GMRS repeaters

[Guest yooper]

Sorry for all the questions, this is my second question on the gest forum. I have a 20 watt GMRS radio set up at my home I use mostly for scanning the surrounding area. I'm not someone who talks a lot, I like to listen and build antennas for something to do in retirement.

This is my question: GMRS channels 1 through 7 are five watts. Channels 8 through 14 are 0.5 watts, and 15 through 22 are 50 watts max output. Channels 15 through 22 are repeater channels. 

I keep receiving transmissions on channel 4 that show it's a repeater somewhere in my area. The signal is week, 2 bars on the tower reception, I'm thinking it's a ways away. Am I missing something here? Is channel 4 a repeater channel? Is there a unregistered repeater I'm receiving? Is there a city,town, municipality using GMRS?  Sometimes it sounds like some type of government organization using the repeater on channel 4.

Thanks, red neck yooper

[amaff]

1 hour ago, Guest yooper said:

I keep receiving transmissions on channel 4 that show it's a repeater somewhere in my area. The signal is week, 2 bars on the tower reception, I'm thinking it's a ways away. Am I missing something here? Is channel 4 a repeater channel? Is there a unregistered repeater I'm receiving? Is there a city,town, municipality using GMRS?  Sometimes it sounds like some type of government organization using the repeater on channel 4.

 

1. What do you mean it 'shows' that it's a repeater?
2. Municipalities have on occasion stepped on GMRS channels. I think we've had a couple stories of fire departments on here in the last couple years.

But without, just, SO much more info, I'm not sure we can diagnose it for you.

Is Channel 4 a GMRS repeater channel?
No.
Is there much (other than the FCC rules...) stopping someone from setting up a repeater and using it on Channel 4?
Also no.

[TNFrank]

Depending on the radio you have either Channels 23-30 are Repeater Channels OR RPT 15 thru RPT 22 are Repeater Channels. After GMRS 22 the next 8 Channels, no matter how they're labeled are supposed to be the Repeater Channels.  

[AdmiralCochrane]

In the stone age, there were GMRS business licenses. You could be receiving data being transmitted by a grandfathered business licensee.

[WRUE951]

how do you know or what makes you think what you are hearing on ch 4 is a repeater?

[OffRoaderX]

3 hours ago, Guest yooper said:

I keep receiving transmissions on channel 4 that show it's a repeater somewhere in my area.

This is the part that everyone wants an answer to, because it makes zero sense.

[Guest Yooper]

My radio will show a tower in the display screen for repeaters, in simplex transmissions the tower doesn't show on the display screen. I have all the GMRS repeaters in my area programed into my radio, when someone uses the repeater the tower icon pops up on my display screen. The frequency for GMRS channel 4 does not match any frequency for registered repeaters in my area. It appears someone in my area is using channel 4 on a repeater. I have no clue what's going on or why. At times the transmissions sound like a government organization, other times transmissions are personal in nature.

[OffRoaderX]

7 minutes ago, Guest Yooper said:

I have no clue what's going on or why.

There are a couple of possibilities:

• You are very confused about what your radio is doing/how your radio functions
• Your radio is broken

and my guess is that your radio is not broken.

[WRUE951]

1 hour ago, Guest Yooper said:

My radio will show a tower in the display screen for repeaters, in simplex transmissions the tower doesn't show on the display screen. I have all the GMRS repeaters in my area programed into my radio, when someone uses the repeater the tower icon pops up on my display screen. The frequency for GMRS channel 4 does not match any frequency for registered repeaters in my area. It appears someone in my area is using channel 4 on a repeater. I have no clue what's going on or why. At times the transmissions sound like a government organization, other times transmissions are personal in nature.

I think you are confused with display symbols on your radio.  Pull your manual and become familiar with them so you know what they represent.  Unless you are on a trunked system, your radio will have no way to detect presence of a repeater while in idle mode.   GMRS radios do not operate in Trunk.  

[WRHS218]

17 hours ago, Guest yooper said:

I have a 20 watt GMRS radio set up

What radio are you using?

[Guest Repeater owner]

No repeater owner has to "register it" on my GMRS or anywhere else.   THe tower on your radio MAY BE showing it is one of the repeater pairs. MAYBE

[TrikeRadio]

19 hours ago, Guest Repeater owner said:

No repeater owner has to "register it" on my GMRS or anywhere else.   THe tower on your radio MAY BE showing it is one of the repeater pairs. MAYBE

This. Correct, there is no requirement to register a GMRS repeater anywhere.

[SteveShannon]

On 7/20/2025 at 12:59 PM, Guest yooper said:

this is my second question on the gest forum.

My “gess” is there won’t be a third. Did you ever figure out what the tower symbol meant?  What brand and model of radio is it. Someone here can help you figure it out. 

[WSDE760]

The only way a GMRS radio could know if transmission is coming from a repeater, rather than simplex, would be if the radio is programmed to identify that frequency as a repeater.

Some radios might label the channels 23-30 as "repeater 1" through "repeater 8"

See: https://youtu.be/qRs0VExw0Wg?si=BjmVcjBLkTwpx-BQ at approximately mile marker 6. 

 

[amaff]

4 hours ago, WSDE760 said:

The only way a GMRS radio could know if transmission is coming from a repeater, rather than simplex, would be if the radio is programmed to identify that frequency as a repeater.

Some radios might label the channels 23-30 as "repeater 1" through "repeater 8"

See: https://youtu.be/qRs0VExw0Wg?si=BjmVcjBLkTwpx-BQ at approximately mile marker 6. 

 

Even that won't really tell you. You could be on RPT 1 or GMRS 15 and, unless you had Rx tones set, you'd hear it the same on both channels.

[WRYS709]

On 7/20/2025 at 3:27 PM, OffRoaderX said:

This is the part that everyone wants an answer to, because it makes zero sense.

What do you notice about Channel 4 in comparison to Channels 18 and 19, which are also the outputs of Repeater Channels 26 and 27?

In actuality, you are saved by the bell because as of today, there are Zero Cents being made by the US Mint! 

[WRUE951]

2 hours ago, WRYS709 said:

What do you notice about Channel 4 in comparison to Channels 18 and 19, which are also the outputs of Repeater Channels 26 and 27?

In actuality, you are saved by the bell because as of today, there are Zero Cents being made by the US Mint! 

so they are saying the copper in a penny is worth 4.5 cents.. Hmmmmm.  what do you do now..  they are out of circulation.    I have a 5 gallon water bottle full of copper. 

[amaff]

3 hours ago, WRYS709 said:

What do you notice about Channel 4 in comparison to Channels 18 and 19, which are also the outputs of Repeater Channels 26 and 27?

In actuality, you are saved by the bell because as of today, there are Zero Cents being made by the US Mint! 

It's not exactly secret knowledge that the channels are all interleaved like that...I'm not sure what your point is here. Even on my cheapest radio I don't get bleed-over between those frequency steps.

[SteveShannon]

2 hours ago, WRUE951 said:

so they are saying the copper in a penny is worth 4.5 cents.. Hmmmmm.  what do you do now..  they are out of circulation.    I have a 5 gallon water bottle full of copper. 

No, that’s not what they’re saying. They said it costs 3.69¢ to produce a penny, which also include distribution.  
 

Since 1982, the amount of copper in a penny is only 2.5% of the weight of the coin. The weight of a penny is 0.088 oz.  97% of a penny is zinc and it’s prohibited by U.S. law to melt pennies or any other U.S. Mint produced coins anyway. 
 

In the pedantic spirit of completeness, at today’s copper price of 32¢/oz, the copper in a penny is worth 2.5% * 32¢ * 0.088 oz/penny or 0.0704 cents/penny. 
Aren’t you glad you asked?

 

[WSDE760]

14 hours ago, amaff said:

Even that won't really tell you. You could be on RPT 1 or GMRS 15 and, unless you had Rx tones set, you'd hear it the same on both channels.

Certainly, my point is simply that one might might get confused if the radio is programmed to display a repeater icon when it receives a transmission on a repeater output frequency, such as 462.625, and also is programmed to display a name such as "R-4".  

[WRYS709]

5 hours ago, amaff said:

It's not exactly secret knowledge that the channels are all interleaved like that...I'm not sure what your point is here. Even on my cheapest radio I don't get bleed-over between those frequency steps.

But it might have been secret knowledge to the OP, even after Randy "snarked" him!

I could also say: I am not sure what your point is, considering we don't know how crappy your "cheapest radio" is!? Nor anecdotally how close to the repeater your crappiest radio was compared to the OP's experience.

[SteveShannon]

42 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

But it might have been secret knowledge to the OP, even after Randy "snarked" him!

I could also say: I am not sure what your point is, considering we don't know how crappy your "cheapest radio" is!? Nor anecdotally how close to the repeater your crappiest radio was compared to the OP's experience.

Secret ≠ unknown. 

[WRUE951]

5 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

No, that’s not what they’re saying. They said it costs 3.69¢ to produce a penny, which also include distribution.  
 

Since 1982, the amount of copper in a penny is only 2.5% of the weight of the coin. The weight of a penny is 0.088 oz.  97% of a penny is zinc and it’s prohibited by U.S. law to melt pennies or any other U.S. Mint produced coins anyway. 
 

In the pedantic spirit of completeness, at today’s copper price of 32¢/oz, the copper in a penny is worth 2.5% * 32¢ * 0.088 oz/penny or 0.0704 cents/penny. 
Aren’t you glad you asked?

 

i was just more curious.  Lazy me will probably take another few years to get up the steam to take them in for a cash out..  Will they still accept them?   BTW,,  you missed the cost to melt down the copper.   

[Davichko5650]

42 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

i  Will they still accept them?   BTW,,  you missed the cost to melt down the copper.   

Still legal tender. Next target the nickel?  said to cost $0.14 to produce per unit.

[AdmiralCochrane]

15 minutes ago, Davichko5650 said:

Still legal tender. Next target the nickel?  said to cost $0.14 to produce per unit.

No, the next target is paper currency.  All the better to track you in everything you do ...

 

Anyone ever think of where the phrase "not one red cent" came from?  Copper isn't red, it is orange-ish.  Calling them "red" cents came from when Congress debased the copper penny long ago and sharp eyes noticed the color change.