gmrs portables to use with a repeater

[fmorfe]

I am a new to gmrs and am in the process of setting up a repeater in my area. I am looking for a cheap set of radios my kids can use around the house that will work with this repeater. Does motorola make a bubble pack set thats fairly cheap? Does anyone have any other recomendations for radios? Thanks

[JohnE]

yes. costco,BJ's , Dicks sporting goods.

[Logan5]

I am a new to gmrs and am in the process of setting up a repeater in my area. I am looking for a cheap set of radios my kids can use around the house that will work with this repeater. Does motorola make a bubble pack set thats fairly cheap? Does anyone have any other recomendations for radios? Thanks

Make sure you get the compatible version of the bubble pak radios. The only one I tested was the mt350 on my repeater and it worked. although at less than half the range of other radios, so I returned them. You may also consider using 2 channels, an FRS for the kids to play on and the repeater for them to call on GMRS. otherwise you will have to listen to them "play" on your repeater. There are hundreds of options for radios, do the research before you spend your money. Tell us more about your repeater plans. Jim...

[fmorfe]

Thanks Jim. I obtained a motorola gr1225 repeater off ebay for 125.00 which appears new! I have two others running on uhf ham with no issues. They are great machines. I am looking for a good antenna for the gmrs repeater. Do you have any recommendations? Dosent seem like alot of choices. I have a uhf ham comet base antenna I am thinking about trying to trim some off to make it resonant. At the repeater site we have alot of trees behind our location. I was also considering a yagi and focusing it into the general area we want to cover. Im just not sure how that would do. As far as portables etc, so far I have a motorola maxtrac for the house and probably use a yagi to aim towards the repeater wjich is anout 3 mi away. I am considering gp300 motorolas for ht's or ht1000. I think these will be better than the bubble pack junkers. So whats your thoughts on antennas? Thanks.

[JohnE]

if you can get legacy radios in good condition that would be better than FRS in terms of power and audio. let the kid s play w/FRS.

IIRC comet or the parent co. of comet makes antenna's for commercial/gmrs band. if you look through some of the older posts you will find references to some of the types of antennas we are all using.

[Billy]

Thanks Jim. I obtained a motorola gr1225 repeater off ebay for 125.00 which appears new! I have two others running on uhf ham with no issues. They are great machines. I am looking for a good antenna for the gmrs repeater. Do you have any recommendations? Dosent seem like alot of choices. I have a uhf ham comet base antenna I am thinking about trying to trim some off to make it resonant. At the repeater site we have alot of trees behind our location. I was also considering a yagi and focusing it into the general area we want to cover. Im just not sure how that would do. As far as portables etc, so far I have a motorola maxtrac for the house and probably use a yagi to aim towards the repeater wjich is anout 3 mi away. I am considering gp300 motorolas for ht's or ht1000. I think these will be better than the bubble pack junkers. So whats your thoughts on antennas? Thanks.

Quite a few land mobile antennas that would work.  450-470 mhz.   I am using this one as my base antenna, price is right and it works great.  http://www.ebay.com/itm/UHF-Gain-Base-Antenna-Ham-or-Commercial-GMRS-/111242039052?pt=US_Radio_Comm_Antennas&hash=item19e68acf0c   He will pre-tune it for you specific repeater frequency. 

 

Do an Ebay search for GMRS radios and you will se quite a lot of used HT's with people ready to program and set them up for you cheap.  Full  2-4 watt radios, old, big but functional.  I follow the Ebay listings often and if you need help shoot me a PM.  I pick up alot of stuff for my repeater club  members. 

[deputycrawford]

     I would like to say that I have had 2 HT1000 portables and both of them are not used anymore due to ground problems they develop.  I have a GP300 that I still use.

 

Jerry

[rhinegarten]

I use Kenwood TK 350 and 380. But I used to repair these radios and am familiar with them. A few months ago I purchased 3 TK350s for about 10 bucks off of eBay (w/o batteries) and repaired any problems they had for use with some neighbors who are located pretty much far from anywhere.

[jmoylan69]

BAOFENG MAKES A NEW RADIO THAT IS FOR GMRS!!!

 

the GMRS-V1   $55.00      https://baofengtech.com/gmrs-v1 

 

ALSO Tera makes one for GMRS as well.

 

the TR-505 GMRS   $99.00   and both are repeater capable!

 

https://powerwerx.com/tera-tr505-gmrs-recreational-handheld-radio

[n4gix]

The TR-505 also supports MURS...

[berkinet]

I am compiling a list of GMRS repeater capable handhelds for a local group.  Right now I have the following:

• Olympia R500
• Olympia P342
• Motorola TalkAbout MS350R/MS355R (Camo)
• Motorola TalkAbout MR350R
• BTECH GMRS-V1
• BAOFENG BF-888S
• TERA TR-505 GMRS

I have attempted to verity these radios by searching online. But, on some of these it is difficult to find exact information. So, can anyone confirm the following:

 Are these all type-accepted on gmrs?

 Are there other type-accepted handhelds that are not on the list?

 

Another ideas or comments would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[SteveC7010]

 

 Are there other type-accepted handhelds that are not on the list?

 

The Motorola P1225 is type accepted for Part 95A. It's a commercial grade product so it is much more rugged than radios marketed for the GMRS or FRS crowd. And the software for programming is easily found. If I needed a Part 95A handheld, that's what I would get.

 

And, for those who might also need a Part 90 unit, the P1225 is also type accepted for that as well.

[berkinet]

...The Motorola P1225 is type accepted for Part 95A. It's a commercial grade product so it is much more rugged than radios marketed for the GMRS or FRS crowd. And the software for programming is easily found. If I needed a Part 95A handheld, that's what I would get.

 

@SteveC7010, Thanks for the addition.

 

Note to others reading this thread. The P1225 was discontinued around 10 years ago. But, is still readily available used from $15 to $150 - although, the batteries would also likely need to be replaced for another ~$30. The part number for the 16channel UHF version of the P1225 is P94ZRC90C2AA.

[mdomsch]

 Are there other type-accepted handhelds that are not on the list?

 

 

Garmin Rino series (5xx, 6xx, 7xx) are GMRS certified and repeater capable.

[berkinet]

Garmin Rino series (5xx, 6xx, 7xx) are GMRS certified and repeater capable.

Thanks.  Look like good quality, especially if you need the GPS features. But, otherwise the price is OUCH 

[Hans]

AFAIK, the Boafeng BF-888 is not part 95a.

[berkinet]

AFAIK, the Boafeng BF-888 is not part 95a.

After checking, it appears than NO Baofeng branded radios are type accepted under part 95a.  However, the BTECH GMRS V1 is type accepted, and it's made by Baofeng,

[berkinet]

After checking, it appears than NO Baofeng branded radios are type accepted under part 95a.  However, the BTECH GMRS V1 is type accepted, and it's made by Baofeng,

 

This topic has somewhat intrigued me so I went a bit further and searched the FCC Equipment Authorization Database for repeater capable Part 95a (GMRS) radios. To do the search I first downloaded the entire part 95a list and then loaded it into a spreadsheet. I then filtered for only radios with an upper frequency of 467.7250, GMRS ch 8 repeater input. Regular, non-repeater, GMRS radios only transmit up to 467.1250, FRS ch 14. Here is a list of those radio's FCC IDs. With a little googling you can usually find the actual product matching the ID.  BTW, the list is sorted by the Final Action Date, and you can see there is not exactly a lot of activity in this field.

 

gmrs-rptr-radios.pdf