Any repeaters near Easton, MD?

[mellowcream]

Hey,

I've tried almost every maryland GMRS repeater listed on here. None of them seem to work. Does anyone know of any GMRS repeaters in Maryland that work? There are plenty of 2m and 70cm repeaters.

 

 

 

[JohnE]

https://www.mygmrs.com/view?id=1216

https://www.mygmrs.com/view?id=137

both of these are suppose to be active.

[mellowcream]

https://www.mygmrs.com/view?id=1216

https://www.mygmrs.com/view?id=137

both of these are suppose to be active.

I would think Baltimore is out of range far away, but I will try.

 

 

EDIT: Both of them are either out of range, or offline.

[Guest spd641]

What type of equipment are you trying to access the repeaters with hand held or mobiles? If you are using hand held radios only you may be out of range,although several repeaters have exceptional range for hand held radios and though you may be able to hear them your 5 watt or less radio you may not be able to make it back into the repeater you are trying to access.You will see a drastic difference by using a mobile set up.Welcome to the group and I hope we can provide you with any questions or problems you may encounter...William

[mellowcream]

What type of equipment are you trying to access the repeaters with hand held or mobiles? If you are using hand held radios only you may be out of range,although several repeaters have exceptional range for hand held radios and though you may be able to hear them your 5 watt or less radio you may not be able to make it back into the repeater you are trying to access.You will see a drastic difference by using a mobile set up.Welcome to the group and I hope we can provide you with any questions or problems you may encounter...William

I'm using a 5 watt Baofeng UV-5R v2+ with a Nagoya antenna.

 

I can reach a repeater 15 miles away with it, but that's a 2m repeater.

 

Also, I monitered the ones John gave me last night, it was dead silence.

[Logan5]

Yes you will have better luck using a mobile gain type antenna mounted near the center of your car or truck bonnet/top. You may also consider a home base type setup, this would include some high quality feedline LMR400 is good, LMR600 is better, with a roof mounted gain antenna. the higher the better. you may connect this to your beofeng or a UHF mobile transceiver for higher watt output. but usually a higher antenna and quality feedline are much more important than watts of output.  I bet your UV5r will do fine with a rooftop antenna. What is the height of your tree line? here in south florida our tree line is less than 50' and average is around 35, so just getting the antenna over the roofline makes a huge difference. If your still thinking of running a repeater from your home, might as well start by building your repeater antenna setup now and test it with your current radios.

[mellowcream]

Yes you will have better luck using a mobile gain type antenna mounted near the center of your car or truck bonnet/top. You may also consider a home base type setup, this would include some high quality feedline LMR400 is good, LMR600 is better, with a roof mounted gain antenna. the higher the better. you may connect this to your beofeng or a UHF mobile transceiver for higher watt output. but usually a higher antenna and quality feedline are much more important than watts of output.  I bet your UV5r will do fine with a rooftop antenna. What is the height of your tree line? here in south florida our tree line is less than 50' and average is around 35, so just getting the antenna over the roofline makes a huge difference. If your still thinking of running a repeater from your home, might as well start by building your repeater antenna setup now and test it with your current radios.

I remember someone saying to me once, "when it comes to UHF, hight is might"

 

The hight of my tree line is about 30' - 50' similar to yours.

 

What antenna would you reccomend for the rooftop monunting?

 

Also, do you think I should get a new radio for a higher watt output?

[Logan5]

I am using a CA-712EFC it is 10 feet tall and I honestly can't tell the difference from the cheaper UVS200? that it replaced. what do you plan to mount it to? is your home 2 story? thinking about a tower? or maybe a telescoping mast? got a nice tree for a tree install? I know Easton MD. you could have a perfect tree for it. If you got the money put in a tower. If you want to get a nicer radio, go ahead, but again more watts is seldom if ever the answer on UHF.

[mellowcream]

I am using a CA-712EFC it is 10 feet tall and I honestly can't tell the difference from the cheaper UVS200? that it replaced. what do you plan to mount it to? is your home 2 story? thinking about a tower? or maybe a telescoping mast? got a nice tree for a tree install? I know Easton MD. you could have a perfect tree for it. If you got the money put in a tower. If you want to get a nicer radio, go ahead, but again more watts is seldom if ever the answer on UHF.

The HOA would go crazy if I built a tower. Trees aren't that tall. My house is two story. What I wanted to do is mount it to the top of the right outer wall.

 

EDIT: why is this so cheap, is it good? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-Band-VHF-UHF-Base-Antenna-Ham-Commercial-MURS-GMRS-FRS-DBJ-1-/111415925312?pt=US_Radio_Comm_Antennas&hash=item19f0e81a40

[Logan5]

This is an antenna made with ladder line, it comes rolled up in a bag and you insert it into your own PVC and cap end. I hear it is a good antenna but is not a high gain design. whatever you chose, just make sure you get the antenna mounted well above your roof line.

[Guest spd641]

The HOA would go crazy if I built a tower. Trees aren't that tall. My house is two story. What I wanted to do is mount it to the top of the right outer wall.

 

EDIT: why is this so cheap, is it good? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-Band-VHF-UHF-Base-Antenna-Ham-Commercial-MURS-GMRS-FRS-DBJ-1-/111415925312?pt=US_Radio_Comm_Antennas&hash=item19f0e81a40

I would not suggest it.I have a guy trying to use it on a repeater and I told him it wouldn't work but you can't tell some people a thing...William

[mellowcream]

I would not suggest it.I have a guy trying to use it on a repeater and I told him it wouldn't work but you can't tell some people a thing...William

I was going to use it for a base station, would it be good for that? If not, what should I get?

[Logan5]

I would not suggest it.I have a guy trying to use it on a repeater and I told him it wouldn't work but you can't tell some people a thing...William

Ha!

[Guest spd641]

I was going to use it for a base station, would it be good for that? If not, what should I get?

I would at least get a regular base antenna like a OPEK I used it for years and was getting into repeater 100 miles away a good bit of the time and it is wide banded or at least mine was they are rated 430-490 MHZ Do not cut it check the SWR before doing anything,those things have been known to operate both GMRS/Ham without tuning with low SWR.Here is one on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/181294400114?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[jimenezl]

Hello all, new member and GMRS licensee. Happy to join this group.

 

@mellowcream, I live in Frederick, MD and do visit Easton regularly, and probably for the upcoming waterfowl festival. I'm new at this but trying to set up a way to communicate with my dispersed family members in case of emergency.

 

My neighbor (Ham) has a GMRS repeater but, as with the other two mentioned above, seems it's not powered up. I will contact him this afternoon and verify.  It's Frederick 610  https://www.mygmrs.com/view?id=1359

[237]

I have been listening to GMRS around the Baltimore/DC area and I rarely hear any traffic. The machines are still there but there's no action. I hear a machine to the south from time to time and another one in OCMD. Both of those have some traffic on them. 

[mellowcream]

Hello all, new member and GMRS licensee. Happy to join this group.

 

@mellowcream, I live in Frederick, MD and do visit Easton regularly, and probably for the upcoming waterfowl festival. I'm new at this but trying to set up a way to communicate with my dispersed family members in case of emergency.

 

My neighbor (Ham) has a GMRS repeater but, as with the other two mentioned above, seems it's not powered up. I will contact him this afternoon and verify.  It's Frederick 610  https://www.mygmrs.com/view?id=1359

Sorry for the late reply!

 

How is this project going?

[mellowcream]

I have been listening to GMRS around the Baltimore/DC area and I rarely hear any traffic. The machines are still there but there's no action. I hear a machine to the south from time to time and another one in OCMD. Both of those have some traffic on them. 

I went up there today. I also heard little to no traffic. I didn't make one contact. Only heard one repeater I think and I couldn't key it up.

[wqae694]

Hi all! Myself and several others are trying to get a GMRS repeater installed in the Howard County, Maryland area. If anyone else is interested and/or has any kind of experience and would like to contribute to this project, please contact me directly. Thank you!