Moui

Wow I have gained a lot to think about. I'm going to see if I can get away with shortening my coax and spend a little more and get heliax 1/2". I'm now looking at the Laird FG-4603 antenna as gman1971 recommended since I mainly chosen the Tram 1486 from length and style. Im not expecting fantastic results but a good start that can eventually lead me to where I was aiming for. I appreciate the kind words from everyone here, it's really got me excited to try and figure this out! I guess that's what it's all about

Hello Internet! It has been awhile since I've been playing around in GMRS and I have learned a lot of things over the past few months. I believe I am finally ready to try and create a repeater of my own. My location is favorable as im on top of a hill that oversees the township so I want to give it a go. The ideal use of the repeater is to provide a method of local communication within the township. Im located near and in range of the CSRA Columbia network, but I want something small and local, plus its just a fun project to try and accomplish. I have developed a rough plan and got some equipment I have looked at and will start collecting soon based on how this thread goes. So far I have got 2 Motorola GM300 UHF radios as they were fairly cheap and work well with the repeater interface I got for it. I plan to run theses radios at 25 Watt output. For the repeater interface I chose a Motorola HLN3333B R.I.C.K. as its just plug and play with the GM300's plus it adds the option of remotely shutting down the repeater via DTMF if I desire. I already have covered a power supply so that's good there. I want to get a duplexer and this one offered on MyGMRS looks good but I want some opinions about it from folk who know a bit more first before committing on buying it. If there are other duplexers out there that I should consider, let me know. The antenna I have planned to get is a Tram 1486, also offered by MyGMRS as a option and i'll have this mounted straight above the set up which is inside of the shop. From floor to antenna base, about how tall should I mount the antenna? And for coax, I am leaning towards using 100ft of LMR400 coax cabling. I herd it would get the job done well and its not too expensive. So far that is everything I have on the list. I'll worry about building antenna mounts and a cabinet for the radios later. I know i'm not making something that is perfect and i'm not trying to cover an entire county, but I want something that works well for a starter and to go from there. Im hoping to achieve about 20~ miles and I hope im making the right decisions with some of the equipment I have and plan to get. Let me know what you experts think and help guide me in the right direction. Looking forward to learning more!

I'm glad I found this APX then, and for the price it was at too. Thanks to everyone, I went ahead and ordered a battery, antenna and a charger. All in all, I'm looking at a total of $712 total spent for this, which seems like a good savings than going on eBay. I'm going to leave the programming to a local radio shop and hopefully they can help me out. I don't mind paying the fee for the service if that's what it takes to get situated

Hello! Thank you to everyone for there input! I have the flashcode here 104270-001000-1 and it's a model 1.5. If I'm not mistaken, it's a UHF/VHF unit so it should be able to work right? Plus I can have some frequencies for scanning like weather and railroad. I only have intentions and desires for analog at the moment until I can work my way up to an Amateur Radio license.

Oh okay, I get what your saying. Basically as long as "I know what im doing and following the rules as best as I can with the best intentions", the FCC isn't going to bother me unless im just being blatantly stupid and ignorant lol! So APX isnt technically legal, but they wont mind as long as the programming is to a T. Good to know thank you!

Hello! First post on any forum and recently got my GMRS license too, So needless to say I'm excited to get out there! I have gotten a Kenwood radio for myself to adventure in GMRS thanks to this forum and it's been a good little unit. Now just a few days ago I was out at my states surplus sale where they sell old desktop pcs, furniture, cars ect. Well they had a Motorola APX7000 on the shelf with no battery, antenna or anything, and I bought it on its circulation sale for $500. Before I go crazy and get a battery, charger, antenna and have programmed by someone, I would like to ask if it would be a radio I can use on GMRS and repeaters. I know this kind of question gets asked a lot and I'd hate to add to that annoyance but I've done the better part of my do diligence in research but I'm still left asking. It doesn't have a front display or keypad for FPP, just the top screen like my Kenwood. I've tried to find any forum posts relating to APX on GMRS here and on other websites but I've come up short. It operates on UHF in the lower band, 380-470mhz. I mainly got it because of the price and if I can use it, then great! If not, then I can try to sell it for a profit. Win win for me. If I need to give more details then I can try my best to, otherwise let me know!