Looking for a repeater near me

[HowieDewing]

I am new to GMRS and recently received my license. I am located in Southwest Broward County, FL (Cooper City). I did not see a listing for any repeaters in my area. Would anyone know if there are any repeaters in my area that I could do a radio check with? Do I need to do something with my settings or get permission to access a local repeater for GMRS? 

 

I am using my radio for personal use and considering getting my HAM license. For now, my wife and I are just trying to get familiar with the GMRS and FRS frequencies.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Thanks,

 

HowieDewing

[marcspaz]

Hey Howie, welcome.

 

Unfortunately, we don't publish specific repeater information in the public forums, to prevent unlicensed users from abusing the service.  I can tell you that between the "Maps" feature and the directory, it looks like there are potentially several that serve your area.

 

If you haven't created an account on www.mygmrs.com, you will need to in order to access the directory.  It is a separate login from the forums.  Once,you are logged in, look at the "Maps" and search the directory, include the whole state and sort by city.  You should be able to see the same repeaters that I do.

[n4gix]

I see 80 repeaters listed as being in Florida. It is highly likely that some of them are no longer active, but also likely that you will find one near you.

 

Don't forget that you can use simplex as well.

[andygeekboy]

Sorry to tell you Howie but I haven't found a GMRS repeater being used in our area (I live in North Miami).

There is apparently one in Plantation but I haven't had a chance to get on it so can't confirm.

 

Maybe good news or maybe bad news but I've been driving around with my scanner the last week between my house and work (Miramar) and have not heard anything on any of the GMRS frequencies.

Andy

[Logan5]

The repeater in plantation is a local repeater only, maybe a mile or two. I live in east lauderdale and with a 5 watt radio at 62' and directional antenna, I am unable to hit it. I have been west of 441 and south of sunrise with truck antenna and nothing. I am the sysop for FTL600 and we are prepping for a hardline upgrade, you may have better luck with FTL600 after the upgrade.

[andygeekboy]

Thanks Logan!

 

Looking at the current coverage map for FTL600 I'm just outside, fingers crossed I can hit it with the new upgrade.

 

Not to stray too far from the OP's topic but it seems that there is a definite lack of GMRS activity in my neck of the woods, is this common for Dade?

 

 

The repeater in plantation is a local repeater only, maybe a mile or two. I live in east lauderdale and with a 5 watt radio at 62' and directional antenna, I am unable to hit it. I have been west of 441 and south of sunrise with truck antenna and nothing. I am the sysop for FTL600 and we are prepping for a hardline upgrade, you may have better luck with FTL600 after the upgrade.

 

 

[marcspaz]

Sounds like a void to be filled for an aspiring repeater owner. Get it 200' up and you can easily get a 50 mile radius. I have a duplex in Hollywood that I am on my way to. Stopping in St. Petersburg first, but I'll do some testing to see if I can find d anything when I'm here.

[andygeekboy]

Nice!

[berkinet]

Just FYI. Note the OP has not checked in since his original post. (Something that seems to, sadly, happen all too often on this forum.)

[andygeekboy]

He may have left but I’m still getting value from this post

[andygeekboy]

 I have a duplex in Hollywood that I am on my way to. Stopping in St. Petersburg first, but I'll do some testing to see if I can find d anything when I'm here.

 

Hey Marc, 

 

Did you hear much traffic when you were down this way, I'm still not hearing a thing?

Thanks

[marcspaz]

I'm not hearing anything. We were at the beach today and didn't hear a single person.

 

When I move down here permanently, I'm going to look into stuffing a couple of repeaters on the roof of a hotel or some other building... maybe the SunTrust Financial Center.

[andygeekboy]

When I move down here permanently, I'm going to look into stuffing a couple of repeaters on the roof of a hotel or some other building... maybe the SunTrust Financial Center.

 

As clueless as I am I'm prepared to help if you need

[Logan5]

As clueless as I am I'm prepared to help if you need

Try listening to the input for 600, I am hearing illegal marine simplex users, no ID. What's worse they are using the travel tone for their PL. I have been recording their comms. I know what area, still need to figure out which marina. I had to take the repeater down last night, something was very wrong, so I am installing our old backup so as the run test. I hope I did not damage the transmitter.

[Logan5]

Thanks Logan!

 

Looking at the current coverage map for FTL600 I'm just outside, fingers crossed I can hit it with the new upgrade.

 

Not to stray too far from the OP's topic but it seems that there is a definite lack of GMRS activity in my neck of the woods, is this common for Dade?

Do you have an outdoor antenna? unless you have some height, your not going to hear much.

[andygeekboy]

Do you have an outdoor antenna? unless you have some height, your not going to hear much.

Not yet but I've been driving around with my scanner and a mag mount, only heard one thing in two weeks, sounded like a couple of maintenance people speaking mostly spanglish

[Logan5]

Yeah they are on DCS125 and they are harmless. they might even be operating legally according to the new rules. I do not here them on the input, so they are off my radar so to speak.

[andygeekboy]

I guess GMRS isn't so popular in my neck of the woods!

[Wrax809]

There is a repeater in the downtown Miami area that has pretty good coverage. 462.625 check it out you might be able to hit it.

[marcspaz]

I'm a bit more that 20 miles north... can't reach it.  :-(

[Wrax809]

That's odd I am about 20 miles south and can hit it from my mobile no problem. Do you have the correct pl set?

[Wrax809]

That's odd I'm about 20 miles south and can hit it from my mobile. Do you have the correct pl?

[berkinet]

That's odd I'm about 20 miles south and can hit it from my mobile. Do you have the correct pl?

Signal propagation can be affected by many things at UHF frequencies: multi-path distortion (signal reflection from buildings and land features), foliage, even the curve of the earth. In most cases, those things will degrade the signal. But, they can also help as well. Besides the radio itself, other factors that may affect the signal are adjacent channel interference, feed-line, antenna, antenna placement, even weather.

[marcspaz]

Well put.  I experience the affects of this on a repeater in Virginia pretty regularly.  I can be 22-25 miles away and be full quiet and as I drive closer, I lose the repeater completely.  I don't actually get back into it until I am about 18 miles away or closer.  I think the environmental conditions in the location I am usually at when in that 22-25 mile range is a geographic sweet-spot.

[BKLIPP]

Hi all. Well, I am a newbie also. Been in radios for years just never got an GMRS license till now. Very interested in learning all there is to learn. I live in Concord, North Carolina and I've found a few repeaters but not sure how to get linked to them. There is one in my immediate area of a frequency of 462.700. It says it's an open repeater but I'm just not sure how to hit it. There is a CSQ of 146.2HZ so do I have to program this in, and if so, is this an transmit or receive, or both? thank you for any help. My name is Bryan and call is WREL220.