GMRS repeater plausability

[Guest blackdog-1]

So I have been a long time CB user and wanting to get into GMRS, I have been screwing around with the channels but the nearest repeater that I can find listed anywhere anyway is 100 miles out. 

I am a cybersecurity guy wifi radio nerd and build my own stuff. Everything from keyboards to microcontroller projects to AI servers. So I have the ability to figure it out I am sure.. 

So my question isn't technical so to speak but rather:

 

1. What does a price range look like?

 

2. What does maintenance look like? 

 

3. For those of you that own/manage repeaters, what are the realistic headaches involved? 

[Jaay]

52 minutes ago, Guest blackdog-1 said:

So I have been a long time CB user and wanting to get into GMRS, I have been screwing around with the channels but the nearest repeater that I can find listed anywhere anyway is 100 miles out. 

I am a cybersecurity guy wifi radio nerd and build my own stuff. Everything from keyboards to microcontroller projects to AI servers. So I have the ability to figure it out I am sure.. 

So my question isn't technical so to speak but rather:

 

1. What does a price range look like?

 

2. What does maintenance look like? 

 

3. For those of you that own/manage repeaters, what are the realistic headaches involved? 

What is your Reason for wanting a Repeater ? ARE you Sure the closest Gmrs repeater is that far away ? Try Searching 462.550-462.725 with carrier squelch, and Note what you hear. Many Gmrs repeaters are Not listed on Mygmrs.com and might be small private groups with a small footprint. Your Own repeater could be as cheap as $500 or &1500 -3K if you really want to do it Right. Are you going to install your Own tower, or Rent tower space? IS there even a tower available ? Who's going to climb it ? Do they Know what their doing? Lots of thing to think about, isn't there ? Good Luck ! 

[SteveShannon]

4 hours ago, Guest blackdog-1 said:

So I have been a long time CB user and wanting to get into GMRS, I have been screwing around with the channels but the nearest repeater that I can find listed anywhere anyway is 100 miles out. 

I am a cybersecurity guy wifi radio nerd and build my own stuff. Everything from keyboards to microcontroller projects to AI servers. So I have the ability to figure it out I am sure.. 

So my question isn't technical so to speak but rather:

 

1. What does a price range look like?

 

2. What does maintenance look like? 

 

3. For those of you that own/manage repeaters, what are the realistic headaches involved? 

Start by reading this thread: https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/1402-you-just-got-your-gmrs-license-now-you-want-your-own-repeater/#comment-11353

[WSAQ296]

Couple of things.  Height. You'll want it.  Users, you'll need them.  
40 foot above average terrain will get you 6 to 10 miles out, depending on terrain and users radios. You can use the fcc sight (now that it's back up hopefully?) to search on GMRS license by zip code. Or get a premium membership here and pull a list for your whole state and sort the pdf.  See how many licensed users are in the area you might cover. 
Here in south central Michigan, we've got a plethera of local GMRS repeaters, and a few powerhouse repeaters. They serve their communities well, if needed, but are fairly quiet most times. For me it was certainly more of a curiosity than a neccesity, but the repeaters all serve a purpose when needed.  Mine ideally was put up to allow coverage on the section of the Grand River near me, where cell coverage often lacks due to terrain.  Now, hopefully some day, others will find that need LOL.  

[WRUE951]

1. What does a price range look like?

if you want a decent repeater expect to spend $2500-3k. and defiantly read Steve Shannons repost.   You can spend a lot more depending how your start out.  A lot of folks waste money by trial and error starting with garbage then learning they should have went with a goo commercial repeater in the first place..  This is why I highly recommend pursing a good commercial repeater radio, (Motorola, Kenwood, Hytera)  many can be found on Ebay..  And defiantly get a good quality Duplexer.    

2. What does maintenance look like? 

A good controller or many of the commercial radios will have at least a CW controller built in.  Also a remote controller to shut down the radio when you get jerks playing games.  Other than that, there really is no maintenace as long as you've did a good antenna install and follow al the basic necessities.  

 

3. For those of you that own/manage repeaters, what are the realistic headaches involved?  

The only headache I have is dealing with local jerks that like to 'jam' and play games with sound toys..  Monitoring can be an issue, especially if you travel out of town etc.  You will want to recruit at least one or a few people you trust hading them control operation. I have my repeater set up so I can montor traffic and control it via an HTML link.  My particular repeater has these functions built into it and it has come in very handy when I travel out of town.   

[LeoG]

If you are setting up a "real" repeater.  You will be spending $10K or more if buying new.  $1500-3000 for the repeater and duplexer.  $600+ for coax, $5K for a tower plus the concrete base, grounding etc that comes along with it.  It'll nickel and dime you as you build it.  If you can get away without a tower then you might be able to do it for around $4K.  If you get space on an existing tower it's likely you'll have a rent bill coming in each and every month along with stipulations that they do all the work on your antenna system which will of course be at top dollar.

Once it's up there maintenance should be minimal if you did a good job choosing a quality antenna and made sure the weatherproofing is up to snuff.  Things like wind and lightning are the unpredictables and can cause major maintenance issues.

[WSAQ296]

10 minutes ago, LeoG said:

If you are setting up a "real" repeater.  You will be spending $10K or more if buying new.  $1500-3000 for the repeater and duplexer.  $600+ for coax, $5K for a tower plus the concrete base, grounding etc that comes along with it.  It'll nickel and dime you as you build it.  If you can get away without a tower then you might be able to do it for around $4K.  If you get space on an existing tower it's likely you'll have a rent bill coming in each and every month along with stipulations that they do all the work on your antenna system which will of course be at top dollar.

Once it's up there maintenance should be minimal if you did a good job choosing a quality antenna and made sure the weatherproofing is up to snuff.  Things like wind and lightning are the unpredictables and can cause major maintenance issues.

And then there's the hobbiest that keeps his eyes open for opportunities.  I was given 3 MTR2000's by a property owner that discovered them in his mechanical space, best we could tell, part of a system discontinued 10+ years ago.  No owner/tenant for them now.  Traded one for a good duplexer, no flat pack stuff.  DB-411 antenna for 100 bucks from a commercial shop that had upgraded someone, another 100 for a 40 foot telescoping mast.  The MTR's even came with 4 foot of racking to mount it all in.  Short run of antenna cable and poof.  Oh, repurposed a raspberry pi, 10 bucks for some db-25 connectors and 90 bucks for a controller interface for the mtr200.  Really pretty cheap for mine.  Was good, since it's rarely used. (I live very rurally). 
But it was fun!   Now, if I hadn't hoarded equipment first it might have been cheap, but I still have a VXR-7000, a moto 1225 repeater set, and a few flat pack duplexers.  I'll wait for the right person to come along, if I sell/give it to the wrong person they become a pain in my side. 

[WRUE951]

1 hour ago, LeoG said:

If you are setting up a "real" repeater.  You will be spending $10K or more if buying new.  $1500-3000 for the repeater and duplexer.  $600+ for coax, $5K for a tower plus the concrete base, grounding etc that comes along with it.  It'll nickel and dime you as you build it.  If you can get away without a tower then you might be able to do it for around $4K.  If you get space on an existing tower it's likely you'll have a rent bill coming in each and every month along with stipulations that they do all the work on your antenna system which will of course be at top dollar.

Once it's up there maintenance should be minimal if you did a good job choosing a quality antenna and made sure the weatherproofing is up to snuff.  Things like wind and lightning are the unpredictables and can cause major maintenance issues.

I know a couple of guys that have the setup up you point out.  100' tower on a 4000' mountain peek with back up generators and all the remote goodies..  They spent a lot of money for their setup in infrastructre and real estate years ago and  did it to run their commercial communications business.  Luckily they were blessed with all this and decided to stick in a couple 2K GMRS repeaters.   My point here, most GMRS hobbyists are not going spend 10K + for a GMRS repeater infrustrutre , unless of course they have figured out a way to make money and hide from the FCC doing it.  If you can ride the 'coat tails' in that type of infrastructure that's great but most can't.  Im into my setup at my home, with a decent commercial radio, antenna and duplexer  for under $2500. Good used equipment and a little splurge on an antenna.    Now I won't talk about the money I wasted getting there playing with home brew mobile repeaters.  That's was a huge waste.  

[dosw]

9 hours ago, WRUE951 said:

I know a couple of guys that have the setup up you point out.  100' tower on a 4000' mountain peek with back up generators and all the remote goodies..  They spent a lot of money for their setup in infrastructre and real estate years ago and  did it to run their commercial communications business.  Luckily they were blessed with all this and decided to stick in a couple 2K GMRS repeaters.   My point here, most GMRS hobbyists are not going spend 10K + for a GMRS repeater infrustrutre , unless of course they have figured out a way to make money and hide from the FCC doing it.  If you can ride the 'coat tails' in that type of infrastructure that's great but most can't.  Im into my setup at my home, with a decent commercial radio, antenna and duplexer  for under $2500. Good used equipment and a little splurge on an antenna.    Now I won't talk about the money I wasted getting there playing with home brew mobile repeaters.  That's was a huge waste.  

One thing I've wondered (just in passing, to me it really doesn't matter): Are the quality repeater setups using type approved GMRS equipment? 

[OffRoaderX]

6 minutes ago, dosw said:

are the quality repeater setups using type approved GMRS equipment? 

No.. They are UHF repeaters, not type-approved for GMRS.

[WRUE951]

12 hours ago, dosw said:

One thing I've wondered (just in passing, to me it really doesn't matter): Are the quality repeater setups using type approved GMRS equipment? 

Pretty sure you gonna get the same answer from 95% of the GMRS repeater operators out there.  

[amaff]

18 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

Pretty sure you gonna get the same answer from 95% of the GMRS repeater operators out there.  

I'm pretty sure even that is a conservative number haha

[Lscott]

23 hours ago, WSAQ296 said:

I'll wait for the right person to come along, if I sell/give it to the wrong person they become a pain in my side. 

Yup, then they'll look to you for help to design, build, install and help maintain it! I know a guy right now who has a Ham UHF repeater. He's too cheap to buy a quality Bird wattmeter to monitor the system and use it for checking the match on the antenna. I saw several at the Dayton Hamvention last year for a decent price.

He said they were "too expensive" and wasn't sure they fit his requirements. He might spend money on some new hard-line, and a better antenna, but not for test gear. 

[WRUE951]

23 hours ago, amaff said:

I'm pretty sure even that is a conservative number haha

your probably right.   I know a dozen GMRS repeater operators.  Most of them have Kenwood's, couple with Motorola’s,  couple with Hytera's.    My portable camping repeaters is Maxon, those radios are suppose to be compliant.  

[OffRoaderX]

2 hours ago, WRUE951 said:

those radios are suppose to be compliant.  

None of those repeaters are FCC Part 95 Compliant.

[WRUE951]

56 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

None of those repeaters are FCC Part 95 Compliant.

of course I was referring to the Maxon radio which is the same radios Bridgecomm uses in their Part 95 compliant GMRS repeater.  .  

[OffRoaderX]

10 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

of course I was referring to the Maxon radio which is the same radios Bridgecomm uses in their Part 95 compliant GMRS repeater.  .  

After re-reading your post and actually paying attention this time, I can now see the err of my ways.

[WRUE951]

6 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

After re-reading your post and actually paying attention this time, I can now see the err of my ways.

there are some Kenwood's real UHF repeaters i.e. the TK850 Part 95 compliant.   Motorola has a few as well.  Repearer Builder has a list of these.