Member fees?? Dead repeaters??

[WRYF300]

Wow are the repeaters empty since you have to pay member fees on some

Indy600 is dead. I understand why there is fees but...  Thoughts?

[WRZK526]

I found that most repeaters are not used all that much even if they are open without fees. I assume the ones with fees want to limit users to select people. 

[gortex2]

The issue with this site and others is many folks add repeaters who may or may not ever install them, then if they do they find out it doesn't do what the www told them and they loose interest and leave and its gone. However with that said there are many repeaters out there that dont get used or get used very radomly. Ones that charge fees may charge for a reason, one may be to pay tower rent, power bill or something similar. While not a fan of fees I can see where it would help offset a users cost to maintain a proper repeater setup for other to use. 

[WRUE951]

I never could figure out why someone would spend thousands of dollars putting up dozens of GMRS repeaters, charge a fee that attracts very few on a service meant for family and friends.  But at the end of the day, there is nothing that says you can't..  There are no fee based repeaters in my area.  One repeater owner here  has multiple repeaters on an awesome mountain top that can almost  reach God.  He is on BLM property on a nice tower and operates an impressive communications business.  Pretty sure he writes off the GMRS and HAM portion as a community service.  I'll bet ya he does a lot better taking advantage of tax laws than he would at charing an access fee that few would pay.   If I were in his shoes I would be dong the same. 

[tcp2525]

57 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

I never could figure out why someone would spend thousands of dollars putting up dozens of GMRS repeaters, charge a fee that attracts very few on a service meant for family and friends.

The simple answer is because they can. They real answer is they simply want to put up hardware that will only broadcast into an empty room and take up air space so they can brag about their equipment. Now for the reality, it is totally and utterly foolish and breaks every terrestrial and celestial boundary of human stupidity to do so. GMRS was designed to be free and enjoyed by all. 

[WRZK526]

3 hours ago, gortex2 said:

The issue with this site and others is many folks add repeaters who may or may not ever install them, then if they do they find out it doesn't do what the www told them and they loose interest and leave and its gone. However with that said there are many repeaters out there that dont get used or get used very radomly. Ones that charge fees may charge for a reason, one may be to pay tower rent, power bill or something similar. While not a fan of fees I can see where it would help offset a users cost to maintain a proper repeater setup for other to use. 

If I knew of a repeater that would be of use to me I would pay the fee to keep it up and running. Fortunately there are several around me that are open to everyone. 

[GreggInFL]

1 hour ago, tcp2525 said:

...it is totally and utterly foolish and breaks every terrestrial and celestial boundary of human stupidity to do so.

LOL. I gotta write that down.

[WRUE951]

1 hour ago, tcp2525 said:

The simple answer is because they can. They real answer is they simply want to put up hardware that will only broadcast into an empty room and take up air space so they can brag about their equipment. Now for the reality, it is totally and utterly foolish and breaks every terrestrial and celestial boundary of human stupidity to do so. GMRS was designed to be free and enjoyed by all. 

yea,,  kinda of where I'm from..  

 

[WSLH454]

7 hours ago, WRUE951 said:

I never could figure out why someone would spend thousands of dollars putting up dozens of GMRS repeaters, charge a fee that attracts very few on a service meant for family and friends.  But at the end of the day, there is nothing that says you can't..  There are no fee based repeaters in my area.  One repeater owner here  has multiple repeaters on an awesome mountain top that can almost  reach God.  He is on BLM property on a nice tower and operates an impressive communications business.  Pretty sure he writes off the GMRS and HAM portion as a community service.  I'll bet ya he does a lot better taking advantage of tax laws than he would at charing an access fee that few would pay.   If I were in his shoes I would be dong the same. 

Well I might have it worse here lol. 17 repeaters in our metro area which is about a 40 mile circle. Six are paid, Three say permission and two of those are actually paid, eight open repeaters, and five of those cover 10 miles or less. So basically there's 8 good coverage repeaters thru a local GMRS group, and the cost is $31 a year to use their repeaters. The two open ones that cover 98% of the area don't quite hit the outer areas on the map. I've ordered two antennas hoping I can get a better lock on the only repeater that will work for me. If I drive 5-10 miles east I would lose it also lol. I'd gladly donate a few $$ to the open repeaters, if I was able to hit them and use them. Sorry I'm not wanting to join someone's club at 67 years old lol. I'm guessing most all the GMRS repeaters around me are on towers owned by ham guys

[tcp2525]

1 hour ago, WSLH454 said:

Well I might have it worse here lol. 17 repeaters in our metro area which is about a 40 mile circle. Six are paid, Three say permission and two of those are actually paid, eight open repeaters, and five of those cover 10 miles or less. So basically there's 8 good coverage repeaters thru a local GMRS group, and the cost is $31 a year to use their repeaters. The two open ones that cover 98% of the area don't quite hit the outer areas on the map. I've ordered two antennas hoping I can get a better lock on the only repeater that will work for me. If I drive 5-10 miles east I would lose it also lol. I'd gladly donate a few $$ to the open repeaters, if I was able to hit them and use them. Sorry I'm not wanting to join someone's club at 67 years old lol. I'm guessing most all the GMRS repeaters around me are on towers owned by ham guys

One should keep in mind if they want to travel down that rabbit hole of stupidly paying "club" fees you are still not guaranteed to have full use of it for a year. Just like most other "clubs" you will be subject to the cliques politics or you might unintentionally hurt another "club" member's fragile feelings and get banned prematurely. Best to use a free and open repeater and be friendly and respectful with the members. And if it works out for you there's nothing wrong with making a financial donation or expertise to help the owner maintain the repeater.     

[WRUE951]

29 minutes ago, tcp2525 said:

One should keep in mind if they want to travel down that rabbit hole of stupidly paying "club" fees you are still not guaranteed to have full use of it for a year. Just like most other "clubs" you will be subject to the cliques politics or you might unintentionally hurt another "club" member's fragile feelings and get banned prematurely. Best to use a free and open repeater and be friendly and respectful with the members. And if it works out for you there's nothing wrong with making a financial donation or expertise to help the owner maintain the repeater.     

I'll never pay to use a GMRS repeater.  I was a member for of WIN Systems for one year. That was kind of cool, their network spans pretty much nationwide and it was fun connecting to friends back east and northern Califailure.    Been thinking of signing back up with them..   At least you get something for your buck with that radio network. 

[WRZK526]

I know there is a cost to owning and operating a repeater and have been enjoying the use of a couple of them. They are open with no fees but I would be more than happy to help out a bit. I like to think I am the kind of guy that pays his own way especially when I am not asked. Might try and think this through.

[TerriKennedy]

On 2/7/2026 at 7:22 PM, WRZK526 said:

I know there is a cost to owning and operating a repeater and have been enjoying the use of a couple of them. They are open with no fees but I would be more than happy to help out a bit. I like to think I am the kind of guy that pays his own way especially when I am not asked. Might try and think this through.

I'm currently negotiating to put an antenna on the roof of an 800' AGL building here (and the ground it's on is the highest elevation for miles). Right now I am using a stick antenna on my house roof for my rather basic 50W repeater.

Between recurring roof rights, tower installer, DB-420B antenna, Motorola repeater with network control, duplexer, and various remote control equipment this is likely going to be a minimum of $10,000 to start and $2K+/year to continue.

At that point I'll be requesting optional donations to help defray expenses, either as a one-time thing or recurring, depending on the donor's wishes. Everybody will have equal access to the repeater, donation or not. If the roof deal goes through, on the new repeater each user will get a unique code for access, just to keep random people off it. I haven't ever denied an access request and doubt I will. The only reason it's by request is so I have a list of users I can notify when major changes happen (like the above roof deal).

Based on other experience with fundraising for various other non-profit projects, I expect I'll be lucky to end up with $1000. It's more moral support, knowing that some people value something I do enough to contribute what they can, even if it's just a one-time $10.

[WRZK526]

52 minutes ago, TerriKennedy said:

I'm currently negotiating to put an antenna on the roof of an 800' AGL building here (and the ground it's on is the highest elevation for miles). Right now I am using a stick antenna on the roof for my rather basic 50W repeater.

Between recurring roof rights, tower installer, DB-420B antenna, Motorola repeater with network control, duplexer, and various remote control equipment this is likely going to be a minimum of $10,000 to start and $2K+/year to continue.

At that point I'll be requesting optional donations to help defray expenses, either as a one-time thing or recurring, depending on the donor's wishes. Everybody will have equal access to the repeater, donation or not. If the roof deal goes through, on the new repeater each user will get a unique code for access, just to keep random people off it. I haven't ever denied an access request and doubt I will. The only reason it's by request is so I have a list of users I can notify when major changes happen (like the above roof deal).

Based on other experience with fundraising for various other non-profit projects, I expect I'll be lucky to end up with $1000. It's more moral support, knowing that some people value something I do enough to contribute what they can, even if it's just a one-time $10.

I hope you get some help from people that understand that there are costs to operate a repeater. And as it is your property you have every right to ask for some help running it, otherwise the people just don't have to use it. 

[Lscott]

21 hours ago, TerriKennedy said:

At that point I'll be requesting optional donations to help defray expenses, either as a one-time thing or recurring, depending on the donor's wishes.

I wish you luck with that. People are always happy to use a system for free. However when money gets involved people get real stingy. Particularly for a resource someone rarely uses. You'll likely get some donations, but don't expect much. 

[tcp2525]

4 hours ago, Lscott said:

I wish you luck with that. People are always happy to use a system for free. However when money gets involved people get real stingy. Particularly for a resource someone rarely uses. You'll likely get some donations, but don't expect much. 

True, but it's how the owner tables the ask. If he's polite and not overly aggressive he will get a nice donation. Piss me off and you won't get another cent from me. One local repeater owner found this out the hard way. 

[WRZV602]

On 2/7/2026 at 9:54 AM, WRZK526 said:

If I knew of a repeater that would be of use to me I would pay the fee to keep it up and running. Fortunately there are several around me that are open to everyone. 

I own a repeater in the Cleveland Ohio area and it is an open very wide area repeater with no fees charged, but I do accept donations for maintaining and improving the repeater, so check with your local repeater owner and ask if you can donate. 

http://www.parma575.online

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 03:05 AM by WRZV602
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