[GMRS in South Texas]

Crude and rude and amazingly slow.   I’m taking like open source street map or better yet, Google Earth.   I have my own version, but I can’t share it ‘Yet’. Working on that.maybe soon 

[GMRS in South Texas]

7 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

In my experience with large states such as California and Texas, there is no Tool that limits Repeaters geographically, like the Map does (or am I missing something?).

Also I always turn on Show Offline Repeaters and Show Stale Repeater in the circular widget in the upper left corner of the map.

I agree the a U.S. Map reflecting the repeater sites with appropriate data would be a great tool but this site does not have that as of yet..  Maybe they are working on it?

[GMRS in South Texas]

13 hours ago, WRVY822 said:

I am brand new to GMRS. I'm hoping to find some repeaters in my area that will extend my range.

My main goal for getting a license and buying radios is to have a way to communicate with family and close friends locally in an emergency situation as well as listen for information during an emergency.

How is GMRS in South Texas?  

you have close to 150 GMRS Repeaters in the state of Texas.. You can narrow down what is near you using the Query Tools on this web site..  

[Some Unfortunate News RE: CHIRP Integration]

6 hours ago, WRVK513 said:

Well i really like Chirp But I Also Get Why the Owner Dont want any Pay Wall BS In his software Open Source software and to be honest i dont blame him and HERE IS WHY It is very Easy to slip in/Sneek in about Any kind of spyware & malware & Even Viruses into the system But When its All Free & open source For any jo blow to just Download and look at the Code then ANY one that is slightly curious an a with a tad of knowledge can check the code for their self's an this Always Always Makes it Much Much Harder To Do ! So Stay Open Source and Always Just Say NO To ANY PAYWALL'S..That is How It Starts the World keeps trying to sell you a service of one kind or another JUST SAY NO Keep Your Hard Earned Money in your Pocket...Trust me when i say Big Tech Dont Need a Penny But Want it ALL ! You Can Research These Facts For Your Self you dont half to believe Me..Go Look!

you nailed it....  

[UHF repeaters]

4 hours ago, gortex2 said:

I left the KG1000 off the list as its not a repeater. Its a mobile radio. The goal was to give folks out of the box repeaters.

If we got into radios to make repeaters there would be hundreds but they all require 2 radios, controllers, cables and programming. 

 

 

Just saying,  many of the repeaters you listed consist of two radios bundled into one package and at over twice the cost of building a repeater from basically same parts.  As said the Bridegroom Repeaters are two Maxons 8200A's.  Motorola and Kenwood do the same using their line of radios..  As far as programing goes, it is still needed regardless if you package them together in one box or use them as two radios.  One box repeaters are nice for simplicity but you pay the premium for that benefit.  I almost bought a Bridgecom repeater then after research i learned what radios they used and went with the Maxons.  My Maxon investment was about $800 which saved a a gloruius $,1000 bucks  over the one box Bridgcomm..  I like saving money.    

[UHF repeaters]

You left out the Wouxon KG-1000 and better yet the Maxon TM8000 series radios, which is basically the Bridgecomm repeater for half the cost.   

[How effective are antennas in attics?]

5 hours ago, WRQC301 said:

How effective are antennas in attics. Using 50w Wouxun 1000g. Antenna cable is approx. 30' long. At present it is reaching a repeater around 30 miles.(straight shot)condo restrictions require antenna to be hidden.

I have a friend living in a retirement community. He took a 70CM base antenna, stashed it inside the top of his fiberglass flag mast and burried the coax about 10’ to his garage.  He has been running his repeater for over a year and works great. 
 

[Hams on GMRS]

i found it interesting yesterday when i was in a conversation with someone and the conversation was somewhat political about the recent classified document scandals.   A person whom i know to be a Ham suddenly pings in and tells us  the radio waves is not the place to discuss politics..  Well,,  I guess this Ham forgot about freedom of speech and the fact that there are basically no GMRS equitecy  rules you commonly find on Ham bands,.   We didn't budge and continued on with conversation only to listen to an idiot trying to 'Jam' the repeater..   Hmmmm,,  I wonder if this malicious 'jammer' was the Hammer.      Pretty sure it was -  LMAO  

[I'm trying to add a repeater, but icon won't let me drag it to location.]

Wouldn’t it be cool, to view all the GMRS repeaters on Google Earth by State that also included much of the info such as Call Signs, frequency, squelch tones, repeater type etc…..

[Abusive languge over the airwave]

I hear garbage all the time, amazing how one or two clicks on the channel and the problems are gone.   

[FCC does not allow More repeaters?]

On 3/7/2022 at 7:42 AM, WRPN896 said:

I heard this morning on the net that the FCC does not allow newly Repeaters is this 100% Correct?

DE WRPN896

 

Thats flat out BS... Was the guys first name 'Joe' by  any chance?   

[Hitting repeaters]

i have no problems hitting repeaters 20 miles line of sight with HT's.   I've hit my repeater from Whitney Portals with my mobile and that was about a 55 mile line of sight shot.   Like OffRoader says,  obstructions will pretty much void out line-of-sight communications, which UHF relies on..    

[Wouxun KG-1000G repeater/ Baofeng GM-15PRO.]

On 10/16/2022 at 5:43 AM, jec6613 said:

According to the spec sheet, it'll probably heat up slightly more.  The Maxon draws as much power to output 40W as the Wouxun draws to output 50W, since the Maxon seems to primarily be a VHF radio.

Without getting a real repeater, the best one can hope for is to either: (1) reduce power output, (2) increase cooling, or (3) reduce usage.

FYI If you  look at the Maxon DMR UHF repeater you  find they  advertise it as a 100% duty  cycle..  Their DMR repeater is two Maxon's 8402A radios.. Additionally, the Maxon 8402A is a wide/narrow band radio.. The Bridgecom repeaters also use the Maxon 8402 Radios, they  too also spec their repeater as 100% duty cycle.   I currently use the Wouxuns KG-1000  radios and i can attest, these radios get extremely hot after 15 minutes of continuous use.. I have a friend who has t Maxon repeater and, i use it all the time and perforce is much better than the Wouuxun repeater...  His radios get warm on continuous use but not HOT..   Just giving real world experience...   

[Wouxun KG-1000G repeater/ Baofeng GM-15PRO.]

i have the KG-1000's set up for a repeater and pretty happy with their performance, I'm making contacts with mobile's 60 miles out.. I'm, setting on a hillside  about 500' overlooking the Indian Wells Valley using a Tram 1182 on 30' mast.  I also cleaned up my mobile Duplexer with my Nano, the factory tune wasn't very good.  i am concerned about the duty cycle on these KG-1000G  radios,  they get very hot after about 15 mins of continuous use.  I plan to use these as mobile's so I actually have two Maxon 8402A radios on order, they create a repeater much like the KG-1000  but better because they are commercial radios and have a 100% duty cycle. They are also a little cheaper then the KG-1000 radios.  If you decide to go with the Maxon's be prepared to wait about 60 days, they are on back order.   I'm also using EchoStaton with a RIGblasger for my ID Controller.  IMO, this is the best way to go for creating an I'D controller on your repeater.  I have mine set up for Voice I.D. with a time and temp stamp.  EchoStation has a lot of flexibility and the software is very cheap, only  $19 bucks.   RIGblaster ties it into the radios via  the Mic ports.   Very easy to set up.   

[Where do you buy your GMRS equipment?]

Amazon has the easier return policy, BuyTwoWayRadios has top notch service and good deals...   Ebay is getting better and now offers free sniping  on most things you  buy there..  If you need some sort of tech support on your  radio gear, i would stick with Buytwowayradios..  Their support is awesome..   

[Why no state issued GMRS call sign license plates?]

in today's scam society, not sure it's a good idea anyway..    One google search  of your license plate call sign  can reveal most everything about you, i.e. your name, where you  live, your phone number etc..  That information in itself is enough for the basic scammer  or even a road rager to begin his dirty work..   No Thanks....  

 

[COR for KG-1000G yet??]

I heard that Wouxun  was coming up with a way to tap into a COR port for a controller input  on their KG1000G transceiver.  Has anyone heard any progress on this yet?  

[What channels, if any, can I communicate on without using my call sign? KG-935G]

If you were Trump, then they would track you down and get you but otherwise, they ain’t gonna waste their time