer folded dipoles like the DB-404, DB408 but any quality commercial antenna in the 460-470. As far as the coax, that has to go, for what you spent on that you could have bought some 213 or even 1/2 hard line for less then 2 bucks a foot. Now the duplexer, it you purchased one of the many Chinese mobile duplexers on eBay it will need to be re-tuned, its been proven over and over again they dont tune them properly. A better option would have been a used cavity type pass / reject duplexer. Rule of thumb, spend your money on the antenna, feed-line and duplexer because with out QUALITY components a 10k dollar repeater won't work with a poor antenna system. In the beginning I tried the cheep rout only to spend more money doing it right the second time. My first real repeater site was a 150' tower, I installed 7/8 hard line and a DB-420 antenna, since I had already spent all the money on the cable, antenna and climber I was left with an old 20 Watt Motorola R100 repeater that ended up having 35 miles of coverage around the antenna. It served us well for years, the next machine and still current is a Motorola MTR200 linked to 6 other sites. https://mwgmrs.com

UHF and Radio Enthusiast is my standard answer.

Used duplexes can be found on eBay, If you want a decent system with good receiver sensitivity stay away from the mobile style flat packs and look for a good pass / reject.

Hello, This is already being done with Asterisk, several options for connection to a repeater already exist. myGMRS hosts a network, you can find more into in the Repeater Linking Discussion topic in the private discussion area. Corey

This is our coverage so far... MAP

Its been my experience that everybody wants to own a repeater till they have to maintain it or pay tower rent. Also Lot's of people build small repeaters with low power radios using cheep duplexes with low antenna height. I decided to hunt down some of the machines in our area only to find "GARAGE" repeaters, (3' antenna on a 3' tripod on somebody's house roof) over half with less coverage then what you could work simplex from a base but listed at 35 miles of coverage. I can not understand why people put repeaters into service that don't cover any useful area and then list them on myGMRS. I would bet a lot of the machines listed are no longer on the air or have a tiny foot print. I would also bet when somebody takes a repeater down the listing remains. Here is some other food for thought. Several of us in the WI, IL and IN area have linked a system of repeaters together on the myGMRS network. Our system of 5 machines is open to any licensed user and covers a few 1000 sq miles of area and it yet it has only 18 users. I promise it is not because the machines are junk but rather the limited number of GMRS users. I know Rich is working on something new and he is well aware of the dead listings, we will just have to wait and see. Just my $.02

Andrew DB404, you never want to cheap out on the antenna or cable and remember height is always might. I would rather have a 10W repeater at 200 feet vs a 50W repeater at 40. A little pricier then the other 2 options but commercial grade, has resale value and also makes a good base antenna.https://www.discounttwo-wayradio.com/db404-b I stand by these all metal monsters, and use a combination of DB404, DB408, DB420 and a DB411 for different sites and systems. Last thing i stress is antenna gain, more is not always better terrain and desired coverage should dictate the gain required. Lots of hills and buildings require lower gain and open flat areas can benefit from more.

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I see rich responding.....

If going out of service range I always carry one of these, Be aware if you need to activate it any costs to rescue you may be billed to you. http://www.cabelas.com/product/SPOT-LLC-SPOT-GEN-ORANGE/1661065.uts?productVariantId=3609002&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=03750221&rid=20&gclid=CLnI6Nz-stMCFQodaQoduGEKeg&gclsrc=aw.ds

Can you interpret the call signs that and type them, having a hard time understanding them.

I think he was correcting your spelling since you typed elegal, and it should have been * illegal *

Linking is the least of this guys issues, he claims to be building a nationwide GMRS network and plans to charge users for access. He also claims to have 150 repeaters in his shop with tower space, internet and linking hardware ready to go. Best part, hes a new license holder, checking his FRN on FCC shows hes not involved in any other type of radio and hes plastering the main site with tons of future repeaters. This is all sham and the FCC is already aware of him and looking into it. If his pay for play network is real hes in big trouble....... Not sure how long Rich is going to let this guy fill his site with fake networks and repeaters. I found the website, poor grammar and the page looks to be made in MS word and Paint. http://www.usgmrsgroup.club/

Do yourself a favor and get something a little more robust. Lots of great used gear on eBay The Ritron Liberty repeater is a 2 watt unit made for inter building use with a low duty cycle and narrow band usage. This is not a good choice at all. If you have a great location (top of a mountain or tower over 100') set up something decent, do it right the first time. Putting up a proper repeater that has any real coverage (25 to 30 miles) is going to cost yea if you want to do it right. Corey

I checked and it is able to be programed to use DPL 263. in your DCS table select number 47 on your TX channel. I found this in appendix C of the manual along wiht instructions on how to program it. https://baofengtech.com/gmrs-v1 I think you are talking about my repeater in IL, if so feel free to jump on. No permission required I have it listed public and encourage its use. I wrote this up a while back https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/592-rebuilding-the-chain-o-lakes-repeater-ingleside-il/ Corey

The important part is finding the proper PL or DPL needed to access the repeaters you are trying to use. You can check the listings on the main site and if needed contact the users to get the access info. Some scanners will decode this for you but it will only work if the input and output is the same. My first contact on a repeater was done that way, and once I was able to access it I made contact with the owners and still use that machine today.

Hello, 1. Type of radio would be the first thing we need to know. 2. Do you have the proper PL or DPL to access the repeater you are trying to connect to? 3. Just because you can hear people does not mean you can talk to them, if they are on a repeater and using PL or DPL nobody is going to hear you if your radio is not set up properly. I will try to explain it as simple as I can and I will use the GMRS channel 462.675 with a PL of 141.3. You need to transmit (TX) on frequency 467.675 using the PL 141.3 and receive (RX) on the frequency 462.675 using the PL 141.3 The repeater is listening on the 5 MHz + offset and almost all require a PL or DPL to bring up the repeater. If you don't bring up the repeater nobody is going to hear you because you are transmitting on a repeater input channel. If you want to try and communicate with them simplex (without a repeater) you would need to use your talk around feature or set a channel up so your RX and TX info is the same but you would still need to know the PL or DPL in use by the other party.

As a DMR HAM and DMR Part 90 user I dont see this system as DMR. He has 100.0 Hz as an in and out tone yet DMR uses Color codes and Talk Groups. I think this guy put up a GMRS repeater and is using it to lure customers to lease space and purchase radios for his part 90 system. Just my guess but again if you know anything about DMR his listing is not providing any info on how to access it or what talk groups to use. Corey