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.
As in Mike's quote, you'll need a tone (CTCSS tone or DCS code) to open the repeater. The reason for the tone is to prevent unwanted noise on frequency from activating the repeater. The tones / codes are listed in the mygmrs.com repeater database (more below). Also be sure you're transmitting into the "repeater input" frequency, more on this after the CTCSS / DCS comment:
About the CTCSS tones:
If you're using the repeater database here on mygmrs.com ( https://www.mygmrs.com/repeaters) , you'll need to do a conversion between "the number used by Midland" and the actual "CTCSS tone in Hertz". The conversion is found in the Midland owners manual on page 28:
Link to Midland Owners Manual search: https://midlandusa.com/pages/owners-manuals
direct link (may not work after some time): https://cdn.accentuate.io/81031332017/1623709894082/MXT275-Owners-Manual-11-16-20.pdf?v=0
About the DCS tones:
From a radio operator perspective, DCS configuration is similar to CTCSS configuration, select the proper DCS number/setting as listed in the repeater database; select the proper input frequency (or in Midland configuration the proper RPTxx channel) and you should be on the air.
In implementation, CTCSS is actually a tone in Hertz, where DCS is a digital ones and zeros string coming out of the transmitter. For the radio operator, each implementation yields similar results, the repeater is able to reject unwanted transmissions (noise) and transmitting with the proper code allows the radio operator to open the repeater to repeat the transmitted input signal of the radio operator.
About the input frequency:
Also be sure the input frequency is properly set. Nearly all repeaters have an input frequency which is different from the listen frequency. For GMRS +5 MHz higher than the listen frequency would be the standard. In the above manual links, this would be page 27, table "GMRS Repeater Channels".
The column labeled "TX Freq. (MHz)" would be the "input frequency" of the repeater. Repeaters are usually listed by which frequency we hear them on, which would be the "output frequency" of the repeater. In the midland example on page 27, a repeater listed as 462.5500Mhz would have an input frequency of 467.5500Mhz and would be on 15RP in the Midland MXT275 radio. (see above links and owners manual for the MXT275, pg 27).
Notes from Midland GMRS Repeater Channels table:
Ch. Number TX Freq. (MHz) RX Freq. MHz)
15RP 467.5500 462.5500
After configuring the proper CTCSS tone (or DCS code) and transmit input frequency into your radio, you should be able to transmit and receive on the local repeater.
Hope that helps, looking forward to hearing your success story when you get your radio working with the local repeater!
If you want to talk to other GMRS users and be sure your radio is working, talking on one of the GMRS nets is a good way to find out.
Net directory for GMRS: https://www.mygmrs.com/nets
*date of post: 2022-10-25 // later readers may see reference links out of date.
