WRHS218

Outside of an eye poking risk, well poking risk. No

You can buy universal cap you glue on. Better yet try the vendor to see if they can get you a replacement.

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Another option is those little rubber vacuum hose caps from auto parts stores.

That sounds serious! What happens if someone uses one of these amps on their GMRS radio??

Are you sure it's a repeater output?

The repeater outputs are the simplex frequencies.

If in fact it is a repeater output. I would tone scan to see what it is.

You may have found an unpublished repeater in your area. Or simply found a repeater you can not key up due to distances.

I frequently here the Towson repeater at my home. But can not key it up due to the distance. The repeater transmits better then it hears from my location.

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I operated a power plant for over 30 years and the antenna for our UHF site radios was less than 70 feet from a 72KV transformer and transmission lines. There was no special grounding for the base station or antenna (professionally installed). We never had any problems with TX/RX. Where I live now I have a GMRS j-pole less than 100 feet from 200+KV transmission lines and have no issues.

While not totally waterproof IP66 is better than most radios out there. Luckily I haven't dropped my 935Gs in deep water yet.😁

I operated a power plant for over 30 years and the antenna for our UHF site radios was less than 70 feet from a 72KV transformer and transmission lines. There was no special grounding for the base station or antenna (professionally installed). We never had any problems with TX/RX. Where I live now I have a GMRS j-pole less than 100 feet from 200+KV transmission lines and have no issues.

I operated a power plant for over 30 years and the antenna for our UHF site radios was less than 70 feet from a 72KV transformer and transmission lines. There was no special grounding for the base station or antenna (professionally installed). We never had any problems with TX/RX. Where I live now I have a GMRS j-pole less than 100 feet from 200+KV transmission lines and have no issues.

Here’s the forum for the nets: https://forums.mygmrs.com/forum/19-national-and-regional-gmrs-nets/
Here’s the forum for technical questions: https://forums.mygmrs.com/forum/3-technical-discussion/

I got my GMRS license a few weeks ago and received my handheld radios a few days ago & started setting them up (still learning & trying to set them up lol). Well, I reached a local repeater and made my first contact. It was exciting to me so I just thought I’d share that. Thanks everyone for helping me with my newbie questions. 

Program only the transmit tone in your radio.  Leave the receive tone blank or set it to TONE rather than TSQL.  That will allow you to hear the repeater and anything else that’s on that frequency. 
Second, make sure you are close enough to the repeater to hear it.  Many repeaters simply don’t have much traffic so you might not hear anything, but if you are close enough eventually you’ll hear something.

Welcome!
You first have to identify a repeater that you want to use then look up that repeater on the map on the main MyGMRS page there you will find the info for that repeater.

Th biggest problem is going to be when the retivis takes a dump. I’d never own a retivis anything.  It’s only 10w also.    Plus do you really need a repeater?  Is there a big hill or mountain in the way?     You didn’t even mention the important part.  Antennas.  They mean more than anything else.  I’d skip the repeater and make sure every house has a good quality high gain antenna up as high as possible with good feed line.  A comet712 running Lmr400 and a 5w hand held will easily do 50 miles line of sight.   The repeater doesn’t sound like it’s needed at all.  A nice base station at every house would run about $250 total for a 20w radio antenna and coax. And a trickle charger and 12v battery.  

It's all nothing more than opinions and guesses until you try it.  Based on my actual experience, actually using the RT97, I would GUESS it will probably be fine, depending on the terrain as already mentioned.
One of the great things about the RT97 vs a "real" repeater (based on my experience using and comparing both types) is the very low power-draw, meaning if you are running it on emergency batteries, it will last a lot longer than a bigger, "better", more powerful repeater.
I would also recommend using a good quality antenna, that is correctly tuned for GMRS, and lightly better quality radios - something simple enough for everyone to use, but at least dust and weatherproof.   I would also recommend making sure everyone has extra batteries and keeps them charged - a monthly/semi-monthly test with everyone would be a good reminder for everyone to charge and rotate the batteries.
EDIT: I forgot the most important part: good quality coax and connectors.. Not just to reduce loss, but to avoid water intrusion.
 

I believe the queen said in the video repeatedly, that you "cannot" use it as a base station because the hand mic looking device is only for programming the repeater unit. That probably means there is no method/means of inputing voice audio directly into the unit.
Although, I am not an expert on the matter, I'm just trying to recollect on my 12 hour old memory from watching the video.

I find GMRS to really be this, as described above; a tool in support of activities, not the activity itself.
 
I use it for camping, hiking, caravanning, skiing (that's a big one), occasionally at outdoor places like amusement parks, and more recently sailing since ship-to-shore communications are so highly regulated over Marine VHF. I can't help but enjoy it as a hobby in and of itself, but recognize most people just buy a couple (or more) radios and go about using them in their activity.

While not totally waterproof IP66 is better than most radios out there. Luckily I haven't dropped my 935Gs in deep water yet.😁

While not totally waterproof IP66 is better than most radios out there. Luckily I haven't dropped my 935Gs in deep water yet.😁

I always disable that feature. One channel at a time is more than enough for me.

I’m going to pretty much echo what everyone else is saying. The KG-935 plus is a good solid radio and it’s my go to radio for GMRS. I have dropped mine few times as well and it survives. USB charging is nice. It has ability and room to program lots more to listen and scan. The only short coming I can think of is that it’s not waterproof but I have other radios if that’s what I need and most times I don’t. I have no problem recommending this radio and no regrets purchasing mine. 

Mine is the minus model...not the Plus.  I have had it for 2 - 3 years, purchased before the Plus model was available.   As WRWE456 said, it came with a pair of 3200mAh batteries. Each easily lasts me more than a couple of days.  The addition of a USB-C chargeable battery makes it a nice travel companion. 

I have owned the 935G and the 935G+. The 935G is a great GMRS radio. Not only for GMRS simplex and repeater use but for listening to other frequencies. I programmed mine with local LEO and Fire frequencies. I also programmed railroad frequencies to scan on trips because I enjoy that type of thing. I have used the radio in the rain and snow and have had a drop or two onto hard surfaces with no damage. I purchased the 935G+ as it was advertised as having more volume which helped me out before I got hearing aids. The stock antennas are pretty good as well. If it is in your budget for a GMRS radio I don't think you can go wrong with either. 

The KG-935G is a very good radio with many useful features.  Some of my likes include:
Scan groups.  This allows you to program a group of repeaters for your home area, and other groups of repeaters or channels along your route of travel, or around your destination.  I can preprogram the radio so that when I am in Dallas, I can select and monitor my Dallas scan group.  When I am in Denver, I can select and monitor my Denver scan group.  If my route takes me through Albuquerque, I can select and monitor my 'querque scan group while I am there...without having to download to the radio.  This is the reason having a 999 channel memory is also useful.
The 935G accepts Wouxan's USB-C rechargeable 1A26KG-8 battery.  I had to order this battery separately, but I like not having to carry a charger for the radio.  I can charge the 935G with the same cable I use to charge my phone.
The 935G is CHIRP compatible.  Wouxan does offer their own programming software, and I have no doubt that it works just fine, but CHIRP compatibility means that I can copy and paste repeater channels from other non-Wouxan CHIRP compatible radios without having to hop between software applications (or load new software on my PC).
Another feature I like on the 935G is the channel knob.  Not a big deal, but when you use a radio with up/down arrows, or direct entry only, you notice the absence.
The one dislike I have of the 935G is that it can only scan one band at a time.  Wouxan does offer at least one radio that can scan two bands simultaneously.  I think it is the KG-UV9GX, which also has the scan group feature.  This would allow you to monitor two scan groups simultaneously if scanning is important to you.
 

I have owned the 935G and the 935G+. The 935G is a great GMRS radio. Not only for GMRS simplex and repeater use but for listening to other frequencies. I programmed mine with local LEO and Fire frequencies. I also programmed railroad frequencies to scan on trips because I enjoy that type of thing. I have used the radio in the rain and snow and have had a drop or two onto hard surfaces with no damage. I purchased the 935G+ as it was advertised as having more volume which helped me out before I got hearing aids. The stock antennas are pretty good as well. If it is in your budget for a GMRS radio I don't think you can go wrong with either. 

DMR is emission type FXE for voice and FXD for data, but the FCC constrains GMRS to the following:
 
95.1771 GMRS emission types.
Each GMRS transmitter type must be designed to satisfy the emission capability rules in this section. Operation of GMRS stations must also be in compliance with these rules.
(a) Each GMRS transmitter type must have the capability to transmit F3E or G3E emissions.
(b) Only emission types A1D, F1D, G1D, H1D, J1D, R1D, A3E, F3E, G3E, H3E, J3E, R3E, F2D, and G2D are authorized for use in the GMRS. Equipment for which certification is sought under this subpart may have capabilities to transmit other emission types intended for use in other services, provided that these emission types can be deactivated when the equipment is used in the GMRS.