coryb27

You will not have any issues at all, i have commercial pairs way closer then that and combining TX.

The 1225s are indeed solid serviceable repeaters with built-in controllers. However, they have a seriously bad habit of blowing the final PA amplifier. They work best when run at half their rated power on a 50% duty cycle.
 
However, before you buy a 1225, I would strongly suggest looking at a MTR2000. This is a solid piece of equipment, also with a built-in controller. It has no bells and whistles, just 100% duty cycle ability at the rated power.  On a good day you can get a MTR2000 for near the same price as a 1225. Unlike the 1225s, the MTR2000 can be rack mounted. OTOH, it does not come in a neat little metal box like the 1225s. Also note, you will probably have to buy a duplexer. But, a basic mobile unit, like the one included in the 1225s, won't set you back very much.

Hey Howie, welcome.
 
Unfortunately, we don't publish specific repeater information in the public forums, to prevent unlicensed users from abusing the service.  I can tell you that between the "Maps" feature and the directory, it looks like there are potentially several that serve your area.
 
If you haven't created an account on www.mygmrs.com, you will need to in order to access the directory.  It is a separate login from the forums.  Once,you are logged in, look at the "Maps" and search the directory, include the whole state and sort by city.  You should be able to see the same repeaters that I do.

I think that's the goal. Don't want everyone and their mom with an MXT115 bought at Cabelas/Bass Pro just randomly picking the repeater channel and going for it. 

I might add that GMRS has tolerances as far as frequency that are far lower then most HAM gear. With GMRS being smack in the middle of the part 90 portion of the band it is important to maintain some type of standard as to not cause interference to the adjacent service. Requiring a type accepted and certified transmitter is the best way to do this.

@berkinet wins the prize for being the first to notice. 

I think Corey hit the nail on the head. You get what you pay for. I see this in my field for work daily. Customers put in a radio system on cheap then complain. It doesn't matter if it a garage GMRS repeater of a full blown countywide TLMR system. If you cheap out on features, option, subscribers, shelters, etc stuff will not meet your expectations. I have some cheap GMRS mobile radios and use them for what they are, being a cheap radio I can throw out. My go to radios cost over $5000 each but I use them for public safety along with my hobby stuff. There are alot of reasonable priced part 90 radios on the market and with some education can be very nice GMRS rigs. 

As a side thought, if GMRS is something you enjoy and plan to keep using save you penneys and purchase a new part 90 radio with real features and the ability to program 1000 channels any way you like. Yes these radios can be priced from 300 to 800 but well worth it. I have several HAM rigs in the 800 to 3000 range, an Aeroflex service monitor that costs me many thousands, its my hobby and I invested it. I would love to see anybody find 1 case of the FCC tracking down somebody and issuing a fine for using part 90 gear because its not going to happen. Calls to the FCC will get you a response like, so long as we are not investigating you for other violations your part 90 radio is just fine. I have run into FCC field officers at commercial tower sites and have addressed the question in person showing them my GMRS setup (Motorola XPR5550 with handheld control) and the response was, that's a nice radio. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR plain and simple, cheap is cheap for a reason.....

You are asking a lot for 150 bucks, quality components and engineering cost money. The small profit margin would require every GMRS license holder in the US to purchase several 150 dollar radios just to recover the engineering costs let alone the rest of the expense of bringing a product to market. Its simple economics and GMRS is to little of a market share to invest in.

Well, let's see. If every active GMRS licensee  (the FCC says there are 56,338 of us) bought 1 radio at $150 ea. that would net $8.4M. Then, let's assume retailer profit is 40% (66% markup).  That leave $100 per radio ($5.4M total) to the manufacturer (we won't worry about any wholesalers, etc. here).  
 
Now, I'll take a wild guess and say it would cost $200k to design a radio from scratch (I.e. not base it on any existing product) and another easy $200k to setup the manufacturing capability.  That brings the manufacturer's gross income down to an even $5M.
 
Next, let's guess each radio costs $50 to manufacture, and another $10 to box, warehouse and ship.  That is a cool $2.8M and the manufacturer is now down to $2.2M. Note that if this was the only product of its type, the manufacturer's costs would be much higher.
 
Next, in order to get 56,000 people to buy this radio you have to advertise. Easily $0.5M and throw in another $0.5M for promotion, trade shows, etc. Now we are down to $1.2M. Taxes, overhead, retirement plans, health insurance would likely add another $2M and we end up with a nice profit of $1,000,000.00  IF every single GMRS licensee actually bought one. The real number is likely to be under 10%. But, let's be generous and say it would be 25%.  So, after all this work the net profit is going to be around $200,000 and would result in a totally saturated market for years to come. And, don't forget you have to either pay off your investors or the bank, or have had the cash to finance this on your own.
 
And, THAT is why you do not have the perfect GMRS radio being sold today for $150.

Hey, the two tin cans worked. Hickam AFB, 1964. Had two tree forts. (No, not sissy tree houses) other side of the alley, 150 ft apart. They worked!
Dang, tried to get them to bedroom windows, couldn't keep the string tight.

As a side thought, if GMRS is something you enjoy and plan to keep using save you penneys and purchase a new part 90 radio with real features and the ability to program 1000 channels any way you like. Yes these radios can be priced from 300 to 800 but well worth it. I have several HAM rigs in the 800 to 3000 range, an Aeroflex service monitor that costs me many thousands, its my hobby and I invested it. I would love to see anybody find 1 case of the FCC tracking down somebody and issuing a fine for using part 90 gear because its not going to happen. Calls to the FCC will get you a response like, so long as we are not investigating you for other violations your part 90 radio is just fine. I have run into FCC field officers at commercial tower sites and have addressed the question in person showing them my GMRS setup (Motorola XPR5550 with handheld control) and the response was, that's a nice radio. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR plain and simple, cheap is cheap for a reason.....

As a side thought, if GMRS is something you enjoy and plan to keep using save you penneys and purchase a new part 90 radio with real features and the ability to program 1000 channels any way you like. Yes these radios can be priced from 300 to 800 but well worth it. I have several HAM rigs in the 800 to 3000 range, an Aeroflex service monitor that costs me many thousands, its my hobby and I invested it. I would love to see anybody find 1 case of the FCC tracking down somebody and issuing a fine for using part 90 gear because its not going to happen. Calls to the FCC will get you a response like, so long as we are not investigating you for other violations your part 90 radio is just fine. I have run into FCC field officers at commercial tower sites and have addressed the question in person showing them my GMRS setup (Motorola XPR5550 with handheld control) and the response was, that's a nice radio. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR plain and simple, cheap is cheap for a reason.....

As a side thought, if GMRS is something you enjoy and plan to keep using save you penneys and purchase a new part 90 radio with real features and the ability to program 1000 channels any way you like. Yes these radios can be priced from 300 to 800 but well worth it. I have several HAM rigs in the 800 to 3000 range, an Aeroflex service monitor that costs me many thousands, its my hobby and I invested it. I would love to see anybody find 1 case of the FCC tracking down somebody and issuing a fine for using part 90 gear because its not going to happen. Calls to the FCC will get you a response like, so long as we are not investigating you for other violations your part 90 radio is just fine. I have run into FCC field officers at commercial tower sites and have addressed the question in person showing them my GMRS setup (Motorola XPR5550 with handheld control) and the response was, that's a nice radio. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR plain and simple, cheap is cheap for a reason.....

As a side thought, if GMRS is something you enjoy and plan to keep using save you penneys and purchase a new part 90 radio with real features and the ability to program 1000 channels any way you like. Yes these radios can be priced from 300 to 800 but well worth it. I have several HAM rigs in the 800 to 3000 range, an Aeroflex service monitor that costs me many thousands, its my hobby and I invested it. I would love to see anybody find 1 case of the FCC tracking down somebody and issuing a fine for using part 90 gear because its not going to happen. Calls to the FCC will get you a response like, so long as we are not investigating you for other violations your part 90 radio is just fine. I have run into FCC field officers at commercial tower sites and have addressed the question in person showing them my GMRS setup (Motorola XPR5550 with handheld control) and the response was, that's a nice radio. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR plain and simple, cheap is cheap for a reason.....

You are asking a lot for 150 bucks, quality components and engineering cost money. The small profit margin would require every GMRS license holder in the US to purchase several 150 dollar radios just to recover the engineering costs let alone the rest of the expense of bringing a product to market. Its simple economics and GMRS is to little of a market share to invest in.

You are asking a lot for 150 bucks, quality components and engineering cost money. The small profit margin would require every GMRS license holder in the US to purchase several 150 dollar radios just to recover the engineering costs let alone the rest of the expense of bringing a product to market. Its simple economics and GMRS is to little of a market share to invest in.

You are asking a lot for 150 bucks, quality components and engineering cost money. The small profit margin would require every GMRS license holder in the US to purchase several 150 dollar radios just to recover the engineering costs let alone the rest of the expense of bringing a product to market. Its simple economics and GMRS is to little of a market share to invest in.

Unfortunately, a lot of crap is made right here in the US and some quality product is manufactured overseas. Not only that, but some products sold by American companies are imported, especially at the low end of the line.
 
But, I think Corey hit the nail on the head when he wrote...
... and many other things in life.

I will let these images do the talking... All tests done on Wideband 462.550, High power, 1 min on 5 min off for a total of 10 min TX time over 60 min at 14.7V. I have worse results but these will do. After the 3rd cycle the power output started to drop and the current draw increase. Not sure if poor thermal management is part of it but I am sure most of it is the junk output transistors.   
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/50x1/1.jpg
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/50x1/12.jpg
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/50x1/9.jpg
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/50x1/testresults.jpg

Wow!  I only tested at 5 feet/meters.  It didn't dawn on me to see just how far I could get.  I'm really shocked... but I shouldn't be.  LOL

This is no different from any of the cheap Chinese radios that have come across my bench. I think its time the FCC starts doing its own testing, this goes to show the Chinese manufactures dont care and will fudge the paperwork to make this junk sellable in the US. As I have stated before none of these CCR's belong in use on GMRS as even the certified ones don't meet spec or standard. The spurs in the 900 band where strong enough to pick them up several 100 feet away on a scanner.

This is no different from any of the cheap Chinese radios that have come across my bench. I think its time the FCC starts doing its own testing, this goes to show the Chinese manufactures dont care and will fudge the paperwork to make this junk sellable in the US. As I have stated before none of these CCR's belong in use on GMRS as even the certified ones don't meet spec or standard. The spurs in the 900 band where strong enough to pick them up several 100 feet away on a scanner.

My guess/opinion is that someone cherry-picked a "special" radio to be tested or the results are fraudulent.  Again, just my opinion.

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