Request for Info ▪︎ New GMRS Repeater Commissioning in NoVA

[WSIC582]

[Thursday, 7 Aug 2025]

Group,

In recent days I have heard chatter on Blue Mountain '600 and Warrenton '725 re. a new repeater to soon be commissioned.  Purportedly, such repeater will have a significant RF footprint.  Can anyone add more info on this news, particularly:

• What County it will reside in?

• Projected commissioning date?

• Availability:  Public / Private?

• Planned channel?

• Planned PL or DCS code?

• Predicted coverage (rough)?

• Etcetera ... ?

___________ 

Thanks & regards,

Peter | WSIC582 | NWDC

 

[marcspaz]

Hey, Peter!  Great questions.   BTW... if you hear us chatting, you are always welcome to join in!   I appreciate the interest.  We talked about it a little at our last get-together, but just touched on it.  So, I'm happy to give more details.

 

I am a volunteer radio operator with the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES).  I serve on a few teams supporting DHS/FEMA, US Marine Corps Quantico (MCCS/MCM), Loudoun County, Prince William County and the Virginia state EOC in Richmond.  ARES is a nation-wide group attached to the American Radio Radio League.  Our organization has formal MOUs with local, state and federal agencies across the nation. 

 

Our team provides a full spectrum of auxiliary (and on occasion, primary) communications support for the aforementioned agencies.  That would include, but not limited to, voice traffic, independent email services, wireless LAN/WAN both in an affected area and relayed outside the impact zone, video, GPS and signal tracking, and much, much more.  We have had great success in drills and real-world service for more decades than I have been alive, and I am happy to be apart of the organization.

 

These relationships have afforded our teams some special privileges in the radio world.  Hospitals, government agencies, and private business all appreciate the services we provide to the community, and to help us provide the best possible services, these agencies/businesses have allowed our groups to install VHF and UHF repeaters on there buildings, commercial radio towers, and on high-elevation properties.  We even have repeaters and towers installed in national parks for areas known to frequently need our support.

 

I mention all of this because it is relevant to what is happening with the proposed GMRS repeater.  The Prince William County government is allowing us to install a new amateur radio VHF and UHF repeater on a county radio tower.  The intent is to have the amateur radio equipment available to all licensed amateurs, while ensuring priority use for ARES supporting the county, state and federal government.

 

Since we are going to have both a VHF and a UHF antenna, we figured we would gang a GMRS repeater on the UHF antenna, having it support both systems.  I proposed the use of the GMRS repeater to the county under the same assumptions as the amateur radio repeaters... they will be open to all licensed users, with the county and other served agencies traffic taking priority during drills and emergencies, and the county EC agreed.

 

Keep in mind, we are in the early stages of planning.  We need to design the system, acquire hardware, and coordinate frequency use.  What we are planning is subject to change... but the proposed details are as fallows.

• The availability date is currently TBD.  As mentioned, we are still gathering parts and the facility is currently in the end stages of renovations.  We cannot build until construction is complete.
• The tower is in the south-eastern part of Prince William County.  The base of the tower is about 155 feet above average terrain.  The arm the antennas will be on is about 300 feet above ground. 
• We are going to use high-gain folded dipole antennas for all repeaters. 
• We are planning on legal limit for the power output on GMRS (and 100w for the amateur repeaters).
• The channel is TBD, pending coordination.
• This will be a publicly accessible repeater, open to all licensed operators.
  • Again, if the repeater is needed for emergency use, we will terminate public access until the emergency need is over.
  • We hope that amateur gear will be sufficient so local families/residents can use the GMRS repeater in a local communications outage.
• We have not settled on a tone yet, but it will be CTCSS.  
  • We will ask local users to use whatever the primary tone we select for day-to-day use, but we will also have 141.3 for emergency/traveler use.
• The coverage area is theoretical at this point, but below is a projected coverage map showing 99.9% reliability.  As we drop down to 70% reliability, the coverage increases dramatically.

 

[Seapup]

I've been listening to Ed(?) test the repeater over the last 2 weeks. His transmissions are pegging my meter (I'm only 1.5 miles from the repeater ). He published the repeater to the myGMRS database: https://mygmrs.com/repeater/10670