SteveH

I renewed my license a couple of days ago. $70 for 10 years.

I renewed my license a couple of days ago. $70 for 10 years.

1 second packet bursts with an interval of at least 30 secs I believe. It was pushed by Garmin for their walkie talkie trackers. They wanted it for GMRS as well as FRS.

Looks like the 90 days should have passed by now.

Looks like the 90 days should have passed by now.

When a repeater owner approves individual licensees to use a system, it is usually stipulated in an agreement that the approved user will follow Rule 95.119, especially subpart E, or will not be allowed to use the system.  It is usually also stipulated by agreement that any approved person, using a privately owned permission-required system, will not divulge system access details info to anyone. 

The state EOC (MEMA) is way behind the curve on communications other than public safety VHF, satellite and WebEOC. They do have an FNARS station and there's some ham gear there but it's not used much and the HF side of things is woefully lacking. So, the quick answer is no. The counties are where the action is.

The state EOC (MEMA) is way behind the curve on communications other than public safety VHF, satellite and WebEOC. They do have an FNARS station and there's some ham gear there but it's not used much and the HF side of things is woefully lacking. So, the quick answer is no. The counties are where the action is.

I haven't posted here in quite a while but I'm in the process of dusting off my GMRS equipment and have just added a Midland MXT400 to the mix. (This radio looks to be the same hardware as my TYT TH-9000 UHF.)
 
One of the things I've done in the interim is to have become a hub station in the Digital Traffic Network part of Radio Relay International. The network is a recent offshoot of the digital component of the National Traffic System. I've been handling formal traffic (i.e. radiograms) for Maine since mid-2014 and am affiliated with both RRI and NTS.
 
RRI very recently adopted the National SOS Radio Network, a neighborhood radio watch system that was created post-Katrina. The system was based on the use of FRS radios. NSRN suspended a while ago but RRI saw it as what could be a component in a tiered system with FRS at the bottom for local community communications. Above that would be GMRS and then the ham operators. Hams could pass along messages to, for example, the local or county emergency management agencies or pass 3rd party messages into the traffic system. The system would also collect SITREPs from citizens and pass them along to the appropriate agencies.
 
There are pieces of some other pre-existing elements that are also being thrown into the mix, e.g. Neighborhood HamWatch.
 
I'm in the process of working to update our county program (see http://ballyhac.com/) that was put in place in 2015, after we had a fairly significant ice storm. (Of course, we've had no such storms since but it's only a matter of time until we get something equivalent to the one in 1998.) The goal will be to align with the national program.
 
The most current information on the RRI-NSRN program is in the most recent issue of the QNI newsletter. See https://qninewsletterdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/qni-2017-5.pdf
 
RRI's main page is at http://radio-relay.org/
 

I haven't posted here in quite a while but I'm in the process of dusting off my GMRS equipment and have just added a Midland MXT400 to the mix. (This radio looks to be the same hardware as my TYT TH-9000 UHF.)
 
One of the things I've done in the interim is to have become a hub station in the Digital Traffic Network part of Radio Relay International. The network is a recent offshoot of the digital component of the National Traffic System. I've been handling formal traffic (i.e. radiograms) for Maine since mid-2014 and am affiliated with both RRI and NTS.
 
RRI very recently adopted the National SOS Radio Network, a neighborhood radio watch system that was created post-Katrina. The system was based on the use of FRS radios. NSRN suspended a while ago but RRI saw it as what could be a component in a tiered system with FRS at the bottom for local community communications. Above that would be GMRS and then the ham operators. Hams could pass along messages to, for example, the local or county emergency management agencies or pass 3rd party messages into the traffic system. The system would also collect SITREPs from citizens and pass them along to the appropriate agencies.
 
There are pieces of some other pre-existing elements that are also being thrown into the mix, e.g. Neighborhood HamWatch.
 
I'm in the process of working to update our county program (see http://ballyhac.com/) that was put in place in 2015, after we had a fairly significant ice storm. (Of course, we've had no such storms since but it's only a matter of time until we get something equivalent to the one in 1998.) The goal will be to align with the national program.
 
The most current information on the RRI-NSRN program is in the most recent issue of the QNI newsletter. See https://qninewsletterdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/qni-2017-5.pdf
 
RRI's main page is at http://radio-relay.org/
 

In 2013 I purchased a RadioWerx GU-16 GMRS HT. It was a Wouxun 16 channel pre-programmed radio, part 95. It could be reprogrammed for repeaters, etc. with software provided by Radiowerx.
 
The radio became unavailable a few months ago so I wrote to Radiowerx to see if they were discontinued or on back order. I was told that in early 2015 they will introduce a new part 95 MURS/GMRS radio made by TERA, another Chinese supplier. Powerwerx already has several TERA HTs in their catalog (see http://www.powerwerx.com/two-way-radios/tera-handheld-radios/) and I'd assume that this one is based on the 16 channel commercial radio TR-500.
 
As far as I know, this would be the only part 95 combo MURS/GMRS radio out there.
 
Merry Christmas!
 
Steve

OK guys - I'm convinced. 
Now to paint that white antenna olive drab
 
A few weeks ago I tuned my Yaesu to the CB band. I haven't ever really monitored that service and I was amazed (appalled) at what I heard there. If GMRS ever began to sound like that, it would be a total loss. 
 
Steve

I've been away from the board for a bit (well, a few months). Not much has changed. The repeater is still running 24x7 but no users have been active except for my wife and myself. I have registered a couple of individuals who visit the area from time to time but the people I was hoping would use it haven't shown any inclination. A couple families could really benefit from it and one even has a license and radios all set and programmed.
 
Horse - water - 

I purchased one a few weeks ago from Powerwerx. The standard Wouxun cable works with it and the Powerwerx site has the GU-16 software. I did try CHIRP with it using the software for other Wouxun HTs but those did not work. However, I was also messing with the com ports (forgot which USB port I had used before) so that info might be bogus. Powerwerx programs it with the simplex channels but has PL tones for 2-8. The repeater channels likewise have PL tones. I modified all of these with ease.
 
Besides the "official" Part 95 cert, this radio is nice for people who don't know radios that well and tend to mess up the programming by hitting random keys. I recently programmed 3 Baofengs and within 2 days I had to reprogram two of them because the owners had hit keys they shouldn't have.
 
Steve

OK guys - I'm convinced. 
Now to paint that white antenna olive drab
 
A few weeks ago I tuned my Yaesu to the CB band. I haven't ever really monitored that service and I was amazed (appalled) at what I heard there. If GMRS ever began to sound like that, it would be a total loss. 
 
Steve

I can't say that my repeater has gotten a lot of exercising but an 80mm fan mounted directly on the heatsink seems to work ok so far. The GM300 pair came with the fan connected to the power leads, i.e. always on. That's unnecessary and noisy. I picked up an inexpensive temperature controller on ebay for under $20. This is a WillHi WH7016. It's a panel mount 12 volt unit with digital display and set point adjustment. It comes with the sensing element. An internal 5 amp relay controls the load. I stuck the sensor on the GM300's heatsink and wired the fan to the power supply via the relay. Works great. It also gives me the actual heatsink temperature.
 
The repeater is still in my 2nd floor no A/C shack but will soon be moved to the basement where the temperature is lower and more uniform.
Steve

Not really an option - the attic of our place isn't accessible except by a little hatch that's above a closet with shelving. The other advantage of the basement is that the repeater will be next to one of our two 12 volt battery banks. The other is in the shack.

I'm running about 40 watts into 30 ft. of RG-213. (Shack is on the 2nd floor of our house.) The antenna is a Comet commercial antenna with 9dBi gain.
 
I could probably get the antenna up another 10 ft or so (it's about 25-28 ft now) but I was impatient and didn't want to wait for assistance. 
 
I run a BPQ32 BBS with ports on HF and 6 meters. Now that was a learning curve! The GMRS repeater will hopefully give some local non-ham friends a way of staying in touch with family w/o commercial infrastructure.

Steve

I have a couple of Dakota Alert base station radios. One is currently at my brother-in-law's place, across the cove about 2 miles from here. The radios put out a full 2 watts per my meter. I can cover our little town pretty well with an outside j-pole antenna.
 
Since I do a lot of digital stuff on the ham bands, an appealing feature of MURS is that you can do digital modes. I just audio couple between the PC and radio's speakers & microphones. If I read the rules correctly, you can also encrypt. The telemetry units that use MURS (e.g. http://www.raveon.com/rv_m3_m.html) used encrypted digital transmissions.
 
In our area, there is almost no MURS traffic (and not a whole lot more GMRS).
 
Steve

I programmed it for 446.000 MHz and it worked. I'm not sure how wideband the ducky is. Now for the Part 97 on a Part 95 radio debate!
 
Steve