You just got your GMRS license, now you want your own repeater?

[gortex2]

How about just email the other repeater club and see what membership cost. I guess i still don't get the deal. You just got your license a week ago yet want other users in the area to not be mad when you install a repeater on the same channels they use. IF there stuff is up and on the air then why would you try to put another on the air on the same channels 

[gman1971]

Well, you could start a family business, like a food delivery service, or a mowing/landscaping company, etc. And for such business you need a radio link between the trucks and the base... etc. There are ways to make it happen.

 

How far does your current repeater setup reach in simplex, base to portable, and base to mobile?

 

G.

 

Ok. Let me define semi private. The area we are in is typically a pl code of 141.3. So the public repeaters would be on that pl. The semi private ones would be a dpl that would be shared if someone ask with the understanding that the public repeaters be used first so the liading on the semi private units would stay quiet until the system loading required them to be used. By others.

As far as expense. Yes, none of this stuff is cheap. But if equipment is no longer supported or broken many commercial entities will request equipment be replaced due to their need for very stable systems and upgrades from analog to DMR. And of course the dreaded XPR 8300 repeaters that would burn up with the slightest provocation. And those are NOT factory repairable any more. If you ship one to the factory for repair it will be sent back untouched. Can they be fixed. Yes. But you need some specialized gear to get it done successfully. I have a stack of them that were dumpster bound and parts to facilitate the repairs. The rest of it is all cast offs, site clean outs of abandoned equipment and ham fest purchases. Someone mentioned a licensed LMR freq. I have considered that. But there are two issues with it. First is those are suppose to be for business use. Second is cost. And as funny as this sounds, the 500 bucks for the repeater pair would be more than I have invested in ALL the gear for a single repeater duplexer and antenna system.

I am going the route of gmrs because I can throw radios in the family vehicles and hand everyone a portable and be able to maintain communications without everyone needing a ham license and it not cost me for a frequency that the fcc will most likely not issue anyway

[SUPERG900]

Ok. Let me define semi private. The area we are in is typically a pl code of 141.3. So the public repeaters would be on that pl. The semi private ones would be a dpl that would be shared if someone ask with the understanding that the public repeaters be used first so the liading on the semi private units would stay quiet until the system loading required them to be used. By others.

 

As far as expense. Yes, none of this stuff is cheap. But if equipment is no longer supported or broken many commercial entities will request equipment be replaced due to their need for very stable systems and upgrades from analog to DMR. And of course the dreaded XPR 8300 repeaters that would burn up with the slightest provocation. And those are NOT factory repairable any more. If you ship one to the factory for repair it will be sent back untouched. Can they be fixed. Yes. But you need some specialized gear to get it done successfully. I have a stack of them that were dumpster bound and parts to facilitate the repairs. The rest of it is all cast offs, site clean outs of abandoned equipment and ham fest purchases. Someone mentioned a licensed LMR freq. I have considered that. But there are two issues with it. First is those are suppose to be for business use. Second is cost. And as funny as this sounds, the 500 bucks for the repeater pair would be more than I have invested in ALL the gear for a single repeater duplexer and antenna system.

 

I am going the route of gmrs because I can throw radios in the family vehicles and hand everyone a portable and be able to maintain communications without everyone needing a ham license and it not cost me for a frequency that the fcc will most likely not issue anyway

 

What you're describing is pretty much how the repeater owners in New Mexico have done it over here. 

 

There is one group of repeaters connected to the MyGMRS network, and a smaller group of repeaters that are networked locally. The smaller group can handle local Albuquerque calls if the myGMRS network is too busy to use.

[DONE]

 

 

How far does your current repeater setup reach in simplex, base to portable, and base to mobile?

 

G.

Best to grab a map of Ohio.

Find Johnstown. It is North East of Columbus between Columbus and Mt Vernon.  That is the RF site.

Now, looking west of columbus on I-70 you will see St Rt 42 cross I-70.  It gets noisy there on a mobile back to the repeater.

Now looking North from Johnstown.  The last of the solid signal goes into Marysville, and a little burg called Beliview.  Or Bellville.. it's north on St Rt 13 north of Mt Vernon. 

East, find Zanesville.  It's good to there, starts getting noisy past that.

 

Lastly is South,,,, we are currently limited to the south due to a 12 foot wide 15 foot tall Microwave horn being to the South of the antenna on the tower.

It talks as far as the Northern edge of Lancaster.  Lancaster is further limited by geography.  But it doesn't even hill top real well down there. 

 

North East and West we get about 50 miles.  And yes we are running legal power limits, mobile radio is an XPR with a Unity gain antenna (cheap Motorola NMO mount wire antenna)

Repeater is a 40 watt MTR2K with a Cellwave duplexer and a DB420 at 230 feet

Pretty standard stuff. 

 

Truth is that the site is almost too good for a FB2 commercial shared frequency.  Even power and height limited, the site talks for miles.  We have talked to ham repeaters that are VHF, using a DB404 (yes a UHF antenna) in Cleveland, Findlay, Dayton and Cincinnati that is mounted at 110 foot on the North face of the tower.  And we did verify that the repeaters we were talking on were in those locations.  Granted, they were on tall towers as well (taller than ours) But the path loss still would have been pretty high... And we were using some Icom or Kenwood ham radio, 50 ish watts out.  Nothing crazy like running a 250 watt amp.

[DONE]

OK, so lets bring something else into the mix.

And I am not saying I want to do this necessarily, but it interests me.

I saw the stuff about linking, and found that there are NO repeaters in Ohio that are linked machines.

While I think I know what is going on with linking, I probably only understand half of it. 

 

Is there a document that explains the specifics of this?

Are the links nailed up or are they user / repeater owner controllable?

Is this a good option for a large coverage repeater or is it preferred for smaller coverage footprints?

Thought process is this.  We have had discussions internally (me and tower owner) and with a group of guys in Mt Vernon and Newark.

As mentioned, I have a 4 port combiner that is technically 8 ports.  The plan was to use 4 ports for GMRS and 4 ports for ham repeaters.  The 4 ham would be a basic conventional, a DMR-MARC, a P-25 and probably a second DMR machine that would have both Talk paths as local only and have the other Linked repeater with BOTH paths as wide area or some combination of the two.  The idea being if the wide area is in use on a specific TG then another machine would allow additional conversations on other TG's.  The current systems all have the same TG's routed to them,,, so if one is active they all are typically. 

 

So the other 4 ports being GMRS, means it would just make sense to put up 4 GMRS repeaters,  And the two main line public machines,,, one might get linked to the Midwest system.

Would be interested in having discussions with whoever on this and getting some information.

[gman1971]

With what you have, then I would definitively get an LMR license. Even if the LMR license costs more than your antenna repeater combo.

 

Also, I strongly advise against starting a pissing match with another GMRS operator, to see who stomps the other one, b/c nothing good ever comes out of pissing matches. Its not worth the hassle, or the time. I much rather pay for a LMR license, run all my gear on AES256 w/ RAS, than having to deal with angry GMRS repeater owners/users over open FM.

 

G.

[DONE]

Well, it seems that I may have not done my research before asking the question.

The person in question and his network of 20 some repeaters may just be a pipe dream.

Although registered on here. He has never posted.  There have been others that have posted pertaining to his system and they have never heard it on the air.

So he may be running something out of his garage or something or it may have been a pipe dream that never came to be.

 

I am gonna move forward and will be on the air by the end of next week on .575 .625 .675 .725 (725 is currently on the air under the call sign of the tower owner and will remain there)

For those in Central Ohio,,, .575 and .625 will be the two fully open repeaters with 141.3 PL.  the repeater at .675 will be the roll over for those two and will have a 103.5 PL.

 

As far as cost,,,, we already own the tower.  So the electric bill, taxes, tower light (yep over 200 feet, gotta have it) and the like are already expenses.

Not sure how this will effect the electric bill running the three aditional repeaters and the receive multicoupler.  But I am not real concerned.

Spring time will see a solar and wind charging system feeding the grid tied battery plant we already have, so that will address the better part of the electric bill I am hoping.

 

Our belief since the purchase or the monster is we have it, we need to use it and let others enjoy it as well.

 

https://flic.kr/p/2hLJtx7

[gortex2]

As reference just because a user has never posted on the forum does not mean he does not exist. I had my repeater listed on the site before using the forum. 

[Radioguy7268]

A 4 port combiner technically has 4 ports. How you get 8 'technical inputs' from a 4 port combiner confuses me. Please post a part number, picture or description that explains the 4 port/8 input combiner reference. The only way that makes sense to me is if you're planning on 4 DMR repeaters - which we know isn't legal for GMRS.

 

You're usually going to see much more than a 3dB loss in a 4 frequency combiner system. The lowest loss combiners that I'm aware of are the TX/RX T-pass racks, but their lowest loss ratings are when you're combining frequencies that are spaced more than 1 MHz apart. Combining tight frequency spacings like GMRS repeater transmit pairs onto a single transmit antenna would lead to very high losses - and would likely require something like a "hybrid" combiner - with losses more on the order of 8+ dB per channel. I've seen 4 cavity ferrite/hybrid combiners that required 100 watt repeaters just to get a 10 watt output up the coax leading to the antenna. Those setups were nice if you had a cold mountaintop site to heat up, but played hell on the air conditioning requirements for a cinder block shack in the summer time.

[Photoman5000]

No, not wanting to put two repeaters up on same frequency. Wanting to put up 4 repeaters on 4 different pairs. Two being semi-private, the other two being free full access.

I do love that ya'll have taken and classified the CCR's and even given them an abbreviation.

And for clarification, when I say transmit combiner, think duplexer that allows 4 repeaters to transmit on one antenna.

And the repeaters I have are MTR's , XPR's and Kenwoods. So no junk.

 

So my issue is this. I don't want to interfere with anyone purposely. BUT, If I want to put up a repeater, or several and a person has taken ALL the pairs up with pay repeaters (didn't realize that you could do that on GMRS) I am not really concerned that I am going to interfere with his pay units if I am putting up FREE access units. But I am curious about what others are going to think about all that.

Keep in mind that we did have a group find the current repeater that the site owner put up and were using it. And they contacted us. We explained that it was a sort of private machine, but we were in process of putting up public machines, and I am retuning their duplexer so they can get on the air. They were ecstatic that they would have access to a repeater on our tower with the coverage it provides and not just working off a 10 foot pole bolted to a house.

 

And yes, if I had dumped a ton of money into repeaters and others came in and parked on the pairs I was using, I wouldn't be happy either... But if I am CHARGING for access to those repeaters, and the other guy has his own gear and wants to do his own thing and not PAY for access to my stuff (still not sure how you can charge for access, this ain't commercial radio), then why should I be mad about it either.

 

And as it's been mentioned before. Commercial LMR (licensed business band radio) share pairs with different PL's and all is good, but they have licensed operating area's designated on their license (so many kilometers from the transmitter) which GMRS does not.

Put them up. Capitalism and all that. If he wants to keep people on his system he will have to do something to make paying for access worth it. The only way I'm "paying" for access to a repeater is if it's for a private group and were all paying to cover upkeep etc. Only way.

[DONE]

A 4 port combiner technically has 4 ports. How you get 8 'technical inputs' from a 4 port combiner confuses me. Please post a part number, picture or description that explains the 4 port/8 input combiner reference. The only way that makes sense to me is if you're planning on 4 DMR repeaters - which we know isn't legal for GMRS.

 

You're usually going to see much more than a 3dB loss in a 4 frequency combiner system. The lowest loss combiners that I'm aware of are the TX/RX T-pass racks, but their lowest loss ratings are when you're combining frequencies that are spaced more than 1 MHz apart. Combining tight frequency spacings like GMRS repeater transmit pairs onto a single transmit antenna would lead to very high losses - and would likely require something like a "hybrid" combiner - with losses more on the order of 8+ dB per channel. I've seen 4 cavity ferrite/hybrid combiners that required 100 watt repeaters just to get a 10 watt output up the coax leading to the antenna. Those setups were nice if you had a cold mountaintop site to heat up, but played hell on the air conditioning requirements for a cinder block shack in the summer time.

DB Spectra If I remember right.... can't remember the part number.  It Is two 4 port units stacked on top each other... If you were around for the Motorola UHF SMR stuff, it's those.  They made a kit for stacking the units and it was custom cut cables.  You had to have certain ranges in each set of 4, meaning you couldn't spread 450 and 460 across the 8.  You would put your 450's in one set of 4 and the other set got the 460's.  Since these are gonna be 460 and 440, I am just going to put up a second transmit antenna and be done with it.  It seems I can't post pictures in here, but I will get a couple and share links so you can see whats up.  I realize that all this sounds like some hack's pipe dream.  But a buddy of mine that spent WAY more money on tools and equipment setting his garage said to me the first time I walked in "My reality is better than most guys fantasy"  

 

Here's ONE shot of the interior of the building.

https://flic.kr/p/2khe2Ti

It's still a mess but it's a work in progress.

 

Here is what we started with 2 years ago.

https://flic.kr/p/2hLHs8V

Keep in mind that two guys put this back together.  Cleaned it, rewired it and continue to build it.

I need to put up one more cable tray to the back of the building where all the combiners and VHF duplexers as well as the receive multicouplers will be located.  Obviously you are aware that this type of gear takes up a good amount of space where VHF ham is concerned due to the need for the large cans for the .600 splits for the repeaters.  At some point, I plan to try to cobble together a transmit combiner for VHF, but that is nothing that is on the short list of things to do.  I have a line on a large amount of 6 and 8 inch copper hardline that I believe will work well for making cans out of and the rest is simple machining.  Finger stock and some luck.  Not trying to reinvent the wheel, just copy what others have done and do it cheaper than the 5 to 8 grand per port for the commercially available stuff.  Once I am happy with the results I may send them out to be silver plated as I really don't know if I want to deal with the amount of acid required to submerge a 8 inch diameter 20 inch long copper tube in.  But that's a bridge to cross later.

 

As far as loss, Motorola was the ones that bought these originally.  Meaning it was top of the line gear for the time.  And while i don't doubt what you are saying, I have another one of these that is a 8 port combiner that I am putting 20 watts in and getting 9.5 out measured with an Anritsu 412 and a 30 db directional coupler which was verified against a R&S digital watt meter to verify the cable losses and coupler attenuation. 

 

I should probably start a different thread concerning the site and the progression. 

[Radioguy7268]

If I'm understanding what you're describing, it probably looks similar to this 3 channel unit:

 

http://www.csgnets.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/UHF-CAVITY-TRANSMITTER-COMBINER-3-CHL-125W.jpg

 

 

Each of those combiners would take up a little less than half of a full sized rack - so if you had two stacked, there's very little space left for much else. I haven't used one of those style combiners, so I can't vouch for their specs. They're supposed to be less loss than a typical close spaced ferrite combiner. 

 

Yeah, start up a new thread on your setup. That's impressive for what you started with vs. what you've managed to put in there.

[gman1971]

The moment you have pay, you might as well do it right: Get for your own LMR and run AES256 and RAS...  doesn't get more secure and private than that.

 

G.

 

Put them up. Capitalism and all that. If he wants to keep people on his system he will have to do something to make paying for access worth it. The only way I'm "paying" for access to a repeater is if it's for a private group and were all paying to cover upkeep etc. Only way.

[DONE]

If I'm understanding what you're describing, it probably looks similar to this 3 channel unit:

 

http://www.csgnets.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/UHF-CAVITY-TRANSMITTER-COMBINER-3-CHL-125W.jpg

 

 

Each of those combiners would take up a little less than half of a full sized rack - so if you had two stacked, there's very little space left for much else. I haven't used one of those style combiners, so I can't vouch for their specs. They're supposed to be less loss than a typical close spaced ferrite combiner. 

 

Yeah, start up a new thread on your setup. That's impressive for what you started with vs. what you've managed to put in there.

No,,, the stack is 7 feet tall

will get pics today of building interior and whats going on....

I am guessing that if I explained it without pictures,,, everyone would call me a liar

[DONE]

The moment you have pay, you might as well do it right: Get for your own LMR and run AES256 and RAS...  doesn't get more secure and private than that.

 

G.

That is what the quantars and DIU-3000's are for ... but they only have DES in them so no super secret squirrel activity for the time being.

A new GTR-8000, site controller and 7000 series console system is just not in the budget.  Got to settle for Gold elite and Tensr channel banks to run the Roci Cori links to the house for the CIE's

And yes,,, I am. It's in the works

[gman1971]

Not in the budget? no way!!

 

G.

[Lscott]

IMHO I would have to question somebody who wants to tie up four out of a total of 8 repeater channels in an area. GMRS is primarily for personal communications, not a business or a public service. 

 

This reminds me of crap that happens on the Ham bands. Somebody get a coordinated frequency pair, sometimes several, then sits on them just because they can, or the equipment is long dead and gone but the "owner" won't give it up.

 

Comments about NXDN, well digital voices modes, including for now DMR, D-Star, P25 etc., are not allowed on GMRS. We're stuck with plain old analog FM and the limitations that goes with it.

[DONE]

IMHO I would have to question somebody who wants to tie up four out of a total of 8 repeater channels in an area. GMRS is primarily for personal communications, not a business or a public service. 

 

This reminds me of crap that happens on the Ham bands. Somebody get a coordinated frequency pair, sometimes several, then sits on them just because they can, or the equipment is long dead and gone but the "owner" won't give it up.

 

Comments about NXDN, well digital voices modes, including for now DMR, D-Star, P25 etc., are not allowed on GMRS. We're stuck with plain old analog FM and the limitations that goes with it.

 

Got a question pertaining to what you wrote...  Do you know how much a SINGLE repeater is to setup and operate correctly?  It's out of the reach of most license holders.  Which means you get what ever coverage you can get off putting an antenna on a pole next to your house, or maybe a small tower (50 or so feet).  Other than the power increase from .5 to 50 watts what are you getting that you cant do with FRS?

 

Now  I am FULLY aware of the state coordination committee with respects to ham radio.  Only difference is the ones around here end up getting letters from attorneys telling them to cease and desist when one of the guy's dies, and his wife is a ham and wanting to keep the repeater on the air, but the committee wants the pair for their own private use.  And then you have the non-standard frequency repeaters that have been on the air since before there was such a thing as coordination that a parked in between two standard frequencies making BOTH unusable.  Then you put up a repeater on a non-standard split, 147.415 / 147. 950 (closest used freq in the state was 147.300 / 900) and everyone gripes that it's a non standard split.  Tons of fun.

 

Yeah, I too have heard the comments about doing digital things with GMRS.  Frankly I am against it 100% because the interference issues that it will create.  The issues with users needing new radios that are digital. 

 

But as far as it not being a public service.  Really?   Explain the linked systems that exist that connect multiple states together on GMRS...  How is this different?

 

[gman1971]

<checks out>

[DONE]

Here is the new thread

https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/2326-site-buildout-on-the-monster/\

 

Sorry this got hijacked.

[Lscott]

Got a question pertaining to what you wrote...  Do you know how much a SINGLE repeater is to setup and operate correctly?  It's out of the reach of most license holders.  Which means you get what ever coverage you can get off putting an antenna on a pole next to your house, or maybe a small tower (50 or so feet).  Other than the power increase from .5 to 50 watts what are you getting that you cant do with FRS?

 

Now  I am FULLY aware of the state coordination committee with respects to ham radio.  Only difference is the ones around here end up getting letters from attorneys telling them to cease and desist when one of the guy's dies, and his wife is a ham and wanting to keep the repeater on the air, but the committee wants the pair for their own private use.  And then you have the non-standard frequency repeaters that have been on the air since before there was such a thing as coordination that a parked in between two standard frequencies making BOTH unusable.  Then you put up a repeater on a non-standard split, 147.415 / 147. 950 (closest used freq in the state was 147.300 / 900) and everyone gripes that it's a non standard split.  Tons of fun.

 

Yeah, I too have heard the comments about doing digital things with GMRS.  Frankly I am against it 100% because the interference issues that it will create.  The issues with users needing new radios that are digital. 

 

But as far as it not being a public service.  Really?   Explain the linked systems that exist that connect multiple states together on GMRS...  How is this different?

I have a buddy that is in the process of setting up a Kenwood UHF repeater. I also have another buddy who is a professional radio tech for a city transportation department. That guy has to work on everything from the bench to climbing towers etc. yeah so I do some idea. He by the way embarrassed some of the “professional” IT people who couldn’t figure out how to fix the problems with the crappy and overly costly VOIP system using radio links. He told them what the problems were going to be, got ignored, and later proved to be right on the nose.

 

Again do you really need to tie up 4 out of only 8 repeater channels, 2 for you private use? And yes I know about linked systems. There is one I monitored around the Chicago I’ll - Gary IN area during a business trip out that way. 

 

https://mwgmrs.com/

 

While linked systems such as the above exist the primary focus of GMRS is for personal use and local communications. These linked system are starting to look more like a “Ham Lite” type service. If one really wanted cross country comm’s, get a Ham license and take advantage of the well built out D-Star and DMR networks. In fact these networks extend worldwide.

[DONE]

I have a buddy that is in the process of setting up a Kenwood UHF repeater. I also have another buddy who is a professional radio tech for a city transportation department. That guy has to work on everything from the bench to climbing towers etc. yeah so I do some idea. He by the way embarrassed some of the “professional” IT people who couldn’t figure out how to fix the problems with the crappy and overly costly VOIP system using radio links. He told them what the problems were going to be, got ignored, and later proved to be right on the nose.

 

Again do you really need to tie up 4 out of only 8 repeater channels, 2 for you private use? And yes I know about linked systems. There is one I monitored around the Chicago I’ll - Gary IN area during a business trip out that way. 

 

https://mwgmrs.com/

 

While linked systems such as the above exist the primary focus of GMRS is for personal use and local communications. These linked system are starting to look more like a “Ham Lite” type service. If one really wanted cross country comm’s, get a Ham license and take advantage of the well built out D-Star and DMR networks. In fact these networks extend worldwide.

Private is a strong word.  Not really private,,, more like here are TWO repeaters for the masses. Knock yourself out.  Yes, they are free to use.  Here are two other repeaters that when these two are busy, you are welcome to use... But try using the other ones first.  Personally I feel it's better than putting up multiple repeaters on EVERY frequency, and charging money for getting access to said repeaters. 

 

Take a look over at the new tread about the tower, the GMRS project and what we are working with.   It's not to limit access to anyone.  It's to provide access to repeaters with decent coverage, that will be available at all times.

 

Better yet, let me ask you this... Once you see my tower, and know what the coverage footprint is, you will want to put a repeater on it.  Your Kenwood, or two Midlands with a back to back cable and a CW ID board.  So YOUR call sign is on the repeater, and you have lots of coverage.  And you are willing to share your repeater with other GMRS users by calling it an OPEN repeater.  So what is the difference if it's My gear and my call sign on the repeater if YOU still have access and don't incur costs of renting a port on the combiner or antenna space rent for a fixed antenna on the tower? 

[Lscott]

 

Better yet, let me ask you this... Once you see my tower, and know what the coverage footprint is, you will want to put a repeater on it.  Your Kenwood, or two Midlands with a back to back cable and a CW ID board.  So YOUR call sign is on the repeater, and you have lots of coverage.  And you are willing to share your repeater with other GMRS users by calling it an OPEN repeater.  So what is the difference if it's My gear and my call sign on the repeater if YOU still have access and don't incur costs of renting a port on the combiner or antenna space rent for a fixed antenna on the tower? 

Yes tower space is not easy to come by so having access is definitely a positive there. 

 

Given the finite resource of only 8 repeater channels how do you propose to to choose who get up there? Having multiple machines on the same frequency, assuming you have a high demand, but using different access codes might be a bit tough.

 

Around the Detroit area where I'm at we have very few machines on GMRS. The one I use is an old fire department repeater on top of a building at 200 feet. Coverage is around a 20 mile radius. There also isn't that much GMRS activity anyway, maybe due to the lack of repeaters. Most of what you hear are FRS radios.

 

Now talk about Ham repeaters, they're like weeds, everywhere, and most see little use. The best one for coverage is this one.

 

http://www.gmarc.org/wp/

 

I can get into this guy with a 4 watt HT in my family room from 15 miles out. Now that would be a place to stick a GMRS repeater.

 

The repeater my one buddy wants to put up is on the Ham 70cm band. I told him it may not see much use and suggested a GMRS one, nope, wants the Ham band. The sight he has access to, free emergency power - internet - no rent, is on the roof of a two story school. Now this might sound very limited however the location is just about 1000 feet ASL while most everything else around there and out is about 650 feet ASL. The coverage map somebody ran for him, based on the topography, shows good coverage out to 20 to 30 miles except to the north east, likely due to the higher elevation there.

 

[DONE]

Yes tower space is not easy to come by so having access is definitely a positive there. 

 

Given the finite resource of only 8 repeater channels how do you propose to to choose who get up there? Having multiple machines on the same frequency, assuming you have a high demand, but using different access codes might be a bit tough.

 

Around the Detroit area where I'm at we have very few machines on GMRS. The one I use is an old fire department repeater on top of a building at 200 feet. Coverage is around a 20 mile radius. There also isn't that much GMRS activity anyway, maybe due to the lack of repeaters. Most of what you hear are FRS radios.

 

Now talk about Ham repeaters, they're like weeds, everywhere, and most see little use. The best one for coverage is this one.

 

http://www.gmarc.org/wp/

 

I can get into this guy with a 4 watt HT in my family room from 15 miles out. Now that would be a place to stick a GMRS repeater.

 

The repeater my one buddy wants to put up is on the Ham 70cm band. I told him it may not see much use and suggested a GMRS one, nope, wants the Ham band. The sight he has access to, free emergency power - internet - no rent, is on the roof of a two story school. Now this might sound very limited however the location is just about 1000 feet ASL while most everything else around there and out is about 650 feet ASL. The coverage map somebody ran for him, based on the topography, shows good coverage out to 20 to 30 miles except to the north east, likely due to the higher elevation there.

 

I don't have any interest in choosing who uses the repeaters.  That's the point.  If you are legally licensed, you can use any of them  it will be ASK of those using them to use the lower frequency repeaters first if they aren't busy.  When they are busy, they are free to use the higher frequency repeaters.

 

Like I said, even semi-private is too strong of a term.  But if you are thinking I shouldn't do it.  Then maybe I will just skip it.

[Lscott]

I don't have any interest in choosing who uses the repeaters.  That's the point.  If you are legally licensed, you can use any of them  it will be ASK of those using them to use the lower frequency repeaters first if they aren't busy.  When they are busy, they are free to use the higher frequency repeaters.

 

Like I said, even semi-private is too strong of a term.  But if you are thinking I shouldn't do it.  Then maybe I will just skip it.

You’re free to do as you like, same as everyone else here. I just wanted to make a few comments and ask some questions.

 

If you continue with the project perhaps you can give us an update on how it’s working out. 

 

I’ve learn over the course of many years there is aways some more to learn, and it doesn’t matter how much “paper” you have hanging on the wall.