coryb27

Indistinguishable from a wide band UHF frequency jammer.

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

I've been working on a new map replacement which will hide old and offline repeaters by default, but still gives you the option of showing them all.
 
https://mygmrs.com/map-new/
 
I still have a lot of things to add to make it ready to replace the current map, but I wanted to share the progress now and get feedback from the community here. Some outstanding issues are:
The label below each icon needs to be styled, so it stands out against a dark background. I'm having trouble getting this to work with the library I've chosen to use on this version of the map, but I'm sure I'll be able to find a way without scrapping anything.
  Clicking on the repeater icon should modify the URL to point to the repeater ID that is selected.
  Repeater details (the description field) aren't visible yet.
  Several repeaters do not have GPS coordinates and show up at 0, 0 which is off the coast of Africa. This is mainly a problem with the database that needs to be fixed, but the map should hide them since it's obviously wrong. At least the performance of loading that many repeaters and toggling the switches on and off seems to be quite good. Let me know if it's slower for you than the current map.
 
I have big plans for a complete site redesign to make it more modern. I've headed down this path several times but got bogged down between work and my personal life, so I never got a complete redesign done. I've been making small changes here and there to support this big effort, so I'm hoping we can get a better site off the ground which will solve some of the pain points like the stale repeaters.

DB-404 in the attic of my 2 story condo, simplex base to base 25 miles and repeaters 45 miles.
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/uhfbase2.jpg
 
Fed with 1/2 hardline
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/hole.jpg
 
Into a custom wall plate with N female bulkheads. I have a UHF, VHF and Scanner antenna up there.
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/wallplate.jpg
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/scanner.jpg
 
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/vhf.jpg

This is a myth. There are still a LOT of TV stations using low band with ATSC digital transmisions, and there will continue to be.  What was freed up is everything above UHF channel 36.  All of that area has been re-assigned - mostly to cellular services.  TV channels 2-6, 7-13, and 14-36 remain unchanged in frequency allocation.

I miss being out west. Almost unlimited wheeling. And generally people took care of what we had. OHV parks arent my cup of tea but thats all we have in Texas. Public land is a rarity here. I spend a lot of time in Arkansas around the Ouachita Ntl Forrest.  

 
Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

DB-404 in the attic of my 2 story condo, simplex base to base 25 miles and repeaters 45 miles.
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/uhfbase2.jpg
 
Fed with 1/2 hardline
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/hole.jpg
 
Into a custom wall plate with N female bulkheads. I have a UHF, VHF and Scanner antenna up there.
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/wallplate.jpg
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/scanner.jpg
 
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/vhf.jpg

Corey, yur a spendy  Hmm give you a quarter and get 3cents change.

Sounds like another decoder issue. I have got wind of this issue from several users of this unit. This is caused by overloading the front end, or simply being to close to a base or repeater. This is what cheap hardware gets you, in order to cut costs you have to cut quality and engineering. For the record it can be repaired but in the end its not worth it. I don't know about others but my min charge is an hr and that is more then the radio costs new.

Another part of that notice recognized that they could've used FRS but their transmitters lacked the proper certification.

Mostly Jeeping in the mountains of West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
 
 
http://fiveguysracing.com/marc/HardRock/Rubi_W_Lift.jpg
 
http://fiveguysracing.com/marc/RauschCreek/June_2018/images/20180616_115106.jpg
 
http://fiveguysracing.com/marc/RauschCreek/June_2018/images/Image12.jpg

I have to know, why are you so set on a repeater like this? Unless a Manufacture knows its going to sell 100's of units its not going to put the time and money into this. Even construction sites that only need a repeater for a few blocks install full size repeaters simply for the duty cycle and reliability. Now in the part 90 world you can have your self a Motorola SLR1000 these do analog or DMR and are made to be tower mounted. This is all deal breakers for your wish list, its not part 95 and it will set you back $1900 but hey it is "new". I have state of the art SLR5700's in use on a business system and many 15 year old MTR 2000's in use on GMRS. For the record the SLR5700's I own (2 @ $2200 each) have given me more issues in 2 years than 10 USED MTR2000 have in 4 years. In fact one needs to go back to the depot for repair again! NEW is not always better, the list price on a NEW MTR2000 was upward of $8000 so I am more then happy to run a USED $8000 repeater I got for $800 bucks or less vs a NEW machine I paid $800 to $1000 for.
 
In your price point and requirement of off the shelf and legal I envision this big lunch box size FRS/GMRS radio with a 4' telescopic center loaded antenna and a rechargeable battery inside. I'm sure adding a solar panel and maybe a dynamo crank to charge the battery, a local mic, weather channels, maybe even a flashlight and an AM/FM radio will help sell more to the masses. This all sounds good (ha ha) but an off the shelf turn key repeater marketed as part 95 for GMRS is just a bad idea. Last thing we need is 100's of unlicensed repeaters all over the place with kids on them causing interference to real repeaters that people invested time and money into. If you need an example just look at all the FRS/GMRS combo radios that never got a licence and the FCC just made them licence by rule, again not good for GMRS. This unicorn you have been hunting will work about as good as simplex without an antenna at significant height above ground. 

I have to know, why are you so set on a repeater like this? Unless a Manufacture knows its going to sell 100's of units its not going to put the time and money into this. Even construction sites that only need a repeater for a few blocks install full size repeaters simply for the duty cycle and reliability. Now in the part 90 world you can have your self a Motorola SLR1000 these do analog or DMR and are made to be tower mounted. This is all deal breakers for your wish list, its not part 95 and it will set you back $1900 but hey it is "new". I have state of the art SLR5700's in use on a business system and many 15 year old MTR 2000's in use on GMRS. For the record the SLR5700's I own (2 @ $2200 each) have given me more issues in 2 years than 10 USED MTR2000 have in 4 years. In fact one needs to go back to the depot for repair again! NEW is not always better, the list price on a NEW MTR2000 was upward of $8000 so I am more then happy to run a USED $8000 repeater I got for $800 bucks or less vs a NEW machine I paid $800 to $1000 for.
 
In your price point and requirement of off the shelf and legal I envision this big lunch box size FRS/GMRS radio with a 4' telescopic center loaded antenna and a rechargeable battery inside. I'm sure adding a solar panel and maybe a dynamo crank to charge the battery, a local mic, weather channels, maybe even a flashlight and an AM/FM radio will help sell more to the masses. This all sounds good (ha ha) but an off the shelf turn key repeater marketed as part 95 for GMRS is just a bad idea. Last thing we need is 100's of unlicensed repeaters all over the place with kids on them causing interference to real repeaters that people invested time and money into. If you need an example just look at all the FRS/GMRS combo radios that never got a licence and the FCC just made them licence by rule, again not good for GMRS. This unicorn you have been hunting will work about as good as simplex without an antenna at significant height above ground. 

I figured, but wanted to clarify in case someone were to get confused.  Best regards

Hi David! Thanks for stopping by. I strongly recommend joining the forum and looking through the many threads that include equipment reviews.
 
There are many options and varying opinions. Some of the topics may fall inline with what your intended use, and give you a chance to ask some more specific questions.
 
What, specifically are you trying to accomplish? Such as, what will the radio be used for, type of terrain, what kind of distances are you looking at with regard to the repeaters you want to reach, etc.?

These radios "Field programmable"  are dangerous in the wrong hands. Way to easy to change freq. and accidentally key up on restricted frequencies. This may seem innocuous, but could have disastrous ramifications if it interferes with emergency services, causing death. I can not stress how easy it is to cause this type of interference with this "wrong type radio on GMRS",  

What part of “The transmitter output power of [a]... ...repeater... ...must not exceed 50 Watts” is not clear? There is no mention of a duplexer because one is not specifically required to have a useable repeater. You could just use two antennas with sufficient separation. BTW, the power loss in a good quality UHF duplexer would be under 0.5db.

That's what I was thinking too.  "Transmitter" is a very specific piece of hardware. Not really an 'open to interpretation' kind of statement.

I would stay away from this radio, it has many issues and will not provide great performance as it is narrow band and can not do split PL / DPL. Its short comings have been discussed in the Equipment section of this site. Find a nice Kenwood TK-880 if you don't mind used otherwise ICOM and Motorola both make great part 90 Business radios both new and used that will preform nicely on GMRS. I run the Motorola XPR series and love the full display, 1000 channel capacity, unlimited talk groups, scan lists, long range bluetooth microphones etc...

Why does every new license holder want to setup a repeater? I would like to shed a little light on some of the important things to consider if you recently got your GMRS license and now want your own repeater.
 
First thing to consider, are there any open well placed repeaters in your area that you are able to use? I can assure you most repeater owners want people to use there repeater. Owning several repeaters I can assure you all are welcome and encouraged to use my machines.
 
Do you have access to a location to host your repeater? If your answer is your garage roof you should reconsider. Your garage roof will give you about the same coverage as simplex. Unless you’re on top of a mountain and all your users are at the bottom you will never be happy with this setup.
 
GMRS is not as popular as one would like to think, unless your repeater covers 20 miles or more you may find you only have 1 or 2 users in the area. Unless you already have a group of friends together you may want to consider this before spending money on a decent well positioned site to install your repeater.
 
So you found a nice high site and the price is right, all you need to do is get the repeater installed, sounds simple right? Some thigs to consider first and foremost are the costs because they can add up quickly. Are you on a commercial tower that requires a license and bonded climber? If so this could be by far your largest expense depending on your area. I have spent $600 to $1200 on a climber; I have had quotes as high as $2500 depending on the amount of work and heights involved.  Keep in mind commercial sites require certified mounts, hard line cable, cable clamps, engineered grounding solutions and commercial grade antennas. No tower owner is going to let you install a comet antenna and 200’ of braided shield coax.
 
This brings me to my next point, the antenna. Because of the costs involved with climbers you will want to expend your budget on the antenna. Remember a $2000 repeater on a $200 antenna is going to work about as good as a $200 repeater.  Whereas a $200 repeater on a $2000 antenna is going to work like a $2000 repeater. On my first repeater I was gifted use of a 150’ tower, I installed a DB-420 on the top and 160’ of 7/8 hardline. Total cost of equipment for the antenna install was $2500, with the climbers labor coming in at an additional $800. This left me with enough to purchase an old Motorola R100 repeater running at 25W. To my surprise it had 30 miles of coverage, all due to the cash spent on the antenna and waiting for a decent spot.
 
Things happen, more so if you have an antenna 200’ in the air with a conductive cable connected to sensitive electronics. Antenna issues, feedline issues, repeater issues all cost money and I promise at some point you will have issues that need repair and require your money!
 
It is my opinion that the GMRS community does not need another 2 to 5 miles repeater as it just becomes background noise. What use is a public listed repeater if somebody in a mobile can’t use it 5 miles away while moving or the portable coverage is only a mile? If after reading this you are still going to build a repeater for your garage more power to you, just don’t expect 20 people to show up if it only reaches a mile.
 
As the owner of several GMRS and Commercial repeaters I can attest to the amount of money and effort go into my repeaters. I have only touched on the basics, if you add in any kind of testing services, duplexer tuning, addition of a combiner channel to an existing tower system, RF engineering, rent and insurance your costs can sky rocket. The best advice I can give any new licensee is to try and use the available systems in the area. Take the time to learn a little about what you’re doing and to assess the usability of the service before investing in a repeater for the sole reason of saying you own one.

Keep three factors in mind. 1) In an emergency you will not want to, or even be unable to, recharge batteries.
2) The shelf life of most rechargeable batteries (how long they will hold a charge) is horrible, alkaline batteries have shelf lives of up to 10 years.
3) The useful in-use life of an alkaline pack is much better than most rechargeables.

I would not worry about it, 1000's of them in use and nobody is doing anything about it so 6 sitting in survival kits is null. 
 
I think your survival bag is a fantastic idea with the way things are in the world that bag may be all somebody has.
 
It don't matter if its a natural disaster or armageddon people that have communication will be the ones that survive.

I don't know where the FCC is on enforcement but here in Racine Wisconsin the WI DOJ has been knocking on doors looking for the people that have been connecting radios to the statewide P25 trunking system known as WISCOM. I know 2 ex law enforcement offices that both got visits yesterday. With the visits came lots of questions about one person... All I have to say is play stupid games win stupid prizes, FCC won't investigate so here comes the DOJ. When caught these guys will wish it was the FCC because the DOJ will issue you and anal probing the likes of an alien abduction....

I don't know where the FCC is on enforcement but here in Racine Wisconsin the WI DOJ has been knocking on doors looking for the people that have been connecting radios to the statewide P25 trunking system known as WISCOM. I know 2 ex law enforcement offices that both got visits yesterday. With the visits came lots of questions about one person... All I have to say is play stupid games win stupid prizes, FCC won't investigate so here comes the DOJ. When caught these guys will wish it was the FCC because the DOJ will issue you and anal probing the likes of an alien abduction....