SteveShannon

The first page had a post which seemed to indicate that there was a MURS repeater somewhere.

Yes. By GMan1971’s sensitivity measurements, the radio has much less sensitivity, less than a tenth that of a Motorola XPR6550 (which is very expensive if purchased new and requires special software to program). But for everyday use maybe it’s not as dire as that one isolated measurement might indicate. Watch some videos on the YouTube channel “Notarubicon”. He actually does real world tests of range, clarity, and usability. He’s also a frequent participant on this forum under the name @OffRoaderX. Just be sure you understand that much of the things he says reveal an dry acerbic wit which bothers some people.

It tracks both. I had to go and look, but here’s what you see when you open up “My Requests” notice there’s a drop down for “My Sent Requests” and another one for “Repeater Access Requests.” My Sent Requests had a record of requests I made, so it appears that it worked for me

You said you’re testing on a dummy load. Is Randy? That could make a difference. Reflected power causes heat also.

I’m sure you realize this, but you must have a loading coil to match to a 5/8 wave antenna. Here’s a pretty concise (albeit with some sloppy spelling) article about 5/8 wave antennas: https://www.cainetworks.com/products/antenna/ But here’s an even better article: https://practicalantennas.com/designs/verticals/5eights/

You are correct (in my opinion.) The frequency is correct or you wouldn’t hear it. The radio you have will automatically set the right transmit frequency. So you just need to set the transmit tone in order to get into the repeater. I would leave the tone turned off for the receiver, at least at first. That means you’ll receive everything transmitted on that frequency.

Nice work.

I agree that the FCC probably isn’t interested in taking action against repeater owners who bother nobody. It’s like driving 57 in a 55 zone. It’s one of those rules that would be nearly impossible to prosecute and honestly not worth their time unless something outrageous is going on, in which case it’ll be just another charge, but I know how to read regulations and that “and” makes a difference.

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.