SteveShannon

That last line (condition 2) is logically and legally “anded” to condition 1. Both must be true in order to avoid transmitting the ID of the repeater. So, the only regulatory compliant way to not ID the repeater is if the only people using it are covered by the license of the repeater owner and they are all correctly identifying themselves using the repeater owner’s ID, which would be the same as the station ID of the repeater.

That’s simply incorrect. Here’s the regulation: § 95.1751 GMRS station identification. Each GMRS station must be identified by transmission of its FCC-assigned call sign at the end of transmissions and at periodic intervals during transmissions except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section. A unit number may be included after the call sign in the identification. (a) The GMRS station call sign must be transmitted: (1) Following a single transmission or a series of transmissions; and, (2) After 15 minutes and at least once every 15 minutes thereafter during a series of transmissions lasting more than 15 minutes. (b) The call sign must be transmitted using voice in the English language or international Morse code telegraphy using an audible tone. (c) Any GMRS repeater station is not required to transmit station identification if: (1) It retransmits only communications from GMRS stations operating under authority of the individual license under which it operates; and, (2) The GMRS stations whose communications are retransmitted are properly identified in accordance with this section.

Simply put, that can be complied with manually by simply identifying the repeater at the end of a conversation or every fifteen minutes during long conversations.

Do you mean the RT97 won’t do tones for tone squelch, like CTCSS or DCS? It does both. Here’s the manual: https://www.retevis.com/Download/mannual/RT97_English_Manual.pdf The RT97 cannot easily be set up to automatically send a call sign, either in voice or Morse code. The RT97s has a port that might support it though.

I’m not sure how DCS could cause a weaker signal; both it and CTCSS cause squelch to either open or close, not throttle somewhere in between, unless there’s a software issue with the radio.

It might help if you describe your area, such as terrain, opportunity for an antenna, and coverage wanted. Is it something a Retevis RT-97 would work well for or do you need a more professional repeater?

Welcome! Randy (NotaRubicon) is on here under the name of @OffRoaderX. Steve

Welcome! I use a Wilson booster also, although from before their WE Boost branding. It works well.

Montana has Amateur Radio license plates for $5 administrative fee above the normal license fees:

If you’re certain the tone is correct then I would look at either the offset or the direction. Look at one thing at a time until you’re certain that it’s correct. Set the transmit to the correct frequency and tone. Listen with the Baofeng to the transmit frequency to make sure you’re transmitting. Switch the Baofeng to the receive frequency (no tone) and try again. Set receive on the XTS to the correct frequency but leave the tone clear. It should receive other people’s transmissions or a transmission from the Baofeng to the repeater. Only after all the above works reliably should you try to set a receiver tone. I doubt that I have anything more to suggest. Sorry I couldn’t help more.

He specifically asked about a good charge controller.

The fact that your UV5R receives the XTS when the tone is cleared out but not when a receive tone of 136.5 is set strongly suggests that the XTS isn’t sending a 136.5 Hz tone. Same for the second paragraph. The fact that your XTS isn’t expecting a 136.5 Hz tone. Try using your UV5R to scan for the tone your XTS is actually sending. Randy has a good video explaining how to:

That’s how it should be.

So try clearing the receiver tone from the XTS to see if it receives.

So your transmitter on the XTS is working fine. Now set the receive tone on the UV5R to match the repeater input tone. Try it again. If you don’t receive the transmission then your transmit tone is wrong on the XTS. If you receive the transmission then there’s nothing wrong with your transmission.

Yes

It doesn’t seem to make sense that your radio works fine on simplex but fails on a repeater. Set your other radio to receive on the repeater input frequency but leave tones turned off and see if your transmission to the repeater is picked up by your other radio.

Here’s the website: https://nggmrs.org You must fill out an application before buying a membership. I looked for your call sign “WRUW910” in their roster but didn’t immediately find it. There’s also a spreadsheet on their site that lists repeaters, frequencies, and tones. Jasper doesn’t appear (at least when viewing on my phone).

I’m not sure what your question is. Do you know how to access repeater details on this site? Here’s the page with details for the repeater you asked about but based on attached comments it appears that the information you need to access it is only available through the association’s website. https://mygmrs.com/repeater/414

If you couldn’t hear the repeater until you removed the receive tone, chances are you had the wrong tone programmed. A receive tone acts a little like a bandpass filter. If you set a receive tone your squelch only opens up for transmissions that include that tone. If you remove the receive tone you receive all transmissions on that frequency, regardless of which tone they transmit. It’s like having three friends: Alice, Bob, and Charlie. Alice transmits and receives using tone A. Bob transmits and receives using tone B. Charlie transmits and receives using tone C. When you want to talk to Alice, you must transmit using tone A; neither Bob nor Charlie hear you. Likewise, if you transmit using tone B, only Bob hears you. Same for Charlie; he only hears what is transmitted using tone C. You can hear each one individually by setting your receiver to their individual tone, but if you want to hear all of them, you must leave your receiver set to no tone.

I doubt it’s that bleak. Just have someone familiar with that model play with it.

Welcome!

I haven’t used one for GMRS but I have used Yagi antennas for finding radio trackers. If you only want to reach in one direction, such as to a repeater, a Yagi is a good way to enhance gain, but it will be nearly deaf in other directions, so it might not be a good choice to talk to your friends on simplex. How would you picture yourself using it?

Actually nobody but you is still discussing it. You’re the only one who has posted since Friday. Maybe you have the responses sorted in order of votes rather than order of date and time. I’ve done that before.

If you’re having a true emergency you don’t wait for a net; you declare an emergency and break in. Break, Break, Break You are interrupting in the middle of communication because you have an emergency. The fact that a Net is being conducted actually helps ensure that someone will hear your transmission! Nets are held to allow people to learn about and practice radio etiquette. Every person who uses a two way radio should take it upon themselves to learn radio etiquette. I know some people don’t want GMRS to resemble amateur radio, but basic radio etiquette should still be learned and practiced. Here’s one of several sources of information that may help you to know how to break in with an emergency transmission: https://quality2wayradios.com/store/two-way-radio-etiquette