2ainli Posted February 28, 2014 Report Posted February 28, 2014 Hello everyone! I am interested in starting a GMRS repeater on Long Island with good power. I have a location in central Suffolk County. Did some searches and there is only one repeater and it doesn't reach the tip of our island. Can I get some direction please. Logan5 1 Quote
PastorGary Posted February 28, 2014 Report Posted February 28, 2014 Welcome to the Forum - Not being from your area, I'll call upon our New York area members to help you with any localized and general questions that you may have. Thanks for registering. Quote
2ainli Posted February 28, 2014 Author Report Posted February 28, 2014 Welcome to the Forum - Not being from your area, I'll call upon our New York area members to help you with any localized and general questions that you may have. Thanks for registering. Thank you for the warm welcome. I hope to gain some valuable info here! Quote
JohnE Posted February 28, 2014 Report Posted February 28, 2014 you have a location picked already? what kind of coverage are you looking for.my machine can be heard in Patchogue LI w/mobile. Quote
2ainli Posted February 28, 2014 Author Report Posted February 28, 2014 you have a location picked already? what kind of coverage are you looking for.my machine can be heard in Patchogue LI w/mobile. I do have a location set. Coverage goal is to blanket Nassau/Suffolk. Do you have this covered already? Quote
JohnE Posted February 28, 2014 Report Posted February 28, 2014 https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/8-ers-ny-650/https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/9-ers-ny-575/ Quote
2ainli Posted February 28, 2014 Author Report Posted February 28, 2014 https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/8-ers-ny-650/https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/9-ers-ny-575/NiceMy goal is east of the coverage you are missing. (ironically..) Quote
Billy Posted March 3, 2014 Report Posted March 3, 2014 What is the location and the height of the tower you wish to put it on? There are actually quite a few GMRS repeaters in the area. Mine is in West Babylon but is a small family and friends neighborhood emergency type on 725. There is another big one with very good coverage out to about Seldon/Medford or so that is listed here on 625, that is a pay as you go situation. If you listen well there are actually quite a few more like Nassau React which does it's emergency stuff on one tone and allows personal business on another on 700. A few more individual groups on all the splits. So do your research before setting up completely. You are going to need a tower well over 400 ft of elevation to get out east. For one the Medford Bald Hill area rises in elevation about 150 foot, then drops off, creating a wall effect. That is why the 625 system has trouble getting out there but Johns repeater (which is truly the best around) can get to East Patchouge no problem. You also have to be careful with interfering with NJ and Connecticut stations. GMRS is heavily used in New Jersey, numerous strong repeaters. Your propogation will drift more towards them then the East End of Long Island. Just remember the island is only about 20 miles wide at its widest point but over 100 in length. Doesn't fit into a propogation circle very well. If I was to set up a system trying to cover the entire Island I would try to get a tower in the Medord Bald Hill area taking advantage of the natural elevation. That would cover you to Montauk and NYC no probem without unduly interfering with the NYC and NJ stations doing there thing. Hope this helps. BTW what is your call sign? Quote
2ainli Posted March 5, 2014 Author Report Posted March 5, 2014 What is the location and the height of the tower you wish to put it on? There are actually quite a few GMRS repeaters in the area. Mine is in West Babylon but is a small family and friends neighborhood emergency type on 725. There is another big one with very good coverage out to about Seldon/Medford or so that is listed here on 625, that is a pay as you go situation. If you listen well there are actually quite a few more like Nassau React which does it's emergency stuff on one tone and allows personal business on another on 700. A few more individual groups on all the splits. So do your research before setting up completely. You are going to need a tower well over 400 ft of elevation to get out east. For one the Medford Bald Hill area rises in elevation about 150 foot, then drops off, creating a wall effect. That is why the 625 system has trouble getting out there but Johns repeater (which is truly the best around) can get to East Patchouge no problem. You also have to be careful with interfering with NJ and Connecticut stations. GMRS is heavily used in New Jersey, numerous strong repeaters. Your propogation will drift more towards them then the East End of Long Island. Just remember the island is only about 20 miles wide at its widest point but over 100 in length. Doesn't fit into a propogation circle very well. If I was to set up a system trying to cover the entire Island I would try to get a tower in the Medord Bald Hill area taking advantage of the natural elevation. That would cover you to Montauk and NYC no probem without unduly interfering with the NYC and NJ stations doing there thing. Hope this helps. BTW what is your call sign? Thanks for the comments/tips. I'm hoping to start searching for a freq that isn't jammed. Height is 200 ft, on LIE exit 60 PM me for more details. Repeater was bought today. Waiting on picking a freq Quote
Logan5 Posted March 17, 2014 Report Posted March 17, 2014 200 feet is the elevation of your property? or does this include your outdoor antenna mast? 200 feet is great elevation, but you are going to need to get that repeater antenna 10 to 20 feet above the tree line to get the benefit. if this installation is tower mounted, disregard my questions. also use a scanner to find a good clear pair. I did not have a scanner when I picked 462.XXX and I regret it. lol Quote
Logan5 Posted April 4, 2014 Report Posted April 4, 2014 Thanks for the comments/tips. I'm hoping to start searching for a freq that isn't jammed. Height is 200 ft, on LIE exit 60 PM me for more details. Repeater was bought today. Waiting on picking a freqI saw you listed on MyGMRS today. Looks like it went well. Let us know what your setup and coverage is like. Maybe I get to LI next summer. My repeater has to come down from 55' this weekend. looks like 30 to 35 feet until I get a new tower. Best regards, Jim... Quote
JohnE Posted April 7, 2014 Report Posted April 7, 2014 PM me w/pl's and I'll see if I can hear/hit it from Brooklyn, if you want. Logan5 1 Quote
JohnE Posted June 30, 2014 Report Posted June 30, 2014 I can hit/talk through it from the VZ bridge. have not checked how far east I have to be to hit it on the ground though. I also have not put it in my control radio yet. Logan5 1 Quote
captdan Posted July 2, 2014 Report Posted July 2, 2014 On Saturday 6/28/14 I was just south of Seaside Park New Jersey at the entrance to Island Beach State Park and was bored and had the one radio scan when I received some units as if they were 1/2 a block away. After listenoing and realizing they wer enot close at all - polietly inserted myself into the conversation and aske dthem where they were and where their repeater was located. An individual responded - very nicely and poilety - that it was a private repeater located in Nassau County Long Island and said it belonged to www.SHTFLI.comI just wanted to say that is some powerful repeater and amazing coverage. I chatted with Kevin for a few minutes and it was like he was next to me. When I got home I checked google earth and it appears to be a little over 60 miles - mostly over the ocean - between where I was south of Seaside Park NJ and Nassau County NY. I was impressed - thats all folks Logan5 and Captain056 2 Quote
FrankNY Posted July 8, 2014 Report Posted July 8, 2014 captdan, the SHTFLI (Stuff Hits The Fan Long Island) repeater does indeed have good reach. I'm able to monitor it quite well even from here on the Lower West Side of Manhattan, with some truly massive high-rise buildings in between me and the repeater. It was put together by some hams for use by the general population out on Long Island, sort of in preparation for the next storm - or whatever bad things might happen to come their way in the future. Many of them really suffered after Sandy. The registered members of the SHTFLI group usually run a net on Sunday nights, in case you want to tune in and listen. Starts at about 20:00 hours. Regards, Frank. Quote
captdan Posted July 10, 2014 Report Posted July 10, 2014 Frank, Thanks - I'm usually on the other side of NJ - the very quite side - but I will trya nd listen up and see if I can hear them over here. Dan - NJ Quote
FrankNY Posted July 19, 2014 Report Posted July 19, 2014 I believe that the SHTFLI group are in the process of setting up a second GMRS repeater as well - and also a mesh network using re-purposed old Linksys wireless home routers loaded with custom firmware. I expect that each node in the mesh network will be quite resilient due to use of solar-powered battery backup capability. The primary purpose of the mesh network is for the sending/receiving of text messages and the transfer of files, not for Internet access. Reference on mesh networks, for those not familiar. Mesh networking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesh_networking Regards, Frank. Quote
tonkatoy Posted November 7, 2017 Report Posted November 7, 2017 Update to this SHTFLI was started by a group of guys that suffered very badly during sandy(eventually we had to change out name to BTG Communications just to be more family friendly). in the aftermath we all got together and decided that we needed to do something to make surewe do not lose communications with one another again. so we started our journey with a small GMRS repeater out in east meadow Nassau county. that eventually evolved into becoming a rather large GMRS repeater on a commercial site in the Plainview area of Nassau county. eventually we added a second machine out east in the Selden area. the two machines are linked to make it one big system that blankets most of long island. I know it goes west into Manhattan, Brooklyn, queens, parts of Connecticut, and parts of jersey. and as far east as Mattituck, and south into the Hamptons.we have also added a 3rd GMRS machine in ST Augustine Florida which is also tied in the system fulltime. there should be a second machine up in the Florida area in the next few months. and there are plans to add a 3rd machine further east on long island to extend our coverage all the way out to Montauk. and I almost forgot we also ham a Ham DMR machine in Plainview as well. for any questions or if you want to learn more about who we are and what we are about visit our website WWW.BridgeComm.CLUB Quote
LeoG Posted July 29 Report Posted July 29 Seems as though somehow I can hear your 575 LI East End repeater up in Windsor Locks, CT Quote
SteveShannon Posted July 29 Report Posted July 29 10 hours ago, LeoG said: Seems as though somehow I can hear your 575 LI East End repeater up in Windsor Locks, CT Tonkatoy only made two posts nearly six years ago and hasn’t been online here since 2022. Quote
LeoG Posted July 29 Report Posted July 29 But his repeater system lives on. Figured I do a shout out. Never really expected an answer. After the rain started I lost the signal. If it's not raining tonight I'll check to see if I can hear it again. Maybe it was just a weird fluke that the signal worked itself around and got to me. But it was coming into my radio 5x3 on the meter with mostly good modulation of the people. Some random static I assume from the distance. Quote
LeoG Posted July 30 Report Posted July 30 Must have been some atmospheric aberration to allow the signal to get to my radio. Tried again today to listen/hit their repeater with no success. A bit disappointed, but shocked I was able to hear it in the first place. Quote
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