SteveShannon

All of those are optional, or, in the case of the the repeater ID, dependent on timing. The only way to be sure is to have someone else monitoring the repeater when you transmit.

What functionality of APRS are you wanting to have?

I absolutely agree that the Midland and Retevis would not be my choice for a wide area repeater. I would listen to one of the existing repeater owners and their recommendations for a good condition used Motorola or Vertex or other commercial grade repeater and I would pair it with a decent duplexer and then run at least something like M&P Broadpro 50 (which is like an all-copper shielded LMR-400) coax to a commercial quality antenna. I hear high recommendations for Laird.

Happy birthday, Barry!

Call signs for GMRS are issued sequentially, so for instance your license (WRZD706) is located in Michigan, but the very next one issued, WRZD707, is located in Kentucky. It could just as easily be Alaska or Hawaii. Unlike the zone number in a ham call sign, nothing in the GMRS call sign means anything special. You can look up GMRS licenses here: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchGmrs.jsp

People have built repeaters using two individual transceivers. I don’t know about that model though. Sometimes they run into issues with the receiver half de-sensing because of proximity to the transmitter. One thing you should consider is how you will provide the station ID. some people use the ID-o-matic, an inexpensive repeater controller. http://www.hamgadgets.com/ID-O-MATIC-IV

Welcome!

Start here: You just got your GMRS license, now you want your own repeater?

I’m sorry, but beginning with talking about RX only getting 5 watts (or saying that your RX will only be 25 watts) this is bad advice. If you poll the people on this site who actually maintain repeaters (I’m not one) you will find that almost all of them use a duplexer. 1. Although it is possible to construct a repeater with two antennas, the distance between the antennas must be fairly far to provide RF isolation, especially if you attempt to separate the antennas horizontally. If they are arrayed vertically the distance doesn’t have to be as far, depending on the type of antenna you choose. It helps to have a tall tower. 2. Yes, it’s true that power is lost in a duplexer. It’s not necessarily half though. High quality duplexers lose less power. Inexpensive duplexers can be very lossy. Power is also lost in coax, so if you choose to use two antennas be sure you use high quality coax because at GMRS frequencies it’s very easy to lose half (or more) of your power. 3. Power should not be the deciding factor. It’s common for the newly licensed to focus too much on power. I suspect that if you were to ask experienced radio engineers whether they would prefer a great receiver and midpower transmitter versus a high powered transmitter and just okay receiver they would choose the better receiver every time. Having more power doesn’t automatically mean greater range. Notarubicon (@OffRoaderX) has an informative series of videos where he first built a repeater using two kg1000 radios and two antennas and ended up going to a commercial quality repeater, duplexer, and single antenna. I encourage you to view them.

Garmin Rhino radios are made in Taiwan (at least mine was). The Yaesu FT65 is a nice ham radio that can be opened up for GMRS (no, that’s not compliant). It is made in Japan, although the first generation were made in China. Yaesu is a Japanese brand.

My set screws appear to coated in a black oxide. The base of the antenna appears to be anodized aluminum.

As far as buying from China, buying something manufactured to American specs and sold only by an American company means that most of your money stays here. That’s economically better than buying from a foreign company. There are no GMRS manufacturers in the USA, unfortunately. The only other way to make sure none of your money goes outside of the USA is to buy used equipment from a n American company.

I ordered mine directly from Midland and the set screws rust. If you look closely in this picture you’ll see the source of moisture. I’ll replace them eventually:

Welcome! If you take a few days reading through posts on this site you’ll find literally thousands of posts that recommend repeaters, coax cables, and antennas. Not quite so many on masts and towers.

APRS is a way of communicating information using packets. The most common information transmitted using APRS is location, but it can also include weather or text messages. There is a whole unofficial network of radios called digipeaters (digital repeaters) that share all of that information so it can be seen using the website APRS.fi, but if you have an APRS capable radio you can receive the information locally as well. People flying large high power rockets or high altitude balloons use tiny little APRS transmitters tucked away in their payloads so they can get them back. When my ham radio club provides logistical support for a local fundraising bike ride, many of us use handheld radios that allow us to communicate by voice on one frequency while transmitting our location on the APRS frequency. That allows our “base” to see all the moving pieces on a map on a computer screen. If you search for AI7KS in APRS.fi you may see traces for AI7KS-7 or AI7KS-8, depending on which one of my APRS radios I am carrying (assuming I remember to turn on APRS.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/trump-administration-releases-proposed-drone-rules-and-regulatory-changes/2019/02/18/443c737e-2feb-11e9-8ad3-9a5b113ecd3c_story.html

There are losses from connectors, more in some grades of equipment. I still prefer to leave my swr/power meter connected in-line. If something strange happens it’s sure easier to diagnose. Having the meter off should not affect the SWR, unless it’s a really poor meter.

Your radio has the ability to occasionally send it’s location. If so I would assume that would happen on whatever channel you were tuned to before you started the scan. Maybe that activity causes it to stop.

Got your message. I’m just eating lunch now. I’ll be available in about thirty minutes.

I thought he might have had an expectation that he could transmit on a simplex channel as if calling “CQ” on one of the ham bands and someone would “come back”. I think for most of us we just pick a simplex channel before we begin some group activity. All of us know to transmit on that frequency and all of us monitor that one frequency. We are not sitting around waiting for someone to transmit who isn’t engaged in whatever activity that binds our group together.

Don’t let my opinions constrain you. There are certainly GMRS clubs, just as there are ham clubs. As long as you mostly follow the regulations I don’t think there’s anything wrong with enjoying your radios however you want. If I were in an area with an active GMRS club, I’m sure I would have responded differently.

There are some exceptions, but for the most part you’re correct. If you want to get on a radio and make contacts with random strangers, that’s perfectly acceptable (even encouraged) in ham radio. In that case the radio activity is the hobby. Far fewer people do that on GMRS, but some do. I use my GMRS radios for communications to my friends when we are enjoying some other recreational activity, such as amateur rocketry. Others use them to facilitate communications while they’re riding motorcycles or rock crawling in jeeps or hiking, etc. In that case, the GMRS radio is a tool to be used to help the enjoyment of another hobby. At least that’s how I think of it.

I’ll PM you my phone number. Sometime this afternoon you can feel free give me a call and you can ask whatever you want. Maybe that will help?

Midland and Baofeng use different numerical values to indicate their CTCSS tones. As long as you use the same tone frequencies instead of expecting “Tone 6” to be the same in one as in the other they’ll have no problems. Look in their different manuals and match the actual frequencies.

As Marc said the advantage is in the eyes of the beholder. If I just want to talk to my non-ham friends without getting all excited about the technology I’ll use GMRS. But if I want to learn about radio technology with fewer limitations, I’ll use ham radio.