Are there any repeaters near Washington, DC?

[EARL5555]

Hi folks,

A friend of mine lives in northern Virginia, and will be getting her GMRS call sign on Monday or Tuesday. I have only found one repeater in Alexandria, Virginia, and it may be out of commission, as the owner's license has expired. If anyone knows anything about repeaters anywhere in the D.C. area, please post that information here. Thank you. 

[wayoverthere]

12 minutes ago, EARL5555 said:

Hi folks,

A friend of mine lives in northern Virginia, and will be getting her GMRS call sign on Monday or Tuesday. I have only found one repeater in Alexandria, Virginia, and it may be out of commission, as the owner's license has expired. If anyone knows anything about repeaters anywhere in the D.C. area, please post that information here. Thank you. 

Repeaterbook has one listed in Ellicott city MD, on .650, 141.3 ctcss.

As best i can tell (their map isn't super easy to navigate on mobile, and the list is near useless), another site I won't bother naming just shows a hub (server), no closer repeater than Alexandria.

[MichaelLAX]

This website (myGMRS) lists the following repeater for Alexandria:

 

[gortex2]

I have yet been able to get into Alexandria. I try every week and never been able to bring it up. If you friend needs a repeater he is better off gettting his ham ticket. 

[EARL5555]

On 10/4/2021 at 3:39 AM, kb2ztx said:

I have yet been able to get into Alexandria. I try every week and never been able to bring it up. If you friend needs a repeater he is better off gettting his ham ticket. 

On 10/4/2021 at 3:39 AM, kb2ztx said:

I have yet been able to get into Alexandria. I try every week and never been able to bring it up. If you friend needs a repeater he is better off gettting his ham ticket. 

On 10/3/2021 at 9:10 PM, MichaelLAX said:

This website (myGMRS) lists the following repeater for Alexandria:

 

Thank you, everyone for your answers. 

[EARL5555]

I emailed the owner of the repeater in Annapolis, Maryland, and he mentioned these two repeaters:

462.675 PL 141.3

462.700 PL 103.5

[dirkvan]

FWIW I was just recently able to hit a repeater near Baltimore MD from my home in Loudoun County VA.  That repeater is listed here on this site as 675 Baltimore.  The connection was really clear on my GM-30 HT.  I can also routinely hit the Warrenton repeater listed here if you search VA repeaters.  Hope it helps!

[AdmiralCochrane]

There is another GMRS repeater coming to PG County in the next few months.   If you can hit the Baltimore 675, also try the Towson 600 machine.

[gf66]

On 10/3/2021 at 1:28 PM, EARL5555 said:

Hi folks,

A friend of mine lives in northern Virginia, and will be getting her GMRS call sign on Monday or Tuesday. I have only found one repeater in Alexandria, Virginia, and it may be out of commission, as the owner's license has expired. If anyone knows anything about repeaters anywhere in the D.C. area, please post that information here. Thank you. 

23503, VA: Norfolk 503

Ivanhoe , VA: West Piney

 

Mygmrs dot com-repeater map has the entire country and if you sign up weekly updates

[AdmiralCochrane]

1 hour ago, gf66 said:

23503, VA: Norfolk 503

Ivanhoe , VA: West Piney

 

Mygmrs dot com-repeater map has the entire country and if you sign up weekly updates

And the only one remotely near northern VA is the Alexandria repeater already mentioned.   The others are much too far away to consider. 

[gf66]

On 11/4/2021 at 7:57 PM, AdmiralCochrane said:

And the only one remotely near northern VA is the Alexandria repeater already mentioned.   The others are much too far away to consider. 

well, the weekly updates might help. 4/2021 there was one in Fredericksburg, VA: Cogent Radios Group.

 

 Va rarely makes the weekly updates. I haven't found them all that helpful.

[MichaelLAX]

On 11/8/2021 at 5:46 PM, gf66 said:

well, the weekly updates might help. 4/2021 there was one in Fredericksburg, VA: Cogent Radios Group.

 

 Va rarely makes the weekly updates. I haven't found them all that helpful.

That listing is gone!

I believe the Weekly Updates are automatically triggered whenever a Repeater on this website, changes any characteristic of its repeater listing, including description.

My favorite weekly update was September 12, 2021, which listed for Sacramento, CA the "--RECALL NEWSOM--" repeater...

Needless to say, it was gone one week later, given the results of the recall election 

[SkylinesSuck]

I am about 30 miles SW of DC.  I can easily hit Alexandria, Frederick, Warrenton, and another unlisted repeater about 30 W of DC that's on the same freq with the same tones as a repeater near by in Baltimore (which was confusing me for a while), all with a handheld.   I think you could hit all the same ones from Alexandria.

[AdmiralCochrane]

Always depends on the exact location.  There are places in Alexandria and Arlington that you can hardly reach a mile with 50 watts because of structural obstacles 

[dirkvan]

On 11/14/2021 at 1:50 PM, SkylinesSuck said:

I am about 30 miles SW of DC.  I can easily hit Alexandria, Frederick, Warrenton, and another unlisted repeater about 30 W of DC that's on the same freq with the same tones as a repeater near by in Baltimore (which was confusing me for a while), all with a handheld.   I think you could hit all the same ones from Alexandria.

I'm in western Loudoun county, about 20 miles from Frederick and can't hit that repeater or Alexandria at all.  I can get Warrenton and Blue Mtn clear as day, as well as one of the MD repeaters in the Baltimore area.  I also never seem to be able to reach the Winchester repeater. Signal propagation is a dark art!

[wqae694]

On 10/3/2021 at 1:28 PM, EARL5555 said:

Hi folks,

A friend of mine lives in northern Virginia, and will be getting her GMRS call sign on Monday or Tuesday. I have only found one repeater in Alexandria, Virginia, and it may be out of commission, as the owner's license has expired. If anyone knows anything about repeaters anywhere in the D.C. area, please post that information here. Thank you. 

I own the Ellicott City and Towson repeaters and I also know of quite a few repeaters in the DC area that are not publicly listed. This will probably arouse some disbelief by some here, but there is actually a repeater on almost every single pair surrounding the DC area. Some of which have pretty significant coverage. Unfortunately, they don't have an IDer (illegal btw), so we've never been able to reach the repeater owner (I suspect most of them are owned by same person). So, without getting direct permission from them, I would tread lightly. Most of them work on the traveler's tone 141.3. 

[SkylinesSuck]

Is it illegal to operate a repeater without an IDer?

On 11/18/2021 at 12:16 AM, dirkvan said:

I'm in western Loudoun county, about 20 miles from Frederick and can't hit that repeater or Alexandria at all.  I can get Warrenton and Blue Mtn clear as day, as well as one of the MD repeaters in the Baltimore area.  I also never seem to be able to reach the Winchester repeater. Signal propagation is a dark art!

Again, not entirely sure the one you think you are hitting in Baltimore isn't the unlisted one I was referring to.  If you read between the lines sounds like WQAE suspects the same.

[mbrun]

Is it illegal to operate a repeater without an IDer?…

In my continued understanding of the rules, Yes. If a repeater is used solely for communication by the owner and others covered by the owner’s license, my understanding continues to be that it does not need to ID. At the moment it switches from owner’s family communications to use by members of the public/different license then it is suppose to ID.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[WyoJoe]

On 12/6/2021 at 7:49 AM, mbrun said:

In my continued understanding of the rules, Yes. If a repeater is used solely for communication by the owner and others covered by the owner’s license, my understanding continues to be that it does not need to ID. At the moment it switches from owner’s family communications to use by members of the public/different license then it is suppose to ID.

Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Because a repeater is a "station," I believe Michael is correct that there needs to be an ID provided when the station is in use (every 15 minutes, etc.). I do not believe it needs to be automatic. If I'm using my own repeater to talk to my family, I believe just IDing with my call sign is sufficient. If someone is using someone else's repeater, and it doesn't automatically ID, then, in order to be in compliance with the FCC rules, they would need to provide their ID and the ID of the repeater (for example: "This is aaaa111 on the bbbb222 repeater").

[SemperFidelity]

On 11/14/2021 at 1:50 PM, SkylinesSuck said:

I am about 30 miles SW of DC.  I can easily hit Alexandria, Frederick, Warrenton, and another unlisted repeater about 30 W of DC that's on the same freq with the same tones as a repeater near by in Baltimore (which was confusing me for a while), all with a handheld.   I think you could hit all the same ones from Alexandria.

That one 30 miles SW of DC is the one I heard tonight. Someone on it said it was located In Gainesville/Bull Run area.

VERY strong signal here in Sterling, VA.

[wqae694]

On 12/6/2021 at 10:49 AM, mbrun said:

 

In my continued understanding of the rules, Yes. If a repeater is used solely for communication by the owner and others covered by the owner’s license, my understanding continues to be that it does not need to ID. At the moment it switches from owner’s family communications to use by members of the public/different license then it is suppose to ID.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

 

This is correct. And could be the case. But as with most of the "private" repeaters in our area, they are running the traveler's tone (141.3). Which is baffling to me. If they want it to be private, why use a tone which has been acknowledged as a public tone? Anyways...

[PACNWComms]

Interesting thread to read. In a previous life, I worked on many P25 radio systems, and 911 Public Safety Answering Points in Loudon County, Alexandria, and Warrenton areas. Seeing some interest in GMRS repeaters in this area is interesting to me, as everything is monitored, regulated, and population density is there to benefit users. Keeping an eye on this thread for my next trip to the area, may be using GMRS on that trip the way it seems to be going. Thank you all for sharing info.