mellowcream Posted August 19, 2014 Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnE Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 https://www.mygmrs.com/view?id=1216https://www.mygmrs.com/view?id=137both of these are suppose to be active. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowcream Posted August 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 https://www.mygmrs.com/view?id=1216https://www.mygmrs.com/view?id=137both 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spd641 Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowcream Posted August 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 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...WilliamI'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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan5 Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowcream Posted August 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan5 Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowcream Posted August 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan5 Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spd641 Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 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=item19f0e81a40I 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowcream Posted August 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 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...WilliamI was going to use it for a base station, would it be good for that? If not, what should I get? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan5 Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 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...WilliamHa! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spd641 Posted August 23, 2014 Report Share Posted August 23, 2014 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 mellowcream 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimenezl Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 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 Logan5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
237 Posted November 11, 2014 Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowcream Posted March 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 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=1359Sorry for the late reply! How is this project going? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowcream Posted March 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wqae694 Posted August 3, 2015 Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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